Executive Session

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, in a few moments, we are going to have an opportunity to vote on moving to proceed to the nominee for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. I come to the floor this afternoon to speak in support of that nominee, Mr. Bernard McNamee.

Mr. McNamee has been nominated to serve on the FERC--the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission--to complete the remainder of the term that runs through June 30, 2020.

The FERC is an independent agency within the Department of Energy. For a long period of time, nobody really paid much attention to the FERC or was quite sure what the mission was. The agency itself is one that has a very key and a very critical role within our country in that it regulates the electricity, the hydropower, the natural gas, and the oil pipeline industries. That basically means that FERC plays a critical role in keeping the lights on and ensuring the deliverability of reliable, safe, and affordable energy to American homes and businesses. The FERC really is key to so much of what goes on in the world of commerce and our economy.

It is important that we move forward with this vote today. If we confirm Mr. McNamee, FERC will once again have a full complement of five Commissioners on that agency. This is something we have worked hard to restore in this Congress for a period of time. The Commission was down to just three Commissioners. They have a lot of work to do. The responsibilities are hard. Making sure that they are at full speed must be a priority. It is necessary to enable the agency to address a substantial backlog of energy infrastructure project applications and decisions that are pending on a range of important energy matters.

Let's talk about the qualifications Mr. McNamee has to serve at the FERC. Over the course of his career, he served in the Federal Government, including here in the Senate and in two State governments. He has also worked in the energy practice group of a major law firm. As a result of his work and his experience, Mr. McNamee has a deep understanding of energy issues, and I think a clear appreciation of FERC's mission. He has made a strong commitment to continue FERC's role as an independent and an impartial regulator, which to me is key. He also knows that it is FERC's duty to keep the lights on and not to carry out policy decisions that are made by other parts of the Federal Government. His mission within the FERC is pretty well defined.

There has been some discussion about Mr. McNamee's prior position implementing policy during the brief tenure he had at the Department of Energy. This was at a time when the administration was considering whether it could provide economic relief to coal and nuclear powerplants. That has generated its own level of discussion. Some have suggested that Mr. McNamee's work at the Department raises questions about his independence and have compared him to Ron Binz. Mr. Binz was a former nominee for FERC Chairman back in 2013. I would remind colleagues that there is a difference here.

Back in 2013, when the Senate was considering Mr. Binz, in fairness, we didn't actually have him up for consideration on the floor. Mr. Binz voluntarily withdrew his nomination from consideration, and that was based on bipartisan concerns that were raised about substantive comments of his and the approach he took to recruit support for his own nomination. I would rather not rehash history today, but I think there is a clear difference between the two nominees, and I believe the concerns about Mr. McNamee's independence are largely unfounded.

First, the Department of Energy's proposal to FERC on coal and nuclear plants was unanimously rejected by FERC just about a year ago. The Commission is currently not considering any other administration proposal to assist coal or nuclear powerplants.

I think it is also wrong to suggest that because someone has experience implementing policy somewhere that they should be disqualified from any role as an independent regulator. In fact, in this Congress alone, we have already confirmed two former Senate policy staff members to the Commission. The first one was Neil Chatterjee, an individual many, many of us know. He previously served as the majority leader's energy policy adviser. The second one was Mr. Rich Glick, who served as senior counsel to Senator Cantwell on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

Like Chairman Chatterjee and Mr. Glick, Mr. McNamee's decisions as a Commissioner will not be contingent on the implementation of policy decisions in his prior roles. In private meetings and in his nomination hearing last month, Mr. McNamee repeatedly committed to be fair, to be objective, and to be an impartial arbiter in all of the cases that come before the Commission. He repeated this commitment in response to two rounds of questions for the record.

I believe Mr. McNamee understands and understands well that FERC is an independent Agency and that it must continue to function as such. I take his commitment to uphold FERC's autonomy and maintain an independent role as a Commissioner at face value. I also expect him to be fuel-neutral and not a champion of one resource over another.

As I mentioned, there is a lot of work that must go on at FERC. We need to have all five Commissioners in place to make sure that it happens. With a full set of Commissioners, FERC will be able to reduce or certainly work to reduce its backlog of energy infrastructure projects, including important natural gas pipelines and LNG export terminals.

If we are going to remain a prosperous nation with strong growth and affordable energy, we need our interstate pipeline network and our LNG facilities to continue to meet customer demands for our natural gas.

This resource serves a variety of critical needs, ranging from keeping us warm to enabling our manufacturing renaissance and, increasingly, to fuel our electric grid.

LNG exports also represent a significant opportunity for States like Alaska, scores of communities, and, looking abroad, for America's friends and allies.

FERC is also examining other important issues, including its regulations under the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act--PURPA-- the integration of energy storage onto the grid, and the impact of State policies on interstate electricity markets. These issues are incredibly complex, and they have widespread implications for our economy.

Again, it is key, it is timely, and it is important that we have a full complement on the FERC. Mr. McNamee is well qualified to join the other Commissioners in tackling these issues, and I urge all of my colleagues to support his nomination.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source