By Michael Brooks

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on Tuesday voted to advance to the full Senate the nominations of James Danly as a FERC commissioner and Dan Brouillette as secretary of energy.

Danly passed the committee 12-8. Except for ranking member Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), all Democrats — and independent Sens. Bernie Sanders (Vt.) and Angus King (Maine), who caucus with the party — voted against Danly, currently FERC general counsel.

Before the vote, Manchin bluntly said that “what the White House has done is wrong,” referring to President Trump declining to pair Danly’s nomination with that of Allison Clements, clean energy markets program director for the Energy Foundation and the Democrats’ choice for the party’s open seat on the commission. (See Danly Sails Through Hearing as Democrats Huff.)

“I will not withhold my vote for Mr. Danly, because then I’d be no better than they are,” Manchin said.

“I’m going to continue to implore the White House to give us a working FERC,” he said at the end of the meeting.

Brouillette, currently deputy secretary of energy, enjoyed more bipartisan support, passing 16-4. Sanders and Democratic Sens. Ron Wyden (Ore.), Mazie Hirono (Hawaii) and Catherine Cortez-Masto (Nev.) voted against him. (See Brouillette Poised to Become Energy Secretary.) Cortez-Masto cited the Energy Department’s secret shipment of plutonium to Nevada from South Carolina last year as the reason for her vote.

“My vote today is a vote of concern about the Department of Energy’s relationship with the state of Nevada. I am hopeful that it improves,” she said. “I hope I am wrong in my vote today: that Dan Brouillette will step up and work with the state of Nevada [and] will come back and earn the trust of Nevadans.”

The committee also advanced several bills to the floor at its meeting, including:

• S. 876, which would amend the Energy Policy Act of 2005 to require the secretary of energy to establish a program to prepare veterans for careers in the energy industry, including the solar, wind, cybersecurity, and other low-carbon emissions sectors or zero-emissions sectors;
• S. 2368, which would amend the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 and EPAct05 to support licensing and relicensing of certain nuclear facilities and nuclear energy research, demonstration and development; (Hirono voted against this bill.)
• S. 2508, which would require the secretary of energy to establish a council to conduct a survey and analysis of the employment figures and demographics in the energy, energy efficiency and motor vehicle sectors of the U.S.;
• S. 2556, which would amend the Federal Power Act to provide energy cybersecurity investment incentives, and to establish a technical assistance program for cybersecurity investments; (See Senate ENR Seeks $250M for Utility Cyber Spending.)
• S. 2657, intended to support innovation in advanced geothermal research and development;
• S. 2668, which would establish a program for research, development and demonstration of solar energy technologies;
• S. 2688, which would amend EPAct05 to establish an Office of Technology Transitions;
• S. 2702, which would require the secretary of energy to establish an integrated energy systems research, development and demonstration program; and
• S. 2714, which would amend the America COMPETES Act to reauthorize the Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy program.

The bills passed by voice vote with no discussion, with much of the committee’s nearly two-hour meeting devoted to debating land-use and parks bills. Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) voted against all of the above bills.