The Senate easily confirmed Republican Federal Energy Regulatory Commission pick Lindsay See on Wednesday afternoon. Only one of three pending nominees is left.
The chamber voted for the West Virginia solicitor general 83-12. Only a handful of progressives and climate hawks within the Democratic Caucus opposed her.
“No” votes — including Democratic Sens. Ed Markey of Massachusetts, Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, Tim Kaine of Virginia and Mazie Hirono of Hawaii — were likely because of the nominee’s history of fighting environmental rulemaking and arguing for the controversial Mountain Valley pipeline.
Still, See won significantly more support than Democratic nominee David Rosner. His 67-27 vote Wednesday morning included handful of Democratic opponents concerned about his support for natural gas infrastructure. Rosner’s Republican opposition appeared driven by partisanship.
Some members of the GOP have pledged to oppose of all President Joe Biden’s nominees and Democratic bills in response to former President Donald Trump’s conviction in New York. Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) said he made an exception for See.
“What I think we have to do is we got to make sure that this is not business as usual here,” Scott said. “But this is somebody that’s gonna do her job, and it’s a Republican-recommended nominee.”
Many Republicans are on track to oppose Judy Chang, a former energy and environment official in Massachusetts. In 2018, she expressed doubt over the need for more natural gas infrastructure in New England.
Still, her confirmation Thursday is all but certain because of support from Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chair Joe Manchin (I-W.Va.) and ranking member John Barrasso (R-Wyo.).
“While I may not agree with each of the nominees on all the items all the time, all of them are well-qualified,” Barrasso said Wednesday.
