Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairwoman Lisa Murkowski convened a confirmation hearing for three of President Trump’s energy nominees on Thursday, advising Democrats not to impose unnecessary delays on their appointments by attempting to blame them for the proposed cuts in the president’s budget request released Tuesday.
“Now, I don’t agree with everything in it, and questions about his views and priorities are certainly fair this morning,” the Alaska Republican said. “But I don’t think it’s going to do much good to try to hold [one of the nominees, Dan Brouillette] personally accountable … or try to delay his confirmation.”
Brouillette, who had served in government under former President George W. Bush, was nominated by Trump to be the Energy Department’s deputy secretary. Thursday’s hearing also took up the nominations of Neil Chatterjee and Robert Powelson to be commissioners at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the nation’s electricity and energy market watchdog.
“All of us are are very well aware that the president’s budget request proposes significant cuts to basic research and applied energy programs along with the elimination of certain programs that have proven to be effective for accelerating innovation,” Murkowski said. “And while Mr. Brouillette will play a significant role in developing and implementing any changes at [the Department of Energy], I think we should remember that the budget request was written without him.”
Murkowski wants to vote on all outstanding Energy and Interior Department nominees as soon as lawmakers return from their week-long Memorial Day recess.
Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., who served as the committee’s top Democrat at Thursday’s hearing, made clear that he would judge the FERC nominees and Brouilette based on how well they appear to support wind, solar and other forms of renewable energy.
“Both the Department Energy and at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission can play a key role in this clean energy revolution or they can hold us back, while our international competitors reap the rewards,” Franken said. “That is the prism through which I will view the nominees.”
Powelson supports renewable energy, but he also served as energy commissioner for Pennsylvania, the second-largest natural gas producer in the country, and was a critic of the Environmental Protection Agency’s climate rules. Chatterjee is a top Republican energy adviser from a the coal state of Kentucky, and worked for Senate Majority Leader Mich McConnell, who also was a firm opponent of former President Barack Obama’s climate change agenda.
FERC’s budget request for fiscal 2018 asked for a funding increases based on its ongoing natural gas workload in approving pipelines and energy export terminals, along with its oversight of hydropower facilities, which is the only renewable it mentions. Many Democrats favor wind and solar over hydropower.
Brouilette has a mixed background as an energy regulator in the oil and gas powerhouse of Louisiana, while also serving as vice president for Ford. He is currently the head of policy for USAA, the leading provider of financial services to the military community.
“It is essential that our government invest in research and development and we adopt the appropriate policies to maintain the U.S. as the world’s clean energy leader,” Franken said. “We are experiencing a dramatic transformation in our energy sector,” he added. “American innovation is not only changing how we produce and use energy, it is also providing an enormous opportunity in the growing global market for clean energy technologies.”
