While the reported pick of David Rosner to be chair of FERC might appear to be a rare bipartisan move from the White House, sources familiar with the issues said in interviews that it represents another step in exerting control over what historically has been an independent agency. (See Reports: Trump to Name Democrat Rosner as FERC Chair.)
Sources who know FERC well were granted anonymity to speak candidly with RTO Insider about politically sensitive issues.
On Aug. 8, several outlets reported that a White House source said Rosner would be named chair. But as of close-of-business Aug. 11, the White House had yet to designate a chair, and FERC’s website listed only three sitting commissioners. Without a chair, the agency cannot issue orders. In the past, former Commissioner Bill Massey was named chair for literally a weekend as President Bill Clinton was transferring power to President George W. Bush during the Western Energy Crisis.
President Donald Trump issued an executive order in February directing FERC and other “so-called” independent agencies to submit proposed and final significant regulatory orders to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs for review before they could be published in the Federal Register. (See Trump Claims Authority over Independent Agencies in Executive Order.)
Former Chair Mark Christie, who stepped down from the agency Aug. 8, actually spent most of his first press conference defending that order, arguing that FERC never enacts policies at cross purposes with the White House’s goals. But he also said he never would allow discussions of pending items before the commission covered by ex parte rules. Ultimately, he proved too independent for this White House. (See FERC’s Christie Says Existing Policies Can Align with Trump Order.)
While the idea of ending FERC independence might seem short-sighted given that Democrats could retake the White House in 2028, one source said the view there now is “to the winner goes the spoils” and some members of the minority party would be happy to steer the agency when they are next in control of the presidency.
Nobody who spoke with RTO Insider could remember a time when a White House had passed over a nominee from their own party to name a chair from the other. In Trump’s first term, he demoted Norman Bay and elevated Cheryl LaFleur to run the agency again, but there were no Republicans on the commission after a dispute between President Barack Obama and members of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee over nominees.
Opposition from former Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia (at the time a Democrat, though he converted to independent in 2024 before leaving office) to nominee Ron Binz and then making Bay the chair was part of that dispute with Obama. Manchin went on to chair that Senate committee and was a major supporter of Rosner, who was detailed to it from FERC before being nominated.
Everyone interviewed by RTO Insider praised Rosner as a well-qualified commissioner who would do a good job for as long as he runs the agency. But his pick could indicate the White House is favoring nominees who back specific policies as part of its efforts to control FERC.
Sources pointed to the order from November when Christie and Commissioner Lindsay See voted against allowing a data co-location contract between Amazon Web Services and Talen Energy. (See FERC Rejects Expansion of Co-located Data Center at Susquehanna Nuclear Plant.)
The co-location order proved unpopular with owners of merchant nuclear plants who value the deals to hedge against the possibility of lower power prices in the future, which would help keep them open for decades. Data center developers also were not happy, but with the largest of them having massive balance sheets, they have found ways to keep expanding.
One source said Rosner has proven more eager to support natural gas infrastructure development, while See appears more inclined to pay heed to legal arguments that FERC needs to consider their environmental impacts and emissions.
Trump has nominated Laura Swett and David LaCerte to the two open seats on the commission, and the Senate likely will move on those nominations this fall. Swett has been expected to be named chair, and while sources likewise praised her abilities, she also might have been nominated due to being more willing to work with the White House than Christie was.
One source said Rosner could make that same deal and stay as chair even after Trump gets his own nominees on the commission.
Regardless of who runs FERC for the next several years, the issue of its independence, and that of all similarly structured agencies, is going to rise to the Supreme Court, where the same “unitary executive theory” the White House is pursuing is popular among Republican justices.
In an order from May 22 overruling a stay that would have stopped Trump from firing members of the National Labor Relations Board and the Merit Systems Protection Board, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the government was likely to win that case, though the question is better left for resolution after a full briefing and argument.
Justice Elena Kagan, joined by the two other Democrat nominees on the court, pushed back on the chief justice’s argument that such agencies exercise considerable executive power on behalf of the president.
“Congress created them all, though at different times, out of one basic vision,” she wrote. “It thought that in certain spheres of government, a group of knowledgeable people from both parties — none of whom a president could remove without cause — would make decisions likely to advance the long-term public good.”
