Vice President Swears In Drue Pearce as First Federal Coordinator

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Vice President Dick Cheney swore in Drue Pearce today as the first Federal Coordinator for Alaska Natural Gas Transportation Projects.  She was confirmed on Aug. 4, 2006 by the U. S. Senate.

As federal coordinator, Pearce will integrate activities by federal agencies with respect to the permitting and construction of a pipeline to bring North Slope gas to markets in the Lower 48 states.  She will report directly to the President.

“It is a great honor to be chosen by President Bush to serve as the first Federal Coordinator.  I am personally gratified that the Vice President administered the oath of office and I look forward to advocating for the Alaska Gas Project throughout the nation and in Canada.”

Along with close family and friends, Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne, Deputy Secretary of Energy Clay Sell, Deputy Secretary of Transportation Maria Cino, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chairman Joe Kelliher, and Canada’s Ambassador to the United States Michael Wilson attended the ceremony.

Prior to this position, Pearce served as policy coordinator for the Department of the Interior’s efforts to be prepared for permitting and construction of an Alaska Natural Gas Pipeline.  She was sworn in as Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton’s Senior Advisor for Alaska Affairs on June 18, 2001 and provided counsel in the development of the Department’s policies affecting Alaska.

Pearce represented The Department of the Interior and the Secretary as a Federal Trustee to the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council; as a member of the Department of Transportation’s Technical Hazardous Liquid Pipeline Safety Standards Committee; and as the Department of the Interior representative to the Arctic Council. 

She was elected to the Alaska State House in 1984 and to the State Senate in 1988.  She served twice as Senate President, twice as co-chair of the Finance Committee and chaired the Senate Rules Committee. 

Pearce has also served as Chairman of The Energy Council (1993-94), where she presided over the entrance of Venezuela as an international affiliate, and as the American Co-Chair for the U.S. West Coast – Russian Far East Business Commission Ad Hoc Working Group.

Drue, her husband, Michael, and daughter, Tate, now share a bicoastal commute between her D.C. duty station and their Alaska home.

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