The federal agency charged with regulating the nation’s energy grid will be changing captains later this month, at a time when it is facing a major challenge in figuring out what to do about aggressive pollution regulations that many believe could upend the reliable flow of electricity in many parts of the country.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission just wrapped up a four-part series of meetings on the impact and compliance hurdles that states face in complying with the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed Clean Power Plan. These new rules form the linchpin regulation for President Obama’s plan to curb the manmade greenhouse gas emissions that many scientists say is causing the Earth’s climate to warm.
The current chairman of the five-member commission is Cheryl LaFleur, who is poised to step down April 15 and let the new chairman, Norman Bay, take the reins.
It’s not a typical transition. It was concocted as part of a deal between Republicans and Democrats in the beginning of last year to keep Lafleur on as acting chairman because of lawmakers’ concerns that Bay — the president’s pick to lead the commission — was too inexperienced and did not know enough about the reliability problems facing the nation.
The other part of the transition that is not typical: it comes when the commission is up against the wall to devise a plan that allows states more time to comply with the Clean Power Plan if the grid could be harmed.
Lafleur, in an interview with the Washington Examiner, said she isn’t sweating the transition to a new chairman, but the EPA rules, which would require states to reduce their power-plant greenhouse gas emissions by individual targets, will be tricky.
“I hope I had a smooth transition with my predecessor [Jon Wellinghoff], and that was extremely quick. And in this case we had nine months of advance knowledge. So, if we can’t make a smooth transition with nine months head room, then shame on us,” LaFleur said.
Under the guidelines of the deal, she will step down as chairwoman April 15 but will retain her position as a Democrat on the commission until 2019.
At the same time, LaFleur just finished a series of conferences dealing with emission rules that she says probably will increase the commission’s workload for the next decade.
“We are stepping back from the … conferences and looking at how we … give comments to the EPA. I think it would be productive for [the commission] to do a straw draft of how [a reliability protection policy] might work,” LaFleur said.
The reliability policy is most commonly referred to as a “safety valve,” which would mirror a similar measure implemented under other EPA pollution standards. It gives power plants extra time to comply to keep the lights on. The previous rules dealt with individual power plants, but the Clean Power Plan deals with an entire state’s compliance, which LaFleur says adds a layer of complexity. The plan is expected to be finalized this summer.
“The next thing that is going to happen is EPA is going to finalize the rule. So, if there is anything that [the commission] wants to suggest in terms of inclusion as EPA finalizes the rule that’s pretty much now,” she said.
The EPA rules and the state and regional plans to comply with them could drive infrastructure needs and changes in the electricity market, issues that would involve the commission, she said. “So, I think [the EPA plan] will help shape a piece of our work for probably the next decade.”
LaFleur wants to draft a proposal soon to give to EPA on how to implement a reliability “safety valve.”
“In my own mind” developing a draft safety valve “is an April/May exercise because the Clean Power Plan is going final in the summer. So, if we are going to do it, we should do it in the next several weeks,” she said. She does not want to get ahead of her fellow commissioners — because developing a draft would have to be discussed with them first – but “the sense of the … conferences was that there is a role for [the commission] in helping the EPA consider reliability issues that might arise.”
She notes that Janet McCabe, the EPA assistant administrator charged with implementing the climate rules, said at the last conference in St. Louis that “she would welcome help in figuring that out.”
“As to precisely how we take that forward, what the form is on a piece of paper … I would have to work that out with my colleagues. But we’re thinking through the merits now.”
