Name: Kellie Donnelly
Position: Republican deputy chief counsel for the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee
Hometown: Somerset, Mass.
Alma mater: College of the Holy Cross in Massachusetts, Catholic University of America
Age: 47
Washington Examiner: What role did you play in the passage of the Energy Policy Modernization Act out of the energy committee last year?
Donnelly: I was here for the ’05 bill and the ’07 bill. This was something that Sen. [Lisa] Murkowski decided to do when she became chair and worked collaboratively with ranking member [Maria] Cantwell and decided early on that we were going to have an open, transparent process and do it by the book.
Even more so, with the idea that she had to do listening sessions at the beginning of this process where staff went out on a bipartisan basis and met with various groups to hear what problems they were having out in the field and what their preferred solutions were. Also, some of the things that were going right that they wanted Congress to stay away from.
In the middle of that, I was on a work trip to Japan, actually. We were going to Fukushima [site of the tsunami and subsequent nuclear plant meltdown], and I had a ruptured neck disc in the middle of it and ended up in the Tokyo emergency room, which was not the highlight of that trip at all.
This was in June. I came back and had spinal fusion surgery, so they had to fuse the spine together. I’ve got a titanium thing in my neck right now. And the doctors wanted me to take the summer off under the Family Medical Leave Act, and I could have.
But I came back in three weeks so we could finish the bill and get to mark up on it. I mean, that is how important this was. I look back on it now and think maybe that wasn’t the smartest idea. But at the time, it just seemed so important to get back and do the bill.
So, I came back after the Fourth of July recess, finished negotiations with the Cantwell staff and went into our three days of markup, and we reported it out 18-4. So, it was worth it.
Examiner: Did you ever see Fukushima and talk to people there about the nuclear disaster?
Donnelly: I missed the first day of the more official meetings. I was still back in Tokyo in the emergency room. But we took the bullet train, afterwards, and I got to meet with some of the people who experienced the disaster and were still living in the FEMA-like houses, and to see what their life was like and how difficult it had been for them.
Examiner: Who was with you on that trip?
A: It was strictly [congressional] staff. It was done through the State Department. I remember Nancy Pelosi’s policy director was on it, and Richard [Meltzer] and I were co-leaders. It was actually not good for me to be in the hospital because we were supposed to be running the group together.
Examiner: Where did you grow up?
Donnelly: Massachusetts. Southeastern Massachusetts, Somerset. Right where [Energy Secretary] Ernie Moniz is from. My mom and Secretary Moniz went to high school together in Fall River, Mass.
Examiner: What’s there about that part of Massachusetts that pushes people into energy policy?
Donnelly: It’s interesting because Commissioner Cheryl LaFleur from FERC is also from that area … So, I always laugh that they’re controlling the energy policy of the United States, and they’re from my little home town in Massachusetts.
