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FERC Commissioner Chatterjee to Assume Chairman Role

By Dave Schryver posted 10-25-2018 11:44 AM

  
It was announced late on October 24 that Chairman McIntyre would, due to health-related issues, step down from his role as Chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). In 2017, Chairman McIntyre had surgery for a cancerous brain tumor and a letter he sent to the President earlier this week communicated that he is facing a “more serious health setback” that has left him “currently unable to perform the duties of Chairman with the level of focus that the position demands.” The President has designated Commissioner Neil Chatterjee to serve as Chairman. Now former-Chairman McIntyre will remain on FERC as a Commissioner. Commissioner Chatterjee served briefly as FERC Chairman from August 2017 until December 2017. There are currently two Democrats and two Republicans serving on FERC. The President has nominated Bernard McNamee to fill the FERC seat formerly held by Commissioner Rob Powelson. Mr. McNamee is currently the head of the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Policy and prior to that he served as a DOE Deputy General Counsel. In his role at DOE, Mr. McNamee was one of the architects of DOE’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, which proposed to provide cost recovery to electric generation plants with 90 days of fuel onsite. Before joining DOE, he was head of the Tenth Amendment Center at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, which is a think tank. A Senate Energy Committee hearing on his nomination has been scheduled for November 15.

APGA Board and Regulatory Subcommittee leadership meets with the FERC Commissioners twice a year as a means to communicate information and positions on federal regulatory matters of concern to public gas systems. These meetings play a critical role in APGA’s advocacy efforts as they have allowed APGA to develop and maintain a relationship with the Commissioners. APGA had previously met with the Commissioners in May and will do so again in December.

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.

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