The FERC has been operating without a quorum, unable to make major decisions regarding major pipeline projects.  That’s created some uncertainty around the Mountain Valley Pipeline and the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, both of which are up for approval in the very near future.

That will soon change.  The Trump Administration has nominated two people to fill some of the vacancies at the FERC.

Once they are approved by the Senate, the FERC will be able to make decisions such as approving the aforementioned pipelines.

It’s expected that approval hearings will take place in early June, about a month away.  However, Democrats could decide to slow things down.  Having FERC non-operational would make the environmental wing of the Democrat party very happy.

It will be interesting to see what political wranglings take place over these nominations.

UPDATE: May 17, 2017 — Like clockwork, opposition to the nominations has begun.  Some want to keep the FERC hamstrung for environmental reasons, and some want a Democrat nominated along with the Republicans.  We’ll see how long it takes to go through the Washington political machine.