United States: U.S. Senate Conducts Hearing To Consider FERC Commissioner Nominations

On Thursday, March 21, 2024, the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources held a full committee hearing to question President Biden's three nominees to serve as Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC or Commission) commissioners. The three nominees are David Rosner, a FERC Staff Energy Industry Analyst and current Detailee for the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources; Lindsay See, the Solicitor General for West Virginia; and Judy Chang, a managing principal at the Boston-based Analysis Group and former Undersecretary of Energy and Climate Solutions for Massachusetts. If confirmed, the three would serve staggered terms, with Mr. Rosner and Ms. See filling the vacancies created by the departures of former Chairmen and Commissioners James Danly and Richard Glick, and Ms. Chang filling the seat currently occupied by Commissioner Allison Clements, whose term expires on June 30.¹ The three nominees would bring various backgrounds to the Commission with diverse government service at the state and federal levels.

Last Thursday's hearing touched on the many issues seen as crucial to FERC's statutory mandate, including electric reliability, energy infrastructure build-out, generation resource connectivity and consumer protection. Many of the senators also sought to elicit the nominees' views on whether FERC had a role as an environmental regulator under the Natural Gas Act, and the extent to which greenhouse gas emissions could control the issuance of gas infrastructure permits. There was an emphasis placed on FERC's need for fuel neutrality as a federal regulator. All three nominees were careful to state that they would enforce FERC's enabling statutes as drafted and look to Congress for further expansions of FERC's statutory mandates. A more detailed summary of the hearing can be found here.

Footnote

1. If confirmed, David Rosner's term would expire June 30, 2027, Ms. See's term would expire June 30, 2028, and Ms. Chang's would expire June 30, 2029.

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