Former FERC Chairman Charles Curtis to receive energy security medal

Charles Curtis, the first Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) chairman and longtime Department of Energy (DOE) contributor, will receive the James R. Schlesinger Medal for Energy Security at a Jan. 13 ceremony in Washington, D.C., the DOE said on its website.

“Charlie Curtis has been at the center of energy policy discussions and nuclear risk reduction for four decades,” Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said. “He helped shape key transitions, from his work on electricity markets during the early years of FERC to his key role in establishing lab-to-lab cooperation in the years after the Soviet Union collapse, and more recently in his founding role at the Nuclear Threat Initiative. Our nation is stronger and safer today thanks to Charlie’s skill, dedication and integrity.”

President Jimmy Carter appointed Curtis as chairman of the FERC when the commission and the DOE were created in 1977. Curtis served in the DOE during the Clinton administration, holding various posts including a Acing secretary of energy, during his time there. He has also served in non-governmental organizations, including as vice president and chief operating officer of the United Nations Foundation and chief operating officer of the Nuclear Threat Institute.