Energy and Environment

Ethics issues shadow Obama’s anti-coal FERC nominee

By Michal Conger

Published July 31, 2013 4:00am ET

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Ethics issues shadow Obama’s anti-coal FERC nominee — Coal-fired power plants currently account for about 40 percent of all electricity used in the U.S., but the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has promulgated regulations that are pressuring owners to close many of the plants. (AP/Matthew Brown) | Matthew Brown

Ron Binz, former chairman of the Colorado Public Utilities Commission, is President Obama’s nominee to head the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

Binz is a favorite with environmentalists because of his crusading efforts to shut down coal-fired power plants with Colorado’s Clean Air Clean Jobs Act, which incentivized switching from coal to natural gas and renewable sources such as wind farms.

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