As his time at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission comes to a close, Chairman Richard Glick is hopeful the White House will name a successor soon to avoid a lapse in leadership.

The outgoing chairman expects President Joe Biden to nominate two new candidates next year as replacements for himself and Commissioner James Danly, Glick said in a Dec. 22 interview.

Danly, a Republican, is serving a term set to expire June 30, 2023, though he could remain at FERC until the end of that year if a White House nominee is not approved by the Senate. Glick said it makes sense for Biden to pair a new Republican-supported nominee with a Democrat to replace him after Glick failed to gain a renomination vote from the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, chaired by Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va.

Acknowledging he does not have inside information on White House reasoning about Danly's future at FERC, Glick said, "I would highly doubt that he's ever going to get renominated again for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is he lives in Tennessee, and he doesn't really spend a lot of time at the commission and working with the other commissioners."

Glick said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., is expected to provide input to the White House on a non-Democrat to pair with his replacement to gain Senate confirmation.

Glick, who has been at FERC as commissioner and chairman since late 2017, said his last day at FERC once Congress adjourns is expected to be Jan. 2, 2023, and that he recently spoke with White House officials about the need to name a chairman to avoid a leadership lapse.

"I talked to them about the timing. I don't know who it might be" to take over the chairman post, he said of discussions with the White House.

"I don't know their timetable," Glick said. "They realize they need to make a decision relatively soon."

Unlike the Senate confirmation process that has brought Glick's tenure to an end, the White House does not need Senate approval to name a chairman from among sitting commissioners. Presidents typically elevate members of their own parties, meaning Biden is likely debating whether to appoint Democratic Commissioners Allison Clements or Willie Phillips to the job.

No regrets over pipeline policy statements

Glick also addressed Manchin's opposition to his renomination. The senator did not agree with gas pipeline policy statements proposed last year to have FERC conduct more thorough analyses of the need for new natural gas facilities and their greenhouse gas emissions.

When asked if he considered scrapping the policy statements to gain Manchin's support, Glick said he did not. "To his great credit, he never said you need to do 'this,' otherwise I won't support you," Glick said of Manchin, who effectively sank Glick's nomination by declining to schedule a hearing on it.

As for the policy statements, which remain pending following a second round of comments and clear disagreement among commissioners, Glick said, "I don't regret one second trying to move forward" with them.

That is because FERC needs to address remands from appeals courts that have ruled the commission's analysis of pipeline applications and the environmental effects of new facilities are not sufficient, he said.

Glick believes that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, in a 2017 ruling vacating the commission's approval of the Sabal Trail pipeline in Florida, explicitly said FERC has the authority to reject a pipeline application if environmental issues are not sufficiently addressed. He does not know if a majority of his colleagues agree with that view.

"There's still a lot of disagreement among commissioners about how best to approach these issues. And at some point, the commission will have to grapple with that or the courts are going to keep sending the orders back to us," he said.

On the power side of FERC's responsibilities, Glick set a bold agenda when he became chairman in early 2021, pursuing broad reforms of FERC's transmission policies, trying to ensure grid reliability despite increasingly extreme weather, and assessing how organized markets should be updated to reflect a changing generation resource mix.

While he would have preferred to stay and see those items through to completion, "I'm confident others will continue to work on those issues," Glick said.

"We did tee up an ambitious agenda. And we got some things done" in the time he was chairman, Glick said. Whoever is at FERC and wields the gavel after he is gone, "these are all issues that will have to be addressed one way or the other," Glick said.

"We'll be issuing orders between now and the end of the year," Glick said, referring to companies often pressing for action on certain items before the calendar turns to 2023.

But orders in the coming week or so with five commissioners will not include "groundbreaking" items that require more time and analysis, he said.

Few party-line votes

While a FERC with two Republican commissioners and two Democrats presents the possibility of split votes along political party lines, Glick said he estimates that "less than 1%" of the 1,900 orders issued since he's been chairman was voted out along party lines. At least one Democrat voted with Republicans or vice versa on all but about 18 orders during his time as chairman, Glick said.

Having five commissioners is better than four, Glick acknowledged, but he also cited GOP Commissioner Mark Christie's recent comments that having four commissioners likely will not hold up action on many items.

Asked about possible 2-2 votes on electricity cases under the Federal Power Act, Glick pointed out that congressional changes to the law make 2-2 rulings appealable, with two such cases pending before the D.C. Circuit. A case involving the PJM Interconnection LLC's minimum offer price rule is set for oral argument soon and will be the first time an appeals court acts on a 2-2 ruling from the commission, Glick noted.

Commodity Insights reporter Thomas Tiernan produces content for distribution on Connect by S&P Global. S&P Global Commodity Insights is owned by S&P Global Inc.

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