A constant at Federal Energy Regulatory Commission meetings last year was infighting between former Chair Richard Glick and Commissioner James Danly.
Now, those types of public squabbles may be a thing of the past as Willie Phillips settles into his new role as acting chair, a job President Joe Biden gave him this week.
Phillips will set the tone and agenda at FERC for the foreseeable future — although a new chair from outside the commission could be nominated at any time. A Democrat and self-described consensus-builder who has so far stayed above the fray, Phillips is likely to advance proposed rules aimed at more efficiently connecting new energy projects to the grid and building new long-distance power lines. Both are priorities for renewable energy advocates.
“The commission already has a lot on its plate that’s sort of open in some stage of the…