The White House on Monday announced its intent to nominate James P. Danly to the vacant Republican seat on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. He is currently FERC’s general counsel. FERC Chairman Neil Chatterjee named Danly, 43, general counsel just over two years ago.
Before joining the FERC staff, Danly was a member of the energy practice at the Washington law firm of Skadden, Arps. He is a former Army officer.
An analysis by veteran energy reporter Rod Kuckro in E&E News notes that Danly espouses the doctrine of “humble regulator,” sticking to the law as written and not going beyond the boundary of the words. It has its roots in the Federalist Society, “an influential group of conservatives and libertarians who believe a regulator’s job is to stick to the text of a law and not what it should be, said several attorneys who practice before FERC.”
Danly’s legal philosophy appears to be showing up in the approach of the commission’s two sitting Republicans Chatterjee and Bernard McNamee, particularly when the commission has been pressed by former member Cheryl LaFleur and the lone Democrat, Rich Glick, on how to consider greenhouse gas emissions in natural gas pipeline cases. But the agency has faced considerable skepticism for that approach from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.
That the White House did not chose to pair the Danly nomination with a Democratic nominee, as has been common recently, bringing the commission to a full five members, was a bit of a surprise and likely to draw pushback from Democrats on the Senate Energy Committee. Long-time FERC observer Glen Boshart tweeted that the Senate Democrats “could put a hold on the nomination, but McConnell could override.”
— Kennedy Maize