The US Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation has confirmed the heads of two bodies with significant impact on the maritime industry.
It approved Mark H. Buzby (pictured) as administrator of the Maritime Administration (MARAD) and Robert L. Sumwalt III as Chair of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).
Buzby was nominated by US President Donald Trump in June to fill a post left vacant in January by the departure of Chip Jaenichen.
MARAD, part of the Department of Transportation, has a remit to promote water-borne transportation in the US.
Sumwalt’s is a two-year appointment. He fills the seat left vacant since March when his predecessor Christopher Hart’s two-year term ended.
President Trump nominated Sumwalt, already a long-time NTSB board member, on July 29.
The NTSB is an independent US government agency that investigates civil transportation accidents.
These confirmations came a few days after the US Senate confirmed Neil Chatterjee and Robert Powelson as members of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), a body whose duties include reviewing proposals to build liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals.
Those appointments restored a quorum to FERC, which had been without one since former commissioner Norman Bay departed in January.
