HOUSTON — One of two Democrats serving on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission said Wednesday she doesn’t spend a lot of time thinking about whether President Donald Trump could fire her — even as concerns remain about the future of the agency’s independence.
What happened: FERC Commissioner Judy Chang addressed past comments by leaders of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which regulates commercial nuclear power plants, where they said Trump could potentially fire them over their regulatory decisions. Chang said that’s not top of mind, underscoring the importance of making decisions that can stand up in court.
“I guess I do serve at the pleasure of the president,” Chang said at the POLITICO Pub at CERAWeek by S&P Global in Houston. “I think I make decisions based on the merits and I want our decisions to be durable in court, so that’s just how I operate.”
Why it matters: Unease over the possibility of White House interference at long-independent federal agencies follows Trump’s overhaul of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission — he gave a pink slip to one of its Democratic commissioners last year — and as an official with the Trump administration’s National Energy Dominance Council said this week that it has pushed for FERC to approve oil and natural gas pipeline applications.
