Sen. Lisa Murkowski, the Republican chairwoman of the energy committee, warned Friday of a crisis at the nation’s energy watchdog, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
The problem is the five-member commission will be rendered ineffective by the end of next week after former President Barack Obama’s agency chairman, Norman Bay, decided to jump ship instead of staying on as commissioner through the 2018 end of his five-year term.
Trump attempted to shore up the hemorrhaging by appointing commissioner Cheryl LaFleur, also a Democrat appointed by Obama, as chairwoman on Thursday, but that seemed to tighten Bay’s resolve to leave. He will step down Feb. 3.
Bay’s resignation will leave FERC with just two commissioners, LaFleur and commissioner Colette Honorable, meaning the agency does not have a quorum to sign off on projects and make decisions key to running the nation’s grid.
“I will make it a top priority to work with President Trump and my colleagues to move nominees rapidly and to re-establish a working quorum on the commission,” Murkowski said Friday.
The independent agency likely will be key to any infrastructure plan put forth by Trump. It has primary permitting authority over interstate natural gas pipelines and electric transmission lines, while being key to permitting energy export terminals and sanctioning power plant operations.
Murkowski, as chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, has primary oversight of the commission and wants to prevent Senate wrangling over Trump’s nominees to prevent a key agency charged with managing the nation’s electricity supply to go dark. The five-member commission is made up of an equal number Republicans and Democrats, with the chairman coming from the party of the president.
“After next week, FERC will need a full complement of commissioners as soon as possible so that it can tackle the important work on its busy docket,” Murkowski said. “The Senate’s challenge will be to promptly consider, without undue delay, FERC nominations once they are received.”
FERC is involved in a number of development projects and has been fending off legal attacks from environmental groups, as well as even opposition from the Environmental Protection Agency over its decisions to approve a number of pipelines to connect natural gas wells in Pennsylvania’s shale region to the Northeast.
Officials with the Sierra Club praised Bay for stepping down down, since the move scuttles the ability of the commission to approve large natural gas pipelines. They also rebuked LaFleur as “pro-pipeline.”
“When President Trump appointed pro-pipeline FERC Commissioner Cheryl LaFleur as chair, it caused Chair Norman Bay to resign and now the agency doesn’t have a quorum,” said Jeff Tittel, the director of the New Jersey chapter of Sierra Club, who is leading the charge against a number of pipeline projects. “With Bay’s resignation there will be not enough votes to approve pipelines, which will cause a temporary moratorium.”
“This could delay pipeline approvals by months or even a year if we fight Trump’s nominations,” Tittel said. “Trump’s nominations will be climate-deniers and pro-dirty fuels like his proposed Cabinet, which is why we need our senators to stand up against them.”
Bay sent his letter of resignation, thanking Obama for his time at the agency, which has been deemed one of the best places to work in the federal government. His nomination was meant with staunch opposition over his record of strong-arming industry through his prior role as FERC’s enforcement chief.
At the time, LaFleur was serving as interim chairwoman after former Chairman Jon Wellinghoff resigned. Republicans favored LaFleur to remain as chairwoman over Bay.
Murkowski and a number of other senators opposed Bay’s nomination, freezing his confirmation until the White House worked out a deal to keep LaFleur as chairwoman while Bay was brought on as a commissioner to acclimate him to the workings of the commission for several months. After that, Bay took over as head of the agency.
