FERC Nominee David LaCerte on Slow Government Permitting for Hydroelectric Projects

FERC Nominee Confirmation Hearing

• 💡 Senator Daines complimented nominee David LaCerte, noting his resemblance to a popular hairstyle, and invited both nominees to visit Montana to see energy resource issues firsthand.
• ✅ Both nominees, Miss Sweat and Mr. LaCerte, agreed that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's (FERC) primary mission is to be an economic and safety regulator.
• 🤝 They committed to reviewing decisions fairly and impartially, focusing on providing affordable, reliable, and safe energy.

Challenges in Hydroelectric Project Relicensing

• ⚠️ Senator Daines highlighted that the hydroelectric project relicensing process in Montana is broken, often taking nearly a decade for dams that have been operating for decades.
• 🚀 He emphasized the need for bipartisan changes to speed up the permitting process, focusing on actual project effects rather than a wish list of conditions.
• ⚡ Both nominees acknowledged the importance of hydroelectric power as a renewable, base load energy source and committed to examining FERC's role in the relicensing process to improve efficiency.

Need for Increased Energy Production

• 📈 Mr. LaCerte stated that it takes too long to do business with the government and invest in infrastructure, advocating for improvements across the board.
• 🔋 Senator Daines concluded by stressing the critical need for more energy from virtually every source to meet demand, including natural gas, coal, hydropower, nuclear, geothermal, wind, and solar.
• ⚡ He urged the nominees to prioritize accelerating the process of getting more electrons on the grid when making future US energy policy decisions.