Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), head of the Senate’s Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said he will not schedule a confirmation hearing for President Joe Biden’s nominee Richard Glick for a second term as one of the nation’s top energy regulators.
Glick needs to be approved by the full senate to continue as chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).
“The Chairman was not comfortable holding a hearing,” Sam Runyon, a spokesperson for Manchin, said in a release.
Manchin’s stance left the future of another five-year term for Glick uncertain. Glick could serve through the end of this year, though his term runs out when the current congress adjourns on Jan. 2 or before.
Glick, who was first nominated by then-president Donald Trump,
joined the FERC in late 2017. The little-known federal agency approves
projects including interstate natural gas pipelines, liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals, and hydropower.
Biden
renominated Glick for the commission’s leadership in May.
Manchin’s decision came less than a week after the Democrat lawmaker
blasted the president over what he called “outrageous” speeches on shutting down coal plants. “We’re going to be shutting these plants down all across America and having wind and solar,” Biden
said in California on Nov. 4.
“President Biden’s comments are not only outrageous and divorced from reality, they ignore the severe economic pain the American people are feeling because of rising energy costs,” Manchin said in a
statement on Nov. 5.
“Comments like these are the reason the American people are losing trust in President Biden and instead [believe] he does not understand the need to have an all in energy policy that would keep our nation totally energy independent and secure,” Manchin said. “It seems his positions change depending on the audience and the politics of the day. Politicizing our nation’s energy policies would only bring higher prices and more pain for the American people.”
In March, Manchin, along with the commission’s two Republicans,
lashed out at the FERC’s policy for scrutinizing interstate gas pipelines. Glick approved new guidelines in February that would have assessed greenhouse gas emissions and environmental impacts, including those on “environmental justice communities,” when approving natural gas projects.
Manchin described the updated policies as “short-sighted actions” and said in a
hearing at the time that they would “elevate environmental considerations above American energy reliability, security, and independence.” Days later, the commission walked back the policy rollout.
The FERC and the White House have not responded to a request for comment.
Reuters contributed to this report.
