Overview
Steptoe energy partner Marc Spitzer, a former Federal Energy Regulatory Commissioner (FERC), was quoted in a Politico article titled "FERC Walks EPA Carbon Referee Tightrope." The article, published on February 24, discusses whether FERC will significantly influence the EPA's Clean Power Plan, the administration's new climate change rule that is expected to be released this summer.
Some energy law experts have said that FERC, as an independent agency, should not make political judgments as it weighs in on the administration's proposal. Mr. Spitzer tells Politico, "When I went to FERC myself, my job was not to be political. Quite the contrary, I thought it was inappropriate for me to be political. My sense would be that the FERC commissioners, all five of them, believe that the reliability of the grid is an electrical engineering issue, not a political issue."
The full article can be read at Politico.