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Obama meets privately with energy industry CEOs on storms

President Barack Obama met behind closed doors with energy executives Wednesday in a session the White House said was arranged to discuss the industry's response to Hurricane Sandy last year and preparations for this year's hurricane season.

"The President thanked the utility executives for their efforts during the response to Hurricane Sandy and noted the strong working relationship demonstrated between industry and the federal government as companies worked to restore power to millions of customers in Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern States, including the resources and personnel shared to assist these efforts by a number of companies who were outside of the affected region," the White House said in a read-out of the meeting.

(PHOTOS: Hurricane Sandy)

The White House did not respond to queries from POLITICO about why the public and press were excluded from the discussion, which took place at the Energy Department.

During Obama's first bid for the White House, the freshman senator complained about then-Vice President Dick Cheney's private meetings with energy industry representatives.

(PHOTOS: Highlights from Obama’s first term)

"The oil companies were allowed to craft energy policy with Dick Cheney in secret while every other voice was silenced ­ including the NASA scientists who tried to warn us about the dangers of climate change," Obama said in a June 2007 campaign speech. "When there are meetings between lobbyists and a government agency, we won't be going to the Supreme Court to keep it secret like Dick Cheney and his energy task force, we'll be putting it up on the Internet for every American to watch."

Edison Electric Institute President Tom Kuhn told POLITICO's Darren Goode that Obama was at the meeting for 35 to 40 minutes. Goode reports the session included some discussions of regulatory relief, such as clearing away red tape and granting "transportation waivers" for repair crews during storm responses.

(Also on POLITICO: Senate energy panel passes bills)

While the meeting was closed to press coverage, it was included on Obama's public schedule for Wednesday. The White House also released a list of the industry attendees, including Obama senior adviser Valerie Jarrett and energy policy adviser Heather Zichal.

A list of the industry participants follows:

Tom Kuhn EEI

David Owens EEI

Brian Wolff EEI

Jo Ann Emerson NRECA

Joe Nipper APPA

Joy Ditto APPA

Jim Burpee Canadian Electric Association

Nick Akins AEP

Tony Alexander FirstEnergy

John Bilda Norwich, CT

Kevin Burke ConEd

Mel Coleman North Arkansas Electric Corp.

Chris Crane Exelon

Anita Decker BPA

Ken DeFontes BGE

Leo Denault Entergy

Charles Freni Central Hudson

Mark Gabriel WAPA

Lew Hay NextEra Energy

Tom King National Grid

Bob Kump Iberdrola

Ralph LaRossa PSE&G

Ron Litzinger Southern California Edison

Len McMillan Hydro One

Lee Olivier NSTAR

Paul Pallas Rockville Centre, NY

Mary Powell Green Mountain Power

Bob Powers AEP

Gil Quiniones NYPA

Joe Rigby PEPCO

Eric Silagy Florida Power & Light

Bill Spence PPL

Jim Torgerson UIL Holdings

Keith Trent Duke Energy

Geisha Williams PGE Corps

Rod West Entergy

CORRECTED (Thursday, 9:22 A.M.): This post has been corrected to fix an inaccurate spelling of Wolff's name provided by the White House.

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