Senate Confirms Nominees including Conner for Reclamation Commissioner

NOMINATIONS: Interior, DOE picks clear Senate panel (05/13/2009)
Katherine Ling, E&E reporter

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee today agreed to send two Energy Department and two Interior Department nominees to the Senate floor for confirmations.

The panel voted en bloc for Daniel Poneman to be DOE deputy secretary; David Sandalow to be assistant secretary of DOE for international affairs and domestic policy; Rhea Suh to be assistant secretary of Interior for policy, management and budget; and Michael Connor to be commissioner of the Bureau of Reclamation.

Only the secretaries of DOE and Interior and Tom Strickland as Interior assistant secretary for fish and wildlife and parks have been confirmed by the Senate so far. The delay in confirmations has left key political posts open as Congress considers major energy and climate bills and Interior examines several controversial oil and gas leasing and Endangered Species Act issues.

The four nominees seem likely to escape the fate of their colleagues, as it appears they will not face any holds from the committee members.

Sen. Bob Bennett (R-Utah) has holds on the nominations of David Hayes to be Interior deputy secretary and Hilary Tompkins to be Interior solicitor, in part over concerns about Utah oil and gas leases that the Obama administration canceled in February. A procedural vote to bypass the hold failed today by three votes.
Bennett said he does not plan to put a hold on Suh's nomination but is watching closely.

Suh is currently a program officer at the David and Lucile Packard Foundation and has served as a consultant for the National Park Service, where she wrote educational strategy and developed educational programs for underserved constituencies, and as senior legislative assistant to former Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell (R-Colo.). She also has been a high school science teacher in New York City.
Connor has been the general counsel to the committee since 2001. In that position, he has worked extensively on legislation related to water reclamation, American Indian lands and energy. He previously was director of Interior's Indian Water Rights Office.

Both DOE nominees held positions in President Clinton's administration. Poneman was a special assistant to Clinton and senior director for nonproliferation and export controls at the National Security Council, which he first joined under President George H.W. Bush. Poneman is currently a principal at the Scowcroft Group.
Sandalow served as assistant secretary of State for oceans, environment and science under Clinton, and as senior director for environmental affairs on the National Security Council. He is currently an energy and climate expert at the Brookings Institution and has served as an executive with the World Wildlife Fund and as chairman of the energy and climate working group of the Clinton Global Initiative.