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 for a position on the commission by Governor Chris Sununu, currently serves as New Hampshire’s deputy attorney general. Prior to this position, 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.

This appointment comes at a time when the commission is faced critical and try to solve several important problems: how are renewable energy resources paid for their energy, to what extent the state’s largest utility will be allowed to charge customers, and rules of the commission itself.

But who is Dell’Orfano? Here are five things to 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 was perhaps the only seventh grader in Bedford who could tell you what PURPA and why this law was so important to New Hampshire’s energy future,” he joked.

Dell’Orfano’s father developed, built and operated gas and renewable energy power plants, he said. He then founded Sector Capital Group, which worked on large energy and natural resources projects, primarily outside of New Hampshire. The company was affiliated 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 he was proud to work for his father, but left to pursue a “diverse group of clients.”

“Watching him work hard taught me how energy is produced and transmitted to customers, as well as the importance and impact of the energy sector on the environment, consumers’ monthly budgets and the national economy and that of New Hampshire,” he said.

This is an Eversource customer

Asked by Councilman Joseph Kenney for his opinion on New Hampshire’s electric and gas utility companies, Dell’Orfano said he had no personal opinions.

“I think all investor-owned utilities, whether it’s energy, water, wastewater or gas, have public service as their primary purpose. It is about providing public service resources to the public at fair prices, safely and adequately. I actually take this very seriously,” he said. “Otherwise, I don’t have an opinion on any of them. My lights are on at home. So I have to understand that Eversource does what it’s supposed to do.

He represented the state lottery commission

As deputy attorney general, Dell’Orfano had his hand in a lot of cakes. He has represented the Public Utilities Commission, the Site Evaluation Committee, the Department of Revenue, the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, the Pease Development Authority, and several Department of Environmental Services boards.

He also represented the Lottery Commission in a high-profile event 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 was involved in a matter that received some publicity. And our attorney throughout this matter 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 someone who is a good lawyer. And Mark is both.

He believes the government has a role to play in tackling climate change

When asked directly if he believed in climate change, Dell’Orfano said yes. He also said he believed in the scientific consensus that human activities are causing climate change, although he was somewhat hesitant on this claim.

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

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

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

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

Don Kreis, a state consumer advocate and recently an outspoken critic of the commission, said he was excited about Dell’Orfano’s nomination and suggested he might do a “reset.”

“I was and am concerned about the commission’s resistance to staying on the path that has been set for it,” 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 in terms of products as efficiently and responsibly as possible. possible.”

Two advocates who said they helped create rules to protect people living near wind farms told the council they opposed Dell’Orfano’s appointment, saying he failed to comply the rules at a meeting of the state site evaluation committee.

The issue was testing wind turbine noise in Antrim after complaints from nearby residents. A transcription shows Dell’Orfano saying that rules allowing wind farm operators to test noise levels under the same conditions present at the time the complaints were filed could be waived, but had not been formally lifted before the tests were carried out under different conditions.

Lisa Linowes, who said she appeared before the site review committee several times, described Dell’Orfano as “aggressive toward the public” and said others considered him “brash.”

“He acted like a lawyer in private practice representing a candidate,” she said. “The first time I appeared before the (Site Assessment Committee) was in 2007. In all those years, I had never been treated, and I have never seen the public be treated the same way he treated people.

Dell’Orfano said that by the time he began serving on the site evaluation committee, the scientific data had already been collected. Regarding his description as brash, Dell’Orfano said he didn’t know where that characterization came from.

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