W.Va. Officials Praise West Virginia FERC Nominee

The U.S. Senate confirmed three new nominees for the nation’s regulator of major energy projects, including West Virginia’s solicitor general who won a recent victory before the U.S. Supreme Court blocking a major environmental rule.

On Wednesday, Senators approved of two nominations by President Joe Biden to the five-member Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Those approved nominations were Democrat David Rosner for a three-year term and Republican Lindsay See for a four-year term. Senators voted on the nomination of Democrat Judy Chang for a five-year term Thursday.

See serves as the solicitor general for the West Virginia Attorney General’s Office, the top position that argues cases on behalf of the state before the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals, the U.S. Supreme Court, and federal appeals courts. A native of Michigan, she is a 2011 magna cum laude graduate of the Harvard Law School and clerked for now-retired U.S. D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Thomas B. Griffith. She also practiced law with prominent D.C. law firm Gibson, Dunn and Crutcher.

Joining the Attorney General’s Office in 2018, See argued before the U.S. Supreme Court in West Virginia vs. EPA. In a 6-3 ruling in 2022, the majority of Supreme Court justices determined the Environmental Protection Agency overstepped its authority in how it regulates greenhouse gas emissions, siding with West Virginia that the EPA overstepped its congressional authority.

U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., supported See’s FERC nomination, which was announced by Biden in February. Federal statute requires that no more than three FERC members be from the same political party. See was recommended for the Republican nomination by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

“Lindsay See obviously has a history of fighting for sensible energy policies. In West Virginia,” said Capito, the ranking Republican member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, during a conference call with reporters Thursday morning. “She’s fought the Clean Power Plan, so I’d like to have that set of ears at FERC…I think she will be very successful and I wish her the best and certainly voted for her in the process.”

See’s nomination was also supported by U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, I-W.Va, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. Manchin spoke on the Senate floor Wednesday supporting See and the other FERC nominees.

“David Rosner, Lindsay See and Judy Chang are very different people, from very different backgrounds,” Manchin said. “What matters most is their willingness to work with one another, to consider and assess fairly different interests and points of view, and to put partisan passions aside in favor of the public interest.”

Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, the Republican candidate for governor of West Virginia in November, praised See’s appointment to FERC in a statement Wednesday.

“I am very proud that Lindsay See, West Virginia’s Solicitor General, was confirmed as a commissioner of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. I am confident that Lindsay will serve the commission to the best of her abilities, just like her dedication to the people of West Virginia through the Attorney General’s Office.”

FERC is an independent agency that regulates major energy infrastructure projects, such as electric transmission lines, power plant construction, and pipelines. Earlier this week, FERC gave the final approval for Equitrans Midstream Corp.to begin transporting natural gas through the 304-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline that connects Wetzel County to the Transco Pipeline in Pittsylvania County, Va.

Completion of the Mountain Valley Pipeline was part of a deal more than one year ago on the debt ceiling. Language in the debt ceiling bill directed federal agencies to issue any remaining permits and shield permits from further legal review.

“I think they are expected to turn the gas on at the beginning of next week, but that is still yet to be determined,” Capito said. “After everything they’ve been through that we’ve helped them through to make sure the MVP pipeline can get completed, they certainly don’t want to jump the date here. I am very proud of the investment here. I’m very proud that we were able to push this over the edge in terms of getting it to the President’s desk.”

Chang’s nomination was more contentious, with her nomination passing Thursday afternoon in a 66-33 vote. Chang was the undersecretary of Energy and Climate Solutions under former Republican Massachusetts Gov. Charles Baker.

“I can think of no better preparation for serving on a bipartisan commission than working for a Republican administration in a very blue state,” said Manchin regarding Chang during his floor remarks Wednesday.

Breaking from Manchin, Capito said she could not support Chang’s nomination, citing past statements opposing the construction of pipelines to transport natural gas and carbon emissions for underground carbon capture and sequestration.

“She is anti-pipeline in her statements and in her past life,” Capito said. “She is not interested in having safe infrastructure to carry one of our most valuable resources, certainly being our natural gas. If we’re going to have a hybrid economy, we’re going to have to build these. If we’re going to have a carbon-free economy, we’re going to have to build pipelines to carry carbon. Yet, she doesn’t have a realistic view about this, and that’s going to be the guts of the decisions she will be making.”