By KRWG News
New Mexico – Gov. Susana Martinez's appointment of Santa Fe energy consultant Douglas Howe to New Mexico's utility regulator is coming under fire from a liberal group because he once worked on a project for Libya's government-owned electric company.
Howe and a spokesman for the governor dismissed the criticisms by Progress New Mexico. Howe said he had never met any family member of former dictator Moammar Gadhafi during his work on the Libyan project from 2005 to 2007.
The Republican governor appointed Howe, a political independent, on Monday to fill a vacancy on the Public Regulation Commission.
Howe managed a project for Cambridge Energy Research Associates, a global consulting company, that tried to improve operations of the General Electricity Company of Libya, the government-owned electric utility.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.