Senate bill seen clipping independence of new FERC public participation office

摘要

Changes to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s Office of Public Participation envisioned in the Senate’s sweeping bipartisan infrastructure bill could weaken the independence of the new entity, environmentalists and others argue. FERC is in the process of launching the new office, which is designed to facilitate public engagement in the commission’s complex processes, with implications for FERC’s contentious natural gas project reviews as well as its Federal Power Act work. The new office was first authorized in the 1978 Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act but is only now getting off the ground.