Rokeberg named to replace Giard as RCA commissioner

Gov. Sean Parnell has announced the appointment of Norman Rokeberg as a commissioner in the Regulatory Commission of Alaska effective March 1. Rokeberg replaces Kate Giard, who resigned as a commissioner on Jan. 4.

Rokeberg represented the Sand Lake area of Anchorage in the Alaska House of Representatives from 1995 to 2007. He is the owner and broker of The Rokeberg Co., an Anchorage real estate agency. He also co-owned Powerhouse Gym of Anchorage from 2001 to 2008. He earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from Willamette University and is a member of numerous organizations such as the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce and Commonwealth North. As a member of the House, Rokeberg sponsored oil and gas legislation that created areawide leasing and modified royalties for marginal fields.

In August Parnell appointed Rokeberg to the Alaska Royalty Oil and Gas Development Advisory Board, the board that advises the Department of Natural Resources on approval or disapproval of new royalty agreements with the state.

RCA says that departing commissioner Giard has taken a new job, working for Resource Data Inc., an Anchorage technology consulting firm. Giard had served nearly 10 years as a commissioner, having first been appointed on June 1, 2003. During Giard’s tenure as commissioner, the RCA became embroiled in a number of high-profile, oil and gas related hearings, with Giard never shy of speaking her mind. These hearings included rate cases involving contentious Southcentral utility gas supply agreements with Cook Inlet gas producers; regulatory approvals for Cook Inlet Natural Gas Storage’s Kenai Peninsula gas storage facility; approval of reversed gas flow in the Cook Inlet Gas Gathering System; and the hearing with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission over whether the owners of the trans-Alaska oil pipeline should be allowed to recover the cost of their strategic reconfiguration project.

—Alan Bailey