A candidate to fill the empty seat on the New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission made his case to the Executive Council Wednesday why he is the right person for the job.

Mark Dell’Orfano, who was nominated to a seat on the commission by Gov. Chris Sununu, is currently New Hampshire’s deputy attorney general. Prior to that role, he worked on environmental and energy issues at the law firm Sheehan Phinney and at Sector Capital Group, a firm founded by Dell’Orfano’s father.

The nomination comes at a time when the commission faces criticism and trying to address several important questions: how renewable energy resources are used compensated By its power, how much will the state’s largest utility be allowed to earn? carry clients, and the standards of the commission itself.

But who is Dell’Orfano? Here are five things you should know:

His father influenced his career.

Dell’Orfano told the Executive Council that his father, a power plant developer, had a big impact on his life.

“I might be the only seventh grader in Bedford who could tell you what PURPLE What it was and why that statute was so important to New Hampshire’s energy future,” he joked.

Dell’Orfano’s father developed, built and operated gas-fired and renewable energy power plants, he said. He later founded Sector Capital Group, which worked on large energy and natural resources projects, primarily outside of New Hampshire. The signature was associated with three mining companies working in Canada and South America.

Dell’Orfano worked at Sector Capital Group for 16 years, according to his LinkedIn. He told the Executive Council that he was proud to work for his father, but left to pursue a “diversified group of clients.”

“Watching him hard at work taught me how energy is produced and transmitted to customers, and how important and impactful the energy industry is on the environment, consumers’ monthly budgets, and the national and New Hampshire economies,” he said.

You are an Eversource customer

When asked by Councilman Joseph Kenney to weigh in on New Hampshire’s electric and gas utilities, Dell’Orfano said he had no personal opinions.

“I think every investor-owned utility, whether it’s power, water, sewer or gas, their primary goal is public service. It is about providing the public with public resources at fair prices, safely and adequately. In fact, I take it very seriously,” he said. “Otherwise, I have no opinion on any of them. My lights are on at home. So I have to realize that Eversource is doing what it is supposed to do.”

He represented the state lottery commission.

As deputy attorney general, Dell’Orfano had many matters in his hands. He represented the Public Utilities Commission, the Site Assessment Committee, the Department of Revenue Management, the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, the Pease Development Authority, and various boards of the Department of Environmental Services.

he too represented the Lottery Commission through a high profile case involving former state senator Andy Sanborn. Ultimately, a judge suspended Sanborn’s charitable gaming license and ordered him to sell Concord Casino.

“The lottery has been involved in an issue that has gained some publicity. And our attorney throughout that process has been Mark Dell’Orfano,” said Charlie McIntyre, executive director of the New Hampshire Lottery. “It has been a difficult proposition to be our lawyer. I don’t know much about energy, but I know someone who works hard and is a good lawyer. And Mark is both.”

He believes the government has a role in fighting climate change.

When asked directly if he believed in climate change, Dell’Orfano said yes. He also said he believes in the scientific consensus that human activities are driving climate change, although he was a little hesitant about that claim.

“I am simply not qualified enough to say from the bottom of my heart that humanity is the only cause of this. However, I believe that humanity has contributed to it. So that’s the honest answer I can give. But I don’t question the science,” he said.

He said he believes the government should ensure the industries they regulate follow the rules and are responsible for their emissions.

It has the support of several state officials, but has drawn opposition from some advocates concerned about wind energy.

Several state officials, including current Public Utilities Commission Chairman Dan Goldner, spoke in support of Dell’Orfano.

Don Kreis, the state’s consumer advocate and lately a vocal critic of the commission, said he was excited about Dell’Orfano’s nomination and suggested it could spark a “reset.”

“I was and am concerned about the commission’s resistance to staying in its assigned lane,” Kreis said. “I hope that once Mr. Dell’Orfano joins the commission, we will see a PUC with a renewed commitment to collaborating with its stakeholders so that we can all work together to help the agency make good decisions about its the most efficient and responsible way possible. possible.”

Two advocates who said they were involved in creating rules to protect people who live near wind farms told the council they opposed Dell’Orfano’s nomination, saying he had ignored the rules during a Committee meeting. State Site Assessment.

It involved noise testing of wind turbines in Antrim following complaints from nearby residents. TO transcription shows Dell’Orfano saying that rules for wind farm operators to test noise levels during the same conditions present when complaints were made might not apply, but had not been formally waived before tests were carried out under conditions different.

Lisa Linowes, who said she appeared many times before the Site Assessment Committee, described Dell’Orfano as “aggressive toward the public” and said others perceived him as “hotheaded.”

“He acted as a private attorney representing an applicant,” he said. “The first time I appeared before the (Site Assessment Committee) was in 2007. In all those years I had never been treated, nor did I see the public treated the way he treated people.”

Dell’Orfano said that when he started on the Site Assessment Committee, the scientific data had already been collected. Regarding the description of him as impulsive, Dell’Orfano said he didn’t know where the characterization came from.

“No one has ever referred to me that way to my face,” he said.