The U.S. Senate voted 50-49 to confirm Bernard McNamee as a FERC commissioner, restoring the Commission to full strength and Republicans’ 3-2 majority. He will be serving out the remainder of Rob Powelson’s term, which ends on June 30, 2020. We expect that he will be sworn in within the next week and may make an appearance at the FERC December open meeting on the 20th, though it is unlikely that he will begin voting on orders before early January.

Mr. McNamee is currently at the U.S. Department of Energy, serving in the DOE Office of Policy. His nomination has been highly contentious, with groups calling for his recusal from resilience matters due to claims of bias towards fossil fuels, including coal. McNamee was one of the authors of the Trump coal bailout plan rejected by FERC.

The McNamee Confirmation news release can be found on FERC’s website.