- In an abrupt leadership shakeup at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Pres. Trump has demoted chairman Neil Chatterjee and handed the top job at the agency to fellow Republican commissioner James Danly.
- Chatterjee, former energy advisor to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, historically has promoted policies that favored coal, but in recent months he effectively endorsed carbon pricing in wholesale electricity markets and made it easier for renewables and energy storage to compete in those markets; Danly opposed both initiatives.
- If Joe Biden becomes president, Democratic Commissioner Richard Glick likely would be named chairman but the Republican-controlled Senate could use the remainder of its term to fill FERC's two open seats in a bid to retain party control of the agency under a Biden administration.
- "I am perfectly positioned to be the broker between a Biden Administration and Senate Republican majority to make meaningful progress on the clean energy transition," Chaterjee says.
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