OKLAHOMA CITY — With a promise to work hard and earn Oklahomans' trust, Republican Dana Murphy was sworn in Monday as the newest member of the state agency that regulates utilities and the oil and gas industry.

Murphy recited the oath of office for one of three seats on the Oklahoma Corporation Commission at a time when her colleagues, legislative leaders and energy producers focus their attention on alternative energy sources, including nuclear energy, to help the state and nation achieve energy independence.

"I think it's important to look at it," Murphy said after she was sworn in during a ceremony in the commission's chambers attended by more than 200 family members, friends, lawmakers and utility executives.

Murphy, an attorney, geologist and former administrative law judge for the commission, said the agency can support utilities that are interested in building a nuclear power plant by helping with paperwork during the permitting process and providing rate relief during construction.

"It's something that we're going to have to look ahead to the future," she said. "A lot of the issue, as people know, is about the cost."

The high cost of a nuclear plant, estimated by industry officials at between $5 billion and $6 billion, may force utilities to form regional partnerships in order to afford them, she said.

Murphy, 48, was sworn in after defeating Democratic Corporation Commissioner Jim Roth in the general election in November. Both were seeking the remaining two years in the unexpired term of former Commissioner Denise Bode, who now heads up the Washington, D.C.-based American Wind Energy Association.

Roth was appointed to the seat by Gov. Brad Henry.

Corporation Commissioner Jeff Cloud has emphasized nuclear energy as an alternative energy source since his election to the commission six years ago.

In November 2007, Cloud appeared before the House Energy and Technology Committee during a meeting where producers and an official with the Washington, D.C.-based Nuclear Energy Institute discussed the future of nuclear energy in Oklahoma.

At the time, Oklahoma power producers said the high cost and lengthy construction time for a nuclear power plant make it unlikely they would turn to nuclear energy to meet rising consumer demand for power in the state.

Energy generators said they are more focused on wind power and other renewable energy sources as well as conservation efforts to meet the growing demand for power.

But last month, Oklahoma House Speaker Chris Benge, R-Tulsa, toured a nuclear power plant in Arkansas to develop information on alternative energy options in which Oklahoma might play a national role.

"They're very expensive and possibly cost prohibitive," Benge said Monday. But once built they are efficient to run and emission free.

Cloud said he is encouraged by growing interest in what he described as "a long-term project."

"It's starting to take hold a little bit," said Cloud, 47, who was re-elected to a six-year term on the three-member panel last year and recited the oath of office in a separate ceremony in Tulsa on Monday.

Brian Alford, a spokesman for Oklahoma Gas and Electric Co., the state's largest utility, said the company looks forward to working with state officials who want to explore nuclear energy.

The company does not plan to build any electricity generating plants until at least 2020 but would have to begin the permitting process immediately on a nuclear power plant because they take at least a decade to license and build, Alford said.

"Now is the time to begin to explore the nuclear option if that is indeed the direction the state wants to go," he said.

"We will look at all of our options, nuclear being among them," Alford added. "We have no fuel preference. Ultimately it is the customer that has to pay for that energy."

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.