FERC warned not to cut natural gas
Moderate Democrats resist efforts to reduce greenhouse emissions
WASHINGTON — Sen. Joe Manchin cautioned members of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Tuesday against taking action that would reduce use of natural gas on the power grid to address climate change.
During a hearing on FERC’s decision-making around reducing greenhouse gas emissions, the powerful chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee said that natural gas is critical in providing reliability at a time of increasing reliance on wind and solar sources that rely on weather to produce electricity. Gas-fired power plants generate more than 40 percent the nation’s electricity, according to the Energy Department.
“We have to get this right, and the only way to do it is without sacrificing reliability and affordability,” Manchin said. “We need to smartly expand the country's natural gas infrastructure. Natural gas has an important role to play in the energy transition.”
The hearing comes as President Joe Biden and progressive Democrats move to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through policies such as a natural gas tax and a program that pays power companies to shift to cleaner sources of electricity, including solar, wind and fossil fuel-fired plants with carbon capture.
But they are facing resistance from moderate members of their party such as Manchin and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, of Arizona. With the 50-50 split in the Senate, each wields the power to hold up any legislation Democrats push without Republican support.
Democrats have found even greater resistance from Republicans. Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming, the top Republican on the Senate Energy Committee, said Tuesday that Democratic policies would effectively end new fossil fuel production on federal lands and water.
“As we speak this administra
tion and House Democrats are working frantically to impose a witch’s brew of reckless energy policies across the entire nation,” he said.
FERC is an independent body with its membership split between Republicans and Democrats. The commission sets regulations and approves projects for the nation’s power and natural gas sectors.
Traditionally, those responsibilities have produced relatively little tension within FERC, but lately Democratic and Republican members have grown increasingly at odds over how that threat of climate change should factor into their decisions on new gas pipelines and power transmission lines.
“A growing number of state and federal policies are aimed at dramatically reducing greenhouse gas emissions,” FERC Chairman Richard Glick, a Democrat, testified Tuesday. “The commission’s job is not to pick winners and losers. But we do have a role in eliminating barriers to a technology’s participation in wholesale markets.”
One of the questions FERC is examining is whether to expand federal authority to seize land for transmission projects, which would enable Democratic plans to move electricity generated from wind turbines and solar farms that are often located in remote areas. At Tuesday’s hearing FERC Commissioner James Danly, a Republican, warned that the cost of building out those power lines would likely raise prices on electricity customers.
“I am gravely concerned the value proposition of transmitting inexpensive renewable energy might be a loser in the end,” he said.