Illustration: Allie Carl/Axios
New FERC commissioner David Rosner said he's focused on lowering barriers to transmission projects.
Why it matters: The former FERC detailee to Senate ENR was confirmed to the commission this year and could be a key swing vote on major rulemakings.
- Rosner worked on the Senate permitting reform proposal and advised Sen. Joe Manchin on FERC, electricity and electric transmission.
Rosner, in his new role, declined to comment directly on the bill and its prospects in an interview on the sidelines of last week's ACORE Grid Forum.
- "It takes too long to build things — full stop," Rosner said. "But I defer to Congress on a solution. If they come up with one, I'll be really excited and work really hard to implement it."
Rosner, a Democrat, said he wants to "turn down the political temperature" on FERC's transmission planning rule in May that drew criticism from Republican lawmakers and legal challenges from GOP states.
- "Load growth is economic growth, and I think that has broad bipartisan appeal," Rosner said. "We have to find ways to build needed transmission."
- Rosner's nomination faced an opposition campaign from Friends of the Earth, who criticized him for being too friendly to fossil fuels. But other environmental groups supported him as a leader on power grid issues.
The latest: Rosner and the rest of FERC unanimously voted Thursday to back a separate transmission rule it finalized in May.
- The rule opened a pathway to federal permitting of transmission lines deemed by the Energy Department to be in the national interest.
- Today's order changes the rule to require transmission developers to describe in advance how they will engage with tribal nations to obtain permission to use land held in the trust of a tribe.
- "Communications with the tribe must be honest, accurate and respectful of tribal sovereignty," Chairman Willie Phillips said.
