Former FERC Commissioner Sudeen Kelly Speaks at Sturm College of Law

Sudeen Kelly, an internationally-recognized energy industry expert and former Commissioner with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), spoke at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law yesterday.

Ms. Kelly spoke in the Distinguished Environmental and Natural Resources Practitioner in Residence course that is being taught by Rebecca Watson, former U.S. Interior Department Assistant Secretary for Lands and Minerals Management and now a partner at Welborn Sullivan Meck & Tooley PC.

Nominated by Presidents Bush and Obama to two terms as FERC Commissioner, Ms. Kelly, who is currently a partner at Patton Boggs LLP, resolved 7,000 disputes with published Commission decisions and personally authored 100 separate statements during her tenure.

She is credited with spearheading change in numerous regulatory policies, including integration of renewables into the grid, transmission interconnection and planning reform, deployment of smart grid technology to the transmission grid, the inclusion of smart grid demonstration grants in the stimulus effort, and natural gas quality standards to facilitate U.S. entry of liquefied natural gas.

Ms. Kelly created a Smart Grid Collaborative between FERC and the association of state regulators to promote technology deployment and helped to grow membership to 30 states. She also pioneered internal strategic planning efforts to enable market reforms to adapt to new Congressional proposals regarding carbon emissions, demand response and efficiency, smart grid and hydrokinetic, offshore wind turbine and photovoltaic technologies.

Don C. Smith, Director of the Environmental and Natural Resources Law & Policy Program, said, "Students in Adjunct Professor Rebecca Watson's course have benefited enormously from her own experience and insight as well as that of many of her guest lecturers, including former Commissioner Kelly. The richness that experts such as Ms. Watson and Ms. Kelly bring into the classroom is an extremely important element of what our students learn."