(Developing: Will be updated)
Gov. Laura Kelly on Friday announced that she’s nominating an Overland Park utilities lawyer to the Kansas Corporation Commission.
Kelly is naming Andrew French to the three-member panel that regulates energy infrastructure, oil and gas production, as well as commercial trucking. His nomination must be confirmed by the Senate.
French now works at Smithyman & Zakoura in Overland Park. He would replace Shari Feist Albrecht, who was appointed to the KCC by former Gov. Sam Brownback in 2012.
French represented a coalition of industrial consumers in a complex and heavily litigated
proceedings regarding the merger of Kansas’s two largest electric utility companies.
Before joining Smithyman & Zakoura, French worked for the KCC as senior litigation counsel where he represented the commission staff in proceedings before the Commission.
He also coordinated with outside counsel, actively engaged in settlement negotiations, and advised the commission in Federal Energy Regulatory Commission proceedings.
He also represented and advised the commission on electric transmission issues and the Southwest Power Pool.
He is a 2010 graduate of the University of Kansas law school. He earned a bachelor’s degree from KU in environmental studies.
