James Hoecker

James John "Jim" Hoecker served as Chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission from June 1997 to January 2001. Chairman Hoecker served as a Member of the Commission from May 1993 until President Clinton designated him as Chair. He was re-nominated him for another five-year term in November 1999 and resigned from the Commission January 2001.

Chairman Hoecker is both a professional historian and teacher and a practitioner of energy law. In private law practice, he focused on gas production, transmission, and distribution issues as well as on electric utility contract matters. He was the first member of the Commission and the first Chairman to have once served on the Commission staff, where he was Assistant General Counsel for Gas and Oil Litigation, and Assistant General Counsel for Rulemaking and Legislative Analysis.

As a staff member and as Commissioner, Mr. Hoecker participated in initiating or implementing the Commission's most significant pro-competitive programs of the past 15 years, including: pipeline open access, unbundling pipeline transportation and commodity functions, electric transmission open access and electronic information systems, and regional transmission organizations.

During his Chairmanship, Mr. Hoecker worked to prepare the Commission for its role in the digital economy and the competitive energy market environment of the 21st Century. He emphasized the benefits of competition for consumers and the importance of sustainable energy project development. At the Chairman's urging, the Commission asserted leadership over wholesale power market restructuring, natural gas market reform, electric reliability issues, and environmental review and compliance in the hydropower and gas pipeline areas. At his direction, the Commission's structure was revamped, its processes streamlined, its information technology commitment enhanced, and its regulatory technique made more open and collaborative.