Nearly halfway into his two-month stint as chair of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission last year, Commissioner David Rosner told the National Energy Dominance Council he wanted more liquefied natural gas projects to review, according to one of the council’s leaders.
“When Commissioner Rosner was chairman for an interim period, right before Labor Day he called and said, ‘I want you to tell industry to send me more LNG projects. I cleared the last certificate off my desk,’” Peter Lake, senior director for power at the council, said last week.
Lake — who spoke at an event hosted by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies think tank — said much of the United States has hurt its economic outlook with “poor power grid policy.” Lake, a former chair of the Public Utility Commission of Texas, said Rosner told him last year, “I need more work. Send me more work.”
The comments from Lake come as FERC faces criticism over its high approval rate for gas projects and as the dominance council has positioned itself as a one-stop shop for energy projects. At the same event on Thursday, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said “if you have not talked to [the dominance council], you need to.” Burgum chairs the council.
