By Rich Heidorn Jr.

The Senate on Thursday night confirmed Pennsylvania regulator Robert Powelson and GOP aide Neil Chatterjee to FERC, effectively restoring the quorum the commission lost six months ago.

Confirmation of the two Republican nominees was never in doubt in the GOP-controlled Senate, but their nominations languished for almost two months after the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee approved them on a 20-3 vote June 6, as Democrats reportedly held out for an assurance that the Senate would also move on Democratic nominee Richard Glick.

That hurdle was cleared when the committee announced it had scheduled a Sept. 7 confirmation hearing for Glick, general counsel for the Democrats on the panel, and Republican attorney Kevin McIntyre, whom President Trump nominated as chairman. That action came after the White House, which had announced Trump’s intent to nominate Glick in late June and McIntyre almost a month ago, formally submitted their nominations to the Senate on Wednesday.

Excitement, then a Nervous Wait

Powelson, a member of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, and Chatterjee, senior energy policy adviser to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), were included on the 1 p.m. Senate Executive Calendar Thursday. That set off a flurry of excitement in the offices of energy lawyers and interest groups with issues before the commission.

Dan Brouillette, who had his confirmation hearing alongside the FERC nominees in May, was confirmed by the Senate as deputy secretary of energy shortly after noon. But doubts that Powelson and Chatterjee would win a vote before the Senate began its August recess grew later in the day. The upper house will not return until Sept. 5.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), chairwoman of the Senate energy panel, took the Senate podium at about 6:30 p.m. to request a vote after a lengthy quorum call — when the Senate remained in session but no action was taking place on the floor. The nominees were confirmed by a unanimous voice vote.

Chatterjee, of Kentucky, will replace Tony Clark, whose term expired last Sept. 30. Powelson is replacing Philip Moeller, whose term expired in October 2015.

Murkowski called Chatterjee “an invaluable asset” to her and her committee staff. “Extremely committed and dedicated. And it’s just been a real pleasure to work with him,” Murkowski said on the floor after the vote. “I don’t know Mr. Powelson as well, but having had an opportunity to advance his name before the Energy committee for confirmation too, I know that the … credentials that he will bring to the commission are greatly appreciated.”

Murkowski said restoring FERC’s quorum was essential to building new energy infrastructure. “In order to proceed with much of this you have to have the FERC actually operating: Working to review the permits; working through the ratemaking cases. It is substantive work. It is challenging work. It is work that has now been stopped up for months and months. So, knowing that FERC will be able to commence its operations again with a quorum is really good news today.”

Backlog to Clear

Once the two are sworn in, the commission will be able to resume work on the hundreds of contested dockets that have languished since February, when Chairman Norman Bay resigned after Trump named Cheryl LaFleur acting chair. The commission typically does not meet in public in August. Its next open meeting is scheduled for Sept. 20.

With only LaFleur and Commissioner Colette Honorable, the commission lacked the three-member quorum required to issue most significant orders. LaFleur was left alone on the commission when Honorable left once her term expired June 30.

FERC staffers have been able to issue only delegated orders; contested dockets and rulemakings have been at a standstill. As a result, LaFleur said, the commission has issued only a fraction of the 100 commission-authorized orders it averages a month.

Glick would replace Honorable for a term expiring in June 2022. McIntyre would finish Bay’s term and be reappointed for a term expiring June 2023. (See Trump Names Energy Lawyer McIntyre as FERC Chair.)

Turnover

In an interview in May, LaFleur noted that the four new commissioners will represent the biggest turnover at the commission since at least 1993. LaFleur joined the panel in July 2010. (See LaFleur Braces for ‘FERC 2.0’ Under Trump.)

In addition to the backlog of routine but contested orders they must clear, the new commissioners also will have to deal with another series of federal-state jurisdictional issues — moves by policymakers in RTO states to subsidize in-state generation. (See RTO Markets at Crossroads, Hobbled FERC Ponders Options.)

The confirmations were greeted with relief by many — but not all — stakeholders.

“Happy day!” tweeted LaFleur. “Very excited to work with new Commissioners Chatterjee and Powelson!”

Edison Electric Institute President Tom Kuhn said Chatterjee and Powelson “bring a wealth of experience, and a strong commitment to public service.” Kuhn said EEI’s priorities for FERC are “improving the functioning and price formation in wholesale markets, updating the transmission planning process, streamlining the siting and permitting process, developing predictability for the return on equity (ROE) in order to attract investment, and ensuring reliability and energy grid security.”

“We appreciate the Senate’s action to confirm both Robert Powelson and Neil Chatterjee,” said Jim Matheson, CEO of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association. “Restoring FERC’s quorum will allow the commission to move forward on critical co-op issues such as access to a diverse power supply and the certification of natural gas pipelines.”

Advanced Energy Economy said it hoped the new commissioners will be receptive to “an energy system that encourages innovation and allows all technologies to compete fairly in wholesale markets while also respecting the right of states to set policy goals of their own.”

“We believe that market rules should not lock in old technologies at the expense of newer ones that can do more for less,” the group continued in a statement. “With a quorum restored at FERC and two more nominations pending, we look forward to working with the commissioners to remove all barriers to advanced energy technologies competing in wholesale electricity markets.”

Some environmental activists, however, would rather the commission remain unable to approve new interstate gas pipelines. (See Pipeline Foes Like Hobbled FERC Just the Way it is.) The activist coalition Beyond Extreme Energy said that two dozen protesters blockaded the front door at the D.C. office of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) Thursday, resulting in arrests. The protesters carried a banner asking Schumer to oppose the FERC nominees and the Energy and Natural Resources Act of 2017 (S 1460), which environmentalists have labeled the “Dirty Energy Bill.”