Amid Industry Funk, Bowman Bows Out as Head of Nuke Group

November 17, 2008

Energy Daily - Jeff Beattie

Amid deep concerns in the nuclear energy sector about the impending Obama
administration, the industry's top lobbyist-Nuclear Energy Institute
President and Chief Executive Officer Frank "Skip" Bowman-resigned Friday to
let the organization pick a new chief to navigate the drastically changed
political landscape in Washington.

In a letter Friday to John Rowe, NEI chairman and chairman and CEO of Exelon
Corp., Bowman said he wanted to give NEI the chance to install new
leadership early on in Obama's transition in the interest of "organization
continuity."

NEI said Executive Vice President and Chief Nuclear Officer Marvin Fertel
has assumed NEI's top position in an acting capacity.

The trade group said nothing Friday about its search for a permanent
replacement for Bowman, but sources said a potential strong candidate for
the NEI top job is Betsy Moler, Exelon's executive vice president of
government and environmental affairs and public policy.

Bowman, a retired four-star Navy admiral who headed nuclear Navy programs
for the Energy Department before coming to NEI in 2005, won praise at the
trade group for helping to win congressional passage of financial incentives
to support construction of new commercial reactors. However, Bowman is
leaving with nuclear industry clearly headed for rougher waters with the
exit of President Bush, whose administration was unfailingly supportive of
nuclear power.

As the Obama transition team gears up, nuclear industry officials have been
eagerly looking for signs that Obama will be at least somewhat supportive of
the U.S. nuclear industry's recent rebirth, in which companies have recently
filed applications at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to build an
astonishing 26 new reactors. But Obama has given them little to cheer about,
offering qualified support for nuclear power generally but pledging to kill
a top industry priority, the planned repository for spent nuclear fuel in
Yucca Mountain, Nevada.

NEI's challenge will be to find a new leader who will have influence with
the Obama administration and Congress, where Democrats strengthened their
grip in the November 4 election. A key problem is that the number of
pro-nuclear, high-profile Democrats who might fill the slot is far smaller
than the number of appropriate pro-nuclear Republicans.

It is clear, however, that a major force in the selection process will be
Rowe, who is one of the industry's most respected executives and whose firm
runs the nation's largest nuclear fleet. As the utility that serves Obama's
home town of Chicago, Exelon also has unusually strong ties to Obama as well
as to his chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel.

Exelon's links to Obama might boost NEI interest in Moler, who also has
strong Democratic relationships. She served as Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission chairman and deputy secretary of the Energy Department during the
Clinton administration. Moler was rumored as a candidate for the NEI slot
years ago although there is no firm evidence she was interested or seriously
considered.

One industry source, who said Moler would make a "fantastic" choice, said
the industry should abandon its practice of focusing on Navy or technical
nuclear experts in picking its leader, and focus solely on well-connected
Washington insiders with Democratic ties. "They need someone with influence
on the Hill, and influence with the White House, and they need a Democrat,"
the source said, adding that a former congressman in the moderate "blue-dog"
mold would make a good fit.

More broadly, two sources suggested Friday that now might be a good time for
NEI to aggressively craft itself as a broader coalition of
interests-including labor and public power entities that would like new
nuclear capacity-that Democrats typically favor. The two mostly likely
internal candidates for the NEI top job are Fertel and Alex Flint, NEI's
senior vice president of governmental affairs. Flint, however, has strong
Republican ties as a long-time aide to Sen. Pete Domenici (R-N.M.), who
retired this fall.