With the confirmation of President Joe Biden’s third nominee on Thursday, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission now has a full slate of five commissioners.
In addition to Judy Chang, former undersecretary of energy and climate solutions for Massachusetts, the new commissioners include former West Virginia Solicitor General Lindsay See and David Rosner, an energy industry analyst who served as an adviser to U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, I-W.Va., in Manchin’s role as chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.
Manchin voted in favor of confirming all three nominees, while Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., voted against Chang and called her “anti-pipeline.”
FERC is a bipartisan body. No more than three commissioners from the same party can serve at once. Commissioners serve staggered five-year terms.
FERC regulates the interstate transmission of electricity, natural gas and oil. It also reviews proposals to build liquefied natural gas terminals, interstate natural gas pipelines and licensing for hydropower projects, according to information on its website.
“I think it’s always advantageous to have a full commission in place and seated,” said Charlie Burd, executive director of the Gas and Oil Association of West Virginia, “because projects that come before them, whether they are gas pipelines or electric transmission lines or other activities, they are important. They are always important to the nation. Having a full slate of commissioners to assess and decide is the appropriate mechanism to have in place.”
The new FERC commissioners will take their seats at an important moment for the independent regulatory agency. On May 13, FERC passed its final rule on Order No. 1920 by a 2-1 vote.
Order No. 1920, the “Building for the Future Through Electric Regional Transmission Planning and Cost Allocation” plan, requires grid operators to identify needs for the next 20 years, taking into consideration a number of factors, such as changes in energy supplies to allow for more renewables.
The Public Service Commission of West Virginia, in a 18-page filing Wednesday, asked FERC for a rehearing on the vote.
“The agency’s action substantially undermines states’ role in transmission planning, and will not result in just or reasonable rates,” PSC Chairman Charlotte Lane said.
The initial FERC vote on the order was along party lines. FERC Chair Willie Phillips and fellow Democrat Allison Clements voted in favor of the final rule, and Republican Mark Christie voted against.
Clements will be replaced by Chang, who is also a Democrat; Rosner is a Democrat; and See will add a second Republican vote.
See served as West Virginia solicitor general starting in 2018. She previously practiced appellate and administrative law for several years with Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher in Washington, D.C. She graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School and clerked for Judge Thomas B. Griffith on the D.C. Circuit.
Capito, during a press briefing Thursday, said See has a “history of fighting for sensible energy policies.”
“She’s fought the ‘Clean Power Plan,’ and so I like to have that set of ears at FERC — they have a lot to do with setting the priorities for energy transmission and regulation,” Capito said. “I think she’ll be very successful.”
Capito and Manchin have each advocated repeatedly over the last several years for reforming the federal energy project permitting process. They have championed measures that would expedite FERC’s issuance of such permits; they have also advocated for measures that would limit legal challenges against approved energy projects.
Gov. Jim Justice, the GOP nominee for the Manchin’s Senate seat, recently said he would also take up the cause of permitting reform if he is elected in November.
“Absolutely, it will be a priority from my standpoint that we’ve got to have an energy policy,” Justice said. “I’m going to carry the banner as strong as I can possibly carry it, that’s for absolute dadgum sure.”
During this year’s regular session of the Legislature, state lawmakers adopted a resolution calling on Congress to enact reforms to the permitting process.
Senate Concurrent Resolution 16 asks federal lawmakers to revise current policies related to permitting and environmental review processes in the interest of promoting “economic and environmental stewardship by expediting the deployment of modern energy infrastructure,” according to Senate President Craig Blair, R-Berkeley.
“The federal government’s permitting process is a system of unnecessarily complex, redundant and uncertain (rules), thereby discouraging investment and job creation in the energy sector,” he said.
Manchin, who chose not to run for re-election, has said he would like to see the federal energy permitting process overhauled before his term is up.
“We have to get permitting done. That’s my final goal — to get permitting done,” he said in mid-November. “And I’m determined to get that done.”
Manchin, chairman of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, laid out the case for permitting reform in an op-ed published last spring, saying the current process is “broken” and “consumed by bureaucratic delays and endless litigation at every turn.”
“Let me be clear: The road ahead to enact meaningful permitting reforms is not easy,” he wrote. “But if we put partisan politics aside and truly work on behalf of all West Virginians and the American people, like they deserve, then we can find a solution that strengthens our energy security and ensures America remains a global energy leader.”
Capito, who serves as the ranking Republican member of the Senate Committee on Environmental and Public Works, has said she plans to continue backing efforts to overhaul the permitting process.
“We’re trying to push some permitting reforms so that we can have more grid development to handle the new electric economy that we’re moving towards,” she said. “We are straining our grid right now; you see certain blackouts in areas and brownouts. And we also need to have judicial review there, so we don’t have these unending legal battles like you saw with the Mountain Valley Pipeline.”