[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 10]
[Senate]
[Page 13609]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     TRIBUTE TO LeROY KOPPENDRAYER

 Mr. COLEMAN. Mr. President, today, I honor the distinguished 
public career of LeRoy Koppendrayer, retiring chairman of the Minnesota 
Public Utilities Commission. LeRoy was appointed commissioner in 1998 
and chairman in 2003. He has served Minnesotans honorably for 10 years, 
upholding and protecting the interests of Minnesota's utility 
ratepayers while enjoying the respect and camaraderie of his fellow 
commissioners and those who have come to know him.
  LeRoy's journey to becoming a commissioner has been filled with a 
lifetime of experiences anyone would admire. In the 1990s, LeRoy was 
elected to four terms as a representative in Minnesota's Legislature 
where he worked successfully on issues ranging from agriculture to 
energy to education. He also worked for years as a dairy farmer and 
then as an international agricultural consultant, spending time in 
South America, Africa, Jamaica, Philippines, and Indonesia, consulting 
farmers and working to develop and improve their economies and their 
lives. LeRoy's appointment to the commission caps his decades-long 
commitment to public service.
  LeRoy's work as commissioner includes decisions on a myriad of issues 
facing Minnesota's utility ratepayers, such as rate cases filed by 
natural gas, electric, and telephone utility companies, the twin cities 
metro area code split, the establishment of rules governing reliability 
standards for electric utilities, renewable energy projects and the 
citing and routing of energy facilities and transmission pipelines, to 
name just a few.
  LeRoy's committee memberships include the National Association of 
Regulatory Commissioners, known as NARUC; as liaison to NARUC's 
International Relations Committee; the NARUC Regulatory Advisory 
Committee to the Institute of Public Utilities; and the NARUC Committee 
on Electricity and Subcommittee on Strategic Issues. He has also served 
as chair of the Nuclear Waste Strategy Coalition and as a member of the 
board of the Organization of Midwest States, which oversees the Midwest 
electricity grid.
  As chairman, LeRoy has ensured the integrity of the commission's 
process through thoughtful consideration of issues and a friendly 
rapport with those who appear before the commission. Whether it is a 
lawyer representing a utility or a concerned citizen appearing for the 
first time, LeRoy's approach is the same. He treats everyone with 
genuine respect and professional courtesy and with a sincere interest 
in understanding each person's point of view.
  And on top of it all, LeRoy recently found time to make a 150-mile 
bicycle trip with his wife Carolyn and 10 other family members in 
support of MS research.
  LeRoy is a man of loyalty, conviction, and fortitude. He commands 
great respect and great affection. He has an enviable capacity for 
warmth and kindness and is driven by his value for hard work. He stands 
firm in what he believes and yet finds common ground where there are 
differences, using a welcoming approach and a friendly smile to bring 
people together. And if all else fails, he'll make you laugh, mostly at 
his own expense, by poking fun at himself.
  Today, at this bittersweet moment, it is with gratitude and 
admiration that I stand before you to honor LeRoy's longstanding 
contributions to the people of Minnesota through his years of service 
as commissioner of the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission.

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