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US Senate committee advances more energy bills, waits on FERC nominees

The U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources approved another wave of energy bills Sept. 25, including legislation to bolster the development of grid-scale power storage systems.

But the panel remains in wait-and-see mode on when the Trump administration will announce nominees to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and whether the White House will pair a GOP nominee with a Democrat.

The committee voted Sept. 25 to advance 20 pieces of legislation, many of which touched on energy. The business meeting followed the committee's approval in July of several other energy bills, including legislation to reestablish U.S. leadership in civilian nuclear energy applications.

The votes are part of the committee's efforts to advance bipartisan energy legislation that can withstand party-based divides on climate change and clean energy policy. But the outlook for the bills may be clouded by a fight to fill vacancies at FERC after the death of former Commissioner Kevin McIntyre in January and the exit of member Cheryl LaFleur in late August.

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U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska.

Source: AP

The Trump administration was said to be on the cusp of naming FERC general counsel James Danly as a Republican nominee. But Democrats in Congress want the White House to couple such a nomination with a Democratic pick. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., reportedly threatened to hold up any energy-related legislation from the committee unless Republican and Democratic FERC nominees move in tandem.

U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, who chairs the Senate energy committee, said Schumer has not made such comments to her, and she would need the White House to send her a name for FERC before she can decide whether to advance a GOP nominee alone.

"I have nobody to pair, so if Senator Schumer wants to get his [nominee] up, he better figure out a way to get the president to put somebody's name forward," Murkowski said after the Sept. 25 hearing. "And if [Senate Majority Leader Mitch] McConnell wants to get a Republican name up, he better figure out a way to get the White House to put somebody's name forward. I don't have that power, and I can't pair anybody until I have a name."

Murkowski did not directly respond to questions of whether she would advance a Republican FERC pick without a Democratic one, saying "I want the president to send me people. We need two."

Some in the industry are anticipating that the White House could package Danly's nomination with Democrat Allison Clements, a program director for clean energy markets at the Energy Foundation, along with the renomination of sitting FERC Commissioner Bernard McNamee, a Republican whose brief term expires in June 2020. But the White House did not comment on potential FERC nominees.

Bills moving ahead

On Sept. 25, the committee voted in favor of S. 1602, the Better Energy Storage Technology Act, or BEST Act. The bipartisan bill, which U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, introduced in May, would authorize a research and development program at the U.S. Department of Energy for long-duration energy storage technologies and provide money for private-sector innovation on recycling-related critical materials for storage projects. S. 1602 would also require FERC to form standard processes to allow utilities to recovery energy storage system costs in FERC-jurisdictional rates.

The panel also approved S. 607, introduced by Senator Bill Cassidy, R-La., which would allow FERC to offer higher compensation to address a shortage of employees with highly specialized expertise needed to review LNG export projects. Amid a heavy workload of LNG project applications and more work ahead overseeing post-authorization construction, FERC has had difficulty competing with salaries in the private LNG sector for engineers, scientists and others.

FERC Executive Director Anton Porter testified Sept. 11 that the Timely Review of Infrastructure Act would help with double-digit attrition rates in some offices. The bill would give FERC greater ability to raise compensation for categories of employees or other personnel if the pay is insufficient to retain or attract workers. The measure drew no votes from Democratic Sens. Mazie Hirono of Hawaii and Debbie Stabenow of Michigan or from Sen. Angus King, I-Maine.

Other bills advanced Sept. 25 include legislation to authorize pumped storage hydropower projects at multiple U.S. Bureau of Land Management reservoirs, support research and development of marine energy facilities, provide financial assistance to states to implement state energy security plans, and bolster grid security and modernization.

Those measures were approved en bloc by voice vote, but the committee held a separate counted vote on a more divisive measure. The committee voted 14-6 in favor of S. 2137, the Energy Savings and Industrial Competitiveness Act of 2019. The bill from Sens. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, and Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., has twice passed the Senate energy committee with bipartisan support, but concerns from some lawmakers still linger.

The bill does not include any binding efficiency targets and would mainly provide incentives and other assistance to states for improving energy savings. But Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, introduced an amendment to strike provisions from the bill related to building performance measures, saying "what starts as an incentive becomes a mandate." The committee defeated Lee's amendment, however, with Murkowski saying Lee's concerns are "something we can work through."

After the hearing, Murkowski told reporters that the committee will hold other markups later in 2019 on energy legislation. But she has yet to discuss the formation of a big energy package with her counterparts in the U.S. House of Representatives and was unsure whether the panel will craft a large energy comprehensive energy bill.

"You're never quite sure what the political climate is going to be like when the timing is right to move something, and so I'm going to be nimble and preserve my options," Murkowski said.