FERC nominee with Texas ties faces tough questions from Senate

[Elderberry]

Houston Chronicle by James Osborne 11/14/2018

A former adviser to Sen. Ted Cruz and chief of staff to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is at the center of the debate around President Donald Trump’s efforts to prop up struggling coal and nuclear power plants.

Bernard McNamee, who leads the U.S. Department of Energy’s policy office, is scheduled to appear before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on Thursday on his nomination to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

With everyone from oil companies to environmentalists lined up against the Trump administration’s efforts to bail out coal and nuclear plants, Republicans and Democrats alike are expected to question McNamee closely on his involvement in Energy Secretary Rick Perry’s ongoing examination of whether the steady replacement of coal and nuclear power plants with gas plants and wind and solar farms poses a risk of blackouts.

“There will be a lot of questions at the hearing on Thursday from people wanting to know where McNamee stands,” said John Moore, an attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council.

In January, FERC unanimously rejected Perry’s proposal to raise wholesale power rates for coal and nuclear plants, following bipartisan criticism such a move amounted to a disregard of the free-market principles the U.S. power grid has long operated on.

More: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/energy/article/FERC-nominee-with-Texas-ties-faces-tough-13389829.php

[Sanguine]

This appears to be the controversy:

McNamee’s ties to the Trump administration, along with an appearance at a Senate hearing in July, has raised speculation that if appointed to FERC he could represent a potential “yes” vote in favor of Perry’s plan.

At the July hearing, he defended the administration’s efforts as an attempt to protect coal and nuclear plants against federal policies that aid other forms of generation. Though he didn’t go into specifics, the coal companies have long criticized tax credits and other policies that they say unfairly benefit wind and solar energy, enabling renewable generators to sell electricity below cost.

[IsailedawayfromFR]

At attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council quoted?

The NRDC is a who's who of environmentalists.

This guy must be the right guy for the job based on that alone.