Senate approves Powelson nomination to FERC
Kennett Square resident and former Chesco Chamber boss will sit on national board that regulates pipeline projects
HARRISBURG » The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission announced that Commissioner Robert F. Powelson, a Chester County resident and former head of the Chester County Chamber of Commerce, has been confirmed to serve on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, or FERC.
Powelson was one of two members to receive a unanimous vote from senators, the Associated Press reported. The other was Senate aide Neil Chatterjee of Kentucky.
The approval of the two restores a voting quorum on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Only one commissioner currently serves on the panel, leaving it without a quorum and unable to make decisions on interstate pipelines and other projects worth billions of dollars.
President Donald Trump has promised to boost energy production and exports as part of a bid to establish “energy dominance” for the United States, but the FERC vacancies have hobbled the agency’s ability to make decisions.
Members of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) Friday offered congratulations to Powelson.
“Commissioner Powelson has been a strong advocate for the important role of utility regulators, and he goes to FERC with a deep knowledge and passion about public utility issues,” said PUC Chairman Gladys M. Brown, in a statement released for the entire commission. “The issues he has championed include the need for greater infrastructure investment, the need for innovation in the utility industry and the development of our next generation of utility workers – which are all in key matter for Pennsylvania and the nation.”
Powelson, of Kennett Square, took his seat as a Pennsylvania PUC Commissioner in 2008, following a nomination by Gov. Edward G. Rendell. He was appointed to a second PUC term by Gov. Tom Corbett and served as chairman of the commission from 2011 through 2015.
Additionally, Powelson was elected in 2016 as president of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners, or NARUC, and he also serves on the Electric Power Research Institute Advisory Board, or EPRI, and the Drexel University Board of Trustees.
After months of rumor, the White House announced Powelson’s nomination in May.
From 1994 to 2008, Powelson served as the president and CEO of the Chester County Chamber of Business and Industry based near Malvern. In 2005, he was selected by the Eisenhower Presidential Fellow to be a United States fellow in Singapore and Australia. Powelson holds a bachelor of administration from St. Joseph’s University and a master of governmental administration with a concentration in public finance from the University of Pennsylvania, the White House said.
At FERC, more than a dozen major projects and utility mergers have been in regulatory limbo for months. The projects include the $2 billion Nexus pipeline in Ohio and Michigan; the $1 billion PennEast pipeline in Pennsylvania and New Jersey; and the $5 billion Atlantic Coast Pipeline in West Virginia, Virginia and North Carolina, the Associated Press reported.
Don Santa, president and CEO of the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America, hailed the Senate votes, which business groups and lawmakers have been urging for months. FERC has been without a quorum since February.
“The commission now can get back to work thoroughly reviewing the many energy infrastructure projects of national importance that have been sidelined in recent months,” Santa said.
He and other business leaders said they also were encouraged that Trump has formally nominated Republican Kevin McIntyre to be FERC chairman and Democrat Richard Glick to round out the five-member panel. The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee has scheduled a hearing on the two nominees in September.
Karen Harbert, president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Global Energy Institute, said Chatterjee and Powelson are “exceptionally well-qualified and will serve with distinction.”
While overdue, the Senate’s action “will now allow American energy companies the ability to move forward with projects that will create jobs and improve our security,” Harbert said.
The Southern Environmental Law Center, an advocacy group that opposes the massive Atlantic Coast pipeline, urged the new commissioners to use caution in reviewing the three-state pipeline and other projects.
“The Trump administration’s lack of organization has caused a backlog of projects waiting for FERC review, but the American people should not have to pay for this mismanagement with hastily approved pipelines,” said Greg Buppert, a lawyer for the group. He urged commissioners to grant the law center’s request for a hearing on whether the pipeline is needed.