Rush Moody, Jr. Federal Power Commission records

Rush Moody, Jr. was born July 21, 1930 in Alpine, Texas. He grew up in Houston, graduating from John Reagan High School in 1948. He attended Rice Institute for two years before transferring to the University of Texas to pursue a joint BBA/JD degree. After taking a leave of absence to serve in the U.S. Air Force as an intelligence officer stationed at Warren Robins Airbase, he returned to complete his law studies, graduating in 1956 and being admitted to the Texas Bar that same year. He then returned to Houston to take a position with the Baker, Botts, Andrews, Shepherd law firm. In 1960 he resigned from this firm and moved to Midland, Texas to join Stubbman, McRae, Sealy, Laughlin and Browder, becoming a partner in 1963.

With support from Senator John Tower, Moody was appointed in 1971 by President Richard Nixon to a five-year term on the Federal Power Commission. He served ably for three years but found himself increasingly often voting in dissent regarding the Commission’s continued regulation of interstate natural gas prices under the Federal Power Act. In 1975 Moody ultimately resigned, in his resignation letter urging President Gerald Ford to pursue a legislative solution to end the natural gas shortages then troubling the Atlantic Seaboard states. He was then appointed by Texas Governor Dolph Briscoe to serve as special counsel, advising him and Lt. Gov. Bill Hobby on energy policy. At this time Moody also helped Senator Lloyd Bentsen draft what became the Natural Gas Policy Act of 1978.

Moody returned to Washington in 1977, working at a number of Texas-based firms to help them develop their energy practice groups. During this time he helped John G. McMillian organize and finance a consortium to build the first natural gas export pipeline from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska to the lower 48 states. After joining Andrews Kurth he went on to serve as managing partner from 1992 until his retirement in 1996. He and his family moved that year from Chevy Chase to Trappe, Maryland, where he died on November 5, 2015.