the co-chief of staff to cheryl lafleur and a guest. the editor in chief of the foster national gas oil report. the senior reporter with xml financial. and the senior principal at bracewell giuliani. [applause] >> the presence of so many people here today says volumes about how the regulatory commission or ferc as many of us call it has emerged from the bureaucratic shadows. the commission's job is to regulate national gas pipelines and electric transmission lines. ferc plays a central role over how these industries should evolve in a 21st century. there are questions about what if any role ferc should play in epa's plan to curb greenhouse gases. should ferc and sure the plan does not harm the reliability of the grid? questions such as that show why the commission's profile has never been higher. in the center, is our guest speaker today, cheryl muffler. -- cheryl lafleur. she was nominated to the position by president obama in 2010 and has been acting chairman since november 2013. she joined ferc after a career as a senior utilities in

energy policy by the chair of the federal energy regulatory commission cheryl lafleur. introductions are being made by john hughes, the current president of the npc. >> the commission's job is to regulate interstate natural gas pipelines and electric transmission lines. ferc plays a central role in the debate over how these industries should evolve in the 21st century. there are questions, for instance, about what, if any, role ferc should play in epa's plan to curb greenhouse gases. should ferc insure that the epa plan doesn't harm the reliability of the grid? questions such as that show why the commission's profile has never been higher. in the center of the spotlight, of course, is our guest speaker today, cheryl lafleur. she was nominated to the commission by president obama in 2010. she has been acting chairman and then chairman since november of 2013. she joined ferc after a career as a senior utility industry leader in the northeast. she retired in 2007 as acting ceo of national grid usa which delivers electricity to 3.4 million customers. the first person in her

kurt longo co-chief of staff to cheryl lafleur and a guest of our speaker. marilyn g. wax senior business editor for npr and help of the npc board of governors. bill kunzic, the husband of our speaker and a guest of our speaker. jerry zrimski washington bureau chief of the buffalo news. jerry's the chair of the speakers committee and a former national press club president. speaking over our speaker for the moment rod kukrow, reporter with energy wire ee publishing and the speakers committee who organized today's event. thank you very much rod. jack againhart co-chief of staff to cheryl le failure and ale fleur and a guest of our speaker and ed bochart. esther wielden, a senior reporter with snl financial. and frank mozano, senior principal at bracewell giuliani. [ applause ] so the presence of so many people here in this room today says volumes about how the federal energy regulatory commission, or ferc as many of us call, it has emerged from the bureaucratic shadows. the commission's job -- the kigs'skigs commission's job is to regulate interstate natural gas pipeline