Protesters attempted to cause chaos at a confirmation hearing Thursday in the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, targeting President Trump’s nominees for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
“Shut FERC down! FERC hurts families! Shut FERC down!” protesters chanted in the committee room as Chairwoman Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, attempted to question nominees Neil Chatterjee and Robert Powelson.
The commission has been shut down for months after losing most of its members by the time President Trump was sworn in as president, leaving the independent agency without a quorum of at least three commissioners to operate. The commission is in charge of permitting interstate natural gas pipelines, as well as overseeing the nation’s vast wholesale energy markets.
Many environmental and climate change activist groups, who oppose natural gas development, want to keep the doors closed at FERC and block any new commissioners from being confirmed.
After delaying the hearing briefly, the confirmation hearing resumed.
Murkowski placed the blame for the lack of quorum squarely on the shoulders of former President Barack Obama.
“This is a significant hearing,” Murkowski said. “It is significant because this is a step toward restoring a crucial, independent commission to functionality.”
She said FERC has been operating without a quorum since Feb. 3 for two reasons. “First, it was President Obama’s failure to nominate the two Republican seats that were vacated in 2015 and 2016,” she said. FERC’s five-member panel is made up of equal numbers of Democrats and Republicans, with the chairman being of the same party as the president.
The second reason for the commission’s closure was due to former FERC “Commissioner Norman Bay’s decision to resign from his term in February, well before it was scheduled to end,” she added. “And as a result of those two factors, this is the first time in 40 years that FERC has lacked a quorum.”
Now because of the FERC shutdown, nearly $50 billion in energy investments is at risk, she noted.
