What does the full FERC panel mean for the grid?

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is set to welcome new members as a potential political earthquake in November could upend the panel’s task of implementing a transformative power grid rule.

With the final hurdles cleared toward Senate confirmation, two Democrats and a Republican are joining FERC just weeks after the commission approved on a party-line vote the most far-reaching energy policy initiative in decades. The landmark transmission rule required states and utilities to begin a long-term regional planning process as the United States tries to meet growing energy demand and transition to a zero-emission electric grid.

The additions expand the commission’s membership to the full five members and change an ideological divide that often pitted the views of Commissioner Allison Clements, on the left, against Commissioner Mark Christie, on the right.

The three new members sailed through the Senate after Sen. Joe Manchin (IW.Va.) and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., urged senators to fill new commissioners so FERC can address vital natural gas and electricity issues .

“FERC was on the brink of losing quorum, which would have created a backlog and slowed progress on new projects that power our homes and communities,” Schumer said in a statement.

The two Democrats who joined the committee were Judy Chang, a former Massachusetts energy and climate official, and David Rosner, a former Manchin adviser. West Virginia Solicitor General Lindsay See joins as a member of the Republican Party.

Chairman Willie Phillips, a Democrat, congratulated FERC’s three new appointments in a statement: “The commission works best with five members” and “will work together to ensure reliable, affordable and sustainable energy for all consumers.”

“It’s kind of like an all-star team joining FERC,” said Travis Kavulla, a former Montana energy regulator and vice president of regulatory affairs at NRG Energy.

Now observers will be watching to see how FERC handles the rejection of the landmark transmission scheduling rule, passed with the votes of Phillips and Clements, who will leave the committee later this month. Many states and utilities urged the commission to back down on its conclusions Wednesday, on the grounds that it weakens individual state power.

Christie, the only Republican on the committee at the time of last month’s vote, said FERC overstepped its authority by passing a rule that could force states to bear the costs of building grids to accommodate more renewable energy.

What happens if Trump wins?

What happens in the November election could give Christie and See the power to shape how the broadcast rule is enforced — in a way they don’t have now under a Democratic president who can appoint the FERC chairman.

Former President Donald Trump, the presumptive candidate of the Republican Party, has so far advocated an agenda antagonistic to wind energy, electric cars and climate policy – all of which argue for building a larger and more advanced energy grid.

However, E&E News sources who spoke to POLITICO noted that FERC’s independent status gives it significant autonomy despite being part of the Department of Energy. The confirmations of Chang, Rosner and See “continue FERC’s tradition of being an independent regulatory commission,” Kavulla said, “and not merely a complement to any federal administration in power.”

Edison Electric Institute CEO Dan Brouillette said each new member “brings extensive experience in the energy sector and a clear commitment to public service,” especially as demand for electricity “is growing at a rate not seen in 30 years.”

Ray Long, who heads the U.S. Renewable Energy Council, said the commission faces “many critical tasks, including expanding interregional transmission, accelerating the deployment of advanced transmission technologies, reforming energy markets to maximize the benefits of clean energy technologies, and Continuously improving the interconnection process.”

It is unlikely that this will be done before the November elections. The next big step in transmission – introducing a policy of building power lines connecting entire regions to increase electricity reliability – has met with opposition in Congress.

But the nominations did not satisfy everyone. Environmental justice issues often arise in the context of natural gas pipelines and export terminals.

“Nothing said by any of the nominees during their confirmation hearings did anything to reassure climate justice advocates,” said Lukas Ross, deputy director of Friends of the Earth’s climate and energy justice program.

The environmental group launched a campaign in March against Rosner’s nomination to FERC, pointing to previous statements of support for natural gas.

The new composition of the commission will include four former government officials. Phillips previously served on the Washington Public Service Commission, and Christie previously served on the Virginia State Corporation Commission.

With Clements’ departure, the commission will lose a member who has consistently urged FERC to consider greenhouse gas emissions from natural gas projects the commission is expected to authorize. She also strongly supported a failed lawsuit led by former FERC Chairman Richard Glick that tried to require the Commission to consider the costs of climate change in its decision-making.

On the issue of global warming emissions, “you’ve already seen the shift that happened from Chairman Glick to Chairman Phillips, and now you can see a further shift in the same direction with the new commission,” Kavulla said.

Gas in the era of climate change

See, as West Virginia’s attorney general, has long fought against environmental regulation and advocated for the contentious Mountain Valley Pipeline, a 304-mile natural gas pipeline being built from northwestern West Virginia to southern Virginia.

Rosner, as an adviser to Manchin, has expressed support for some GOP energy priorities, such as promoting liquefied natural gas exports.

Chang in 2018 expressed uncertainty about New England’s gas infrastructure, but in her confirmation she expressed no such doubts about the energy source. From 2020 to 2023, she served as Massachusetts’ undersecretary for energy and climate solutions under Republican Governor Charlie Baker.

Democrats will still maintain a majority on the committee. However, another Trump presidency opens the possibility of electing a Republican commissioner to chair the commission. The Chair is responsible for setting FERC’s agenda.

“This obviously puts the agency in an interesting situation if the committee chair is not from the party that constitutes the majority of the committee members,” Kavulla said.