FERC Chairman Richard Glick on Thursday told reporters he has five broad priorities in his new role, chief among them ensuring electricity market rules do not discriminate against new technology.
Speaking to the press for the first time since President Biden appointed him chair of the commission Jan. 21, Glick also listed:
- enabling “significant” transmission buildout and speeding up generator interconnection processes to facilitate the surge of renewable resources;
- accommodating state energy programs;
- improving the commission’s approval processes for natural gas infrastructure; and
- working with NERC to strengthen cybersecurity.
He also committed to building public confidence in FERC decision-making. As part of that, he pledged to be “as transparent as possible” with reporters and announced he would reinstitute post-meeting press conferences, which Commissioner James Danly halted while he was chair.
“I’m going to try my best to avoid saying, ‘The order speaks for itself,’ to avoid your questions,” Glick said.
Still, he declined to go into specifics on the many topics about which he was asked, including RTO minimum offer price rules (MOPRs); offshore transmission planning; and how he would address the commission’s languishing docket to consider how to revise its 1999 natural gas policy statement, instituted by Chair Kevin McIntyre before his death.
While Glick said he would work to gain unanimous support for orders, he also pledged not to “sit on” orders indefinitely if he did not have the full support of his colleagues, anticipating that he and follow Democratic Commissioner Allison Clements would issue some dissents before the expiration of Republican Neil Chatterjee’s term at the end of June. The Republicans will hold a 3-2 edge until Biden can fill the next vacancy on the commission.
Details to Come
Glick also announced he would create a new senior position to incorporate environmental justice into the commission’s decision-making.
The chairman did not go into specifics, such as under what office or division the official would work, saying he would have more details at FERC’s next open meeting Feb. 18. But he said the position would ensure decisions across the commission would take into account the concerns of historically marginalized communities.
“This position is not just a title,” Glick said in a statement. “I intend to do what it takes to empower this new position to ensure that environmental justice and equity concerns finally get the attention they deserve.”
He also said he would give more details about implementing FERC’s Office of Public Participation, to which Congress gave a budget under the Energy Act of 2020 — 42 years after the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act directed the commission to establish it.
On the Agenda
Later on Thursday, FERC released the preliminary agenda with a number of high-profile issues for next week’s open meeting. Included are the natural gas policy statement docket (PL18-1); the PJM MOPR docket (EL16-49-006); the NYISO buyer-side mitigation rules docket (EL16-92-004); and the ISO-NE Competitive Auctions with Sponsored Policy Resources docket (ER18-619-002).
It also lists the long stalled grid resilience inquiry docket (AL18-7), opened after the commission rejected the Energy Department’s 2017 proposal to order RTOs and ISOs to compensate the full operating costs of generators with 90 days of on-site fuel, the docket for which is also on the agenda (RM18-1). (See FERC Rejects DOE Rule, Opens RTO ‘Resilience’ Inquiry.)
