Maureen Lorenzetti
Washington Editor
WASHINGTON, DC, Aug. 2 -- The White House Friday announced a new chair to the Federal Trade Commission, sidestepping the typical Senate approval process after Congress left for a month-long recess.
Republican Deborah Majoras, a former US Department of Justice antitrust official, was one of 20 individuals given a "recess" appointment; another official slated to be on the commission, Democrat Jon Leibowitz was also installed in his post last week without the usual Senate approval.
Some Senate Democrats have opposed Majoras's nomination for several months, saying they were not satisfied she would investigate monopolistic practices by fuel marketers (OGJ Online, July 4, 2004).
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), who led the effort to stall the FTC nomination, released a statement July 30 calling the White House's latest action "undemocratic."
"The anticonsumer record of the [FTC] on oil company mergers and other issues that are significant factors in raising gasoline prices at the pump is a sorry one, and there is no evidence that Ms. Majoras will change this course.
"I hope I am wrong and that this undemocratic process for naming a new chair won't result in consumers being hammered with high [gasoline] prices again and again," Wyden said.
Further hearings called
Wyden has called for further hearings into the conclusions of a recent Government Accountability Office report that found oil mergers approved by the FTC had increased gasoline prices by as much as 7¢/gal, and what Majoras would do as FTC chair to protect consumers from impacts of oil mergers the FTC may consider in the future.
A number of consumer advocacy groups, including the Consumer Federation of America, Consumers' Union, the US Public Interest Research Group, and Common Cause last May also sent letters to the Senate Commerce Committee, opposing Majoras's nomination.
Since that time FTC took steps to appease those concerns by taking actions against two large oil companies: Royal Dutch/Shell Group and Unocal Corp.
The Shell probe will focus on agency concerns that the company's November 2003 decision to shut down its 70,000 b/d, Bakersfield, Calif., refinery might be illegal. Subpoenas have been issued, although senior FTC officials last month declined to say when or to whom the documents were sent. Agency officials also declined to say when they expect the staff to finish the investigation.
In other action over the past month, the agency said it reinstated charges that Unocal violated antitrust laws by defrauding the California Air Resources Board as it mulled new reformulated gasoline specifications (OGJ Online, July 8, 2004).
Other appointments
Outside of FTC, US President George W. Bush announced other appointments to various government posts. These include:
-- Stephen L. Johnson was appointed deputy administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency
-- Gary Lee Visscher was appointed member of the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board
-- Susan Johnson Grant was named chief financial officer of the Department of Energy
-- Charles Graves Untermeyer was appointed US ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to Qatar.
Contact Maureen Lorenzetti at [email protected].
