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After less than a year in office, Commissioner Robert Powelson is leaving the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in August to become president and CEO of the National Association of Water Companies, a trade group for the private water industry. Commissioner Powelson, a Republican, was nominated by President Trump in May 2017 and confirmed by the Senate by voice vote in August 2017. He previously served as Chairman of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission. Commissioner Powelson’s term was scheduled to expire in June 2020.

In his short tenure, he voted on several gas pipeline projects that were approved by a 3-2 vote. The key split is the majority’s decision that it would no longer estimate greenhouse gas emissions on certain pipeline projects where production or downstream use of gas is not considered a cumulative or indirect impact. Most likely, to get pipelines approved, the Republican majority will need the vote of long-serving Democratic commissioner Cheryl LaFleur, who has approved some projects after making a greenhouse gas (GHG) assessment that the existing majority refuses to make. Powelson also was a strong voice opposing the Department of Energy’s (DOE) plans to use its emergency and national security authority to force regional grid operators to buy electricity from a list of coal and nuclear plants the department deems crucial to national security rather than rely on the free markets that FERC has created.

The last vacancies on FERC were filled only after a six-month hiatus during which there were not enough commissioners to vote out projects or rate cases.

For questions on this article, please contact Dave Schryver of APGA staff by phone at 202-464-2742 or by email at dschryver@apga.org.