The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s new chair said this week she wouldn’t recuse herself from pending proceedings involving data centers and a client of her former law firm.
Laura Swett, who had served as a litigator at the firm Vinson & Elkins, was designated FERC chair by President Donald Trump last week. On Monday, Swett picked her former colleague at Vinson & Elkins, James Dawson, as the agency’s general counsel.
Vinson & Elkins represents Talen Energy in proceedings before the commission. The firm also represents Talen in an ongoing lawsuit that challenges a 2024 FERC order rejecting a data center agreement with Talen’s adjacent Susquehanna nuclear plant in Pennsylvania. Dawson signed Talen’s August brief to the United States Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit.
Three people familiar with FERC ethics rules, granted anonymity to speak on a sensitive issue, told POLITICO’s E&E News that, under standard agency procedure, Swett and Dawson would likely be recused from working on the Talen case and certain other data center proceedings because of the connection.
