Senate Resources Committee forwards three Regulatory Commission of Alaska nominees amid staffing and energy concerns

The Senate Resources Committee on March 19 forwarded three gubernatorial appointees to the Regulatory Commission of Alaska to the full Legislature for confirmation and probed agency independence and staffing shortages during a lengthy hearing.

Senator Giesel, chair of the Senate Resources Committee, opened the meeting and said the committee would interview three RCA appointees: John Springsteen, Mark A. Johnston and Steven D. DeVries. The committee then heard each nominee's background and questioned them and existing commissioners about the commission's operations and capacity.

The committee was told the commission has statutory qualifications for commissioners, six-year terms, and restrictions on financial interests in regulated utilities or pipeline carriers. Commissioner nominee John Springsteen described his public- and private-sector background, including roles at the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority (AIDEA), the governor's office and RCA, and said his private-sector work covered energy projects and project finance. "We found ... a net increase in the cost for residential consumers" when deregulation was uneven, Springsteen told the committee when describing lessons from 1990s-era deregulation.

Mark Johnston, a certified public accountant and former utility executive, described experience auditing electric, gas, pipeline and telecom utilities and noted his work on rate design and acquisitions. He said the "elephant in the room" for regulators is the state's gas-supply constraints and rising energy costs. Johnston described a mix of responses he sees as necessary: energy efficiency, demand-side management, more renewables, development of Cook Inlet producers and potential LNG supplies, while warning about the capital costs and risks of building new infrastructure.

Steven DeVries, a former long-time Department of Law attorney and public advocate who represented state agencies before the RCA, said he returned to public service because of his experience on consumer-protection and utility issues. DeVries emphasized the commission's confidentiality rules for open dockets and said the commission does not discuss active adjudications outside commissioners and staff.

Committee members repeatedly raised an August 2023 to March 2025 staffing picture cited in a letter from the Alaska Public Interest Research Group (AKPIRG). Senator Wilikowski read parts of the letter that alleged "consistently about 15 unfilled positions over the past 3 years" and that "half of RCA staff employed in January 2023 have left." The letter also said only two of five commissioners had been on the commission more than nine months. The nominees and commissioners acknowledged turnover and competition with private-sector employers. "We have folks that have been trained and developed within the RCA and they have a valuable skill set... and they get hired away," Springsteen said. DeVries and Johnston described efforts to report ex parte communications and to maintain independence.

Senator Wilikowski asked whether there are rules preventing staff or commissioners from leaving and immediately representing regulated utilities. Nominees and commissioners pointed to statutory restrictions and RCA rules that limit acting as an agent for a public utility in matters before the commission; Springsteen and others said they take conflict-of-interest rules seriously and report contacts that could be ex parte. Wilikowski requested, and commissioners agreed to carry forward, a written list showing recent staff departures and the employers they joined so the committee can review the scope of turnover.

Committee questioning also focused on the commission's ability to act proactively on statewide energy problems. Commissioners said the RCA is largely a reactive adjudicatory body: it reviews tariff filings, advice letters and petitions that utilities file. DeVries and Johnston noted that other state agencies have primary roles on natural-gas production and that the RCA's authority is limited to reviewing contracts and rate matters that parties bring before it.

Public testimony included Ray Lacham, president of Nor Gasco, who supported the appointees and said he found them well qualified based on his experience as a gas developer.

After discussion, Vice Chair Wilikowski read the committee's recommendation: the Senate Resources Committee reviewed the qualifications of the governor's appointees and will forward their names to the Legislature for confirmation. Committee members indicated they would sign the required document before leaving the hearing room.

The full record of each nominee's background and the committee's questions will accompany the names when the joint session considers confirmation.