ARLINGTON, Va.— National Rural Electric Cooperative Association CEO Jim Matheson welcomed President Trump’s announcement that he intends to nominate candidates to fill two vacancies on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission: Neil Chatterjee and Robert Powelson.
“I appreciate the president taking the vital first step to fill these vacancies, and I urge the Senate to move swiftly to consider these nominees once they are sent from the White House. There is no reason to delay consideration. In fact, the longer the delay, the more daunting the backlog that will face the new commissioners.”
“FERC has been left with only two sitting commissioners for the past three months. President Trump’s efforts to restore FERC’s quorum of commissioners would enable the agency to move forward on issues important to co-ops such as access to a diverse power supply, the certification of natural gas pipelines and ensuring the organized markets are meeting the needs of co-op consumer-members.”
Trump announced the nominations on May 8. Chatterjee is a former lobbyist in NRECA’s government relations department and most recently a senior aide to U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. He also served on the staff of U.S. Rep. Deborah Pryce of Ohio. Powelson is a utility regulator in Pennsylvania.