(Washington, DC) -- As protesters scaled Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission headquarters on Thursday morning, observers couldn’t help
but remark that the long chapter in the agency’s history as a politics-free
zone is swiftly coming to a close.
FERC has become “more and more” politicized over the last
few years as it's been dragged into partisan fights over coal, renewables, and
climate change, Robert Dillon, former head of communications for the Senate
Energy and Natural Resources Committee told John.
FERC has “usually been pretty bipartisan in the past, but
it’s becoming more and more controversial,” Dillon added.
Dillon had been on the energy committee when politics first
began to enter nominating new FERC commissioners when President Barack Obama
was in the White House. His nominations received huge pushback by the GOP over
climate change and a perceived lack of industry friendliness. It got so intense
that some nominees began to drop out.
Steadying the ship at the agency for nearly a decade has
been Democratic commissioner Cheryl LaFleur, who strangely enough received both
Republican and Democratic support for her ability to remain objective and
nonpartisan in both her role as FERC member and chairwoman.
But LaFleur’s term is expiring on June 30. And even though
she says she is willing to stay on, possibly through the end of the year until
the White House nominates a replacement, the commission is losing its
longest-serving member.
One federal official called it an “end of an era” at the
agency that once quietly did its work away from the political spotlight.
Industry sources tell John that it doesn’t appear hopeful
that new members will be nominated by June 30, which won’t give LaFleur much
incentive to stay on the commission.
LaFleur’s office says if there is no nominee named, she is
willing to remain on the commission through the fall but does not plan to still
be here at the end of the year.
A lot of the timing of her departure will depend on her
future employment, but she hasn’t set a date yet, her office added.
A rapidly shrinking commission: LaFleur leaving, coupled by
a Republican vacancy, will leave FERC desperately short of members, slowing the
approval of pipelines and energy infrastructure projects that Trump’s agenda
demands.
Sen. Chuck Schumer, the Democratic leader from New York, who
has a role in picking new Democratic commissioners, informed LaFleur that he
would not be renominating her for the position. Instead, he is floating Allison
Clements, a top lawyer with the Natural Resources Defense Council, an
environmental group, to fill the spot.
Schumer has been quiet for over a month on whether Clements
will be his choice. Because of her background working for a big environmental
group, she is generally viewed as unlikely to break GOP opposition.
The question, according to Dillon, is whether Republicans
going to oppose her to the point that it holds up the nomination process. “The
problem is the commission needs to work to get a lot of stuff that needs to be
done,” he adds.
FERC has become crucial to the Trump administration’s energy
dominance agenda, which is dependent on the commission’s environmental reviews
and siting decisions to get pipelines and energy export terminals built.
A coalition of oil and natural gas trade groups began
prodding Trump earlier this week to do something soon and not let the
commission linger short of its optimal five members.
