Power regulator heads to prominent law and lobbying shop

Marc Spitzer, who stepped down from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in December after five years, has landed at the prominent law and lobbying firm of Steptoe & Johnson LLP.

Spitzer will remain in Washington as a partner in the firm’s Electric Power Group.

“I am really looking forward to diving into work and advising the firm’s energy clients on a broad spectrum of issues including electric transmission, Smart Grid, LNG export, pipeline safety and natural-gas fracking,” he said in a statement Wednesday.

When asked whether Spitzer will be lobbying, Steptoe spokeswoman Kathy King said he will advocate for clients “in whatever form that work entails.”

“In the coming years, there will be a number of issues before the Congress, [the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration] and state legislatures dealing with pipeline safety, fracking and the shale gas revolution. If a client needs help with these issues, Mr. Spitzer intends to fully represent them,” she said.

The Republican Spitzer is a former chairman of the Arizona Corporation Commission and a former member of the Arizona state Senate, having been elected majority leader in 1996.

Steptoe, in announcing the hiring, said the combination of Spitzer’s experience at the FERC, the Arizona state positions and work in private practice will prove invaluable.

“As the electric industry is in a state of transition, with FERC leading the way on a number of public policy initiatives, Marc’s tenure as a FERC commissioner, where he garnered a sterling reputation as a team player, will be an invaluable resource to our clients as they address new challenges in the industry,” said Roger Warin, the chairman of Steptoe’s executive committee, in a statement.

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