Five AGs Wrote a Letter Urging Senate to Reject Bernard McNamee’s Nomination for FERC Commissioner

DECEMBER 5, 2018

Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey led a coalition of five state attorneys general in sending a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer opposing Bernard McNamee’s nomination to serve as a commissioner on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). The AGs cited McNamee’s leading role in crafting the Energy Department’s proposal to bail out uneconomical coal-fired power plants as a primary reason for their opposition, noting that McNamee continued to advocate for a plan to subsidize the coal industry even after the administration dropped its proposal. In their letter, the attorneys general also cited McNamee’s stated opposition to the Clean Power Plan on political grounds, as well as his comments describing the choice between renewable energy and fossil fuels as a “battle between liberty and tyranny,” as examples of his lack of impartiality on issues he would have to weigh in on as a member of the commission.