Republican Tony Clark to Leave FERC in September
Tony Clark. Courtesy: FERCTony Clark, the only Republican on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), announced Thursday (Aug. 4) on Twitter that the agency’s September meeting will be his last. Clark’s term expired June 30, but he continued to serve under federal law that allows members with expired terms to serve until Congress adjourns at the end of the year.
By law, FERC consists of five members, with three from the party of the incumbent president and two from the minority party. Republican Philip Moeller left the commission last October after nearly a decade, leaving Clark, appointed by President Obama in 2012.
With Clark’s departure, the commission would have three Democrats: Chairman Norman Bay and Commissioners Cheryl LaFleur and Colette Honorable. Honorable’s term ends in 2017, Bay’s in 2018, and LaFleur’s in 2019. Obama has not named replacements for Moeller or Clark, which are subject to Senate confirmation.
FERC has seldom been a partisan agency, although Republicans and Democrats on the commission tend to see issues in different ways.…