Biden Named Richard Glick as Chair of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. What's Next for the Agency?
Joseph Tomain
Jan. 22, 2021
President Joe Biden named Commissioner Richard Glick as Chair of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) January 21. Glick succeeds Chairman James Danly. The Commission is expected to retain its Republican majority until Commissioner Neil Chatterjee's term is up on June 30.
Glick previously served as a FERC Commissioner nominated by President Trump in August 2017 and confirmed by the Senate later that year.
Before joining FERC, Glick was general counsel for the Democrats on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, serving as a senior policy advisor on numerous issues, including electricity and renewable energy. Prior to that, he was vice president of government affairs for Iberdrola, a Spanish multinational electric utility. At Iberdrola, Glick focused on the company’s renewable energy, electric and gas utility, and natural gas storage businesses in the United States. He ran the company’s Washington, DC, office and was responsible for developing and implementing the firm’s federal legislative and regulatory policy advocacy strategies.
Prior to working in the private sector, he served as a senior policy advisor to U.S. Energy Secretary Bill Richardson during the Clinton era, and before that was legislative director and chief counsel to Sen. Dale Bumpers of Arkansas. From 1988-1992.
Chairman Glick’s agenda will likely include:
- Electricity transmission reform
- Reassessing electricity capacity markets
- Lowering barriers to clean energy resources in regulated markets
- Rethinking how FERC assesses greenhouse gas emissions
- Assessing environmental justice impacts when approving infrastructure for various projects including liquified natural gas terminals and pipelines.
Overall, under Glick’s leadership, FERC will likely play a more active role in the clean energy transition and in addressing climate change.
Editor’s note: This post is part of the Center for Progressive Reform’s Policy for a Just America initiative. Learn more on CPR’s website.
