On November 5, 2020, President Donald Trump designated sitting FERC Commissioner James Danly to assume the Chairmanship of the Commission. Chairman Danly joined FERC as general counsel in 2017, and served as a Commissioner from March through November 2020. Chairman Danly replaces Neil Chatterjee in the role, who will remain a Commissioner. Commissioner Chatterjee’s term expires June 30, 2021.
In a press release from the Commission, Chairman Danly praised his predecessor: “Neil [Chatterjee] has truly left his mark on FERC and the energy sector by brokering a significant agreement allowing us to move forward with liquefied natural gas terminals, which helped secure our American energy independence.” Chairman Danly added: “He also made a lasting impact through his commitment to protecting competitive markets, modernizing our policies under PURPA, expediting the approvals of much-needed critical energy infrastructure and so much more. I thank Neil for his leadership, and I look forward to continuing to work with him in this new role.”
In the same news release Commissioner Chatterjee reflected on his time at the helm of the Commission: “During my tenure, we’ve faced challenges like overcoming the significant no-quorum backlog to grappling with an unprecedented global pandemic. But we’ve had a great many achievements as well, including bringing PURPA regulations in line with today’s realities, building out our energy infrastructure and approving LNG terminals, unleashing the power of new technologies like storage and distributed energy resources, and most recently taking groundbreaking action to consider carbon pricing, just to name a few.” Commissioner Chaterjee continued: “I look forward to working with my friend, Chairman Danly, as well as the next Administration to continue to carry out our important mission.”
Commissioner Richard Glick also issued a statement congratulating Chairman Danly on his appointment. Addressing Commissioner Chatterjee’s time as Chairman, Commissioner Glick stated: “Each FERC Commissioner is supposed to vote solely based on their best judgement of the facts and the law, independent from party affiliation or political pressure. Although we haven’t always agreed, I know that Chairman Chatterjee arrived at his views honestly and independently. And I appreciate is willingness to ignore party affiliation and work with me on several key initiatives that will prove beneficial to this nation. I look forwarding to continuing to work with Chairman Chatterjee in the coming months.”
FERC’s full news release is available here.
Commissioner Glick’s statement is available here.
