March 13, 2020 3:20 a.m.
Oregon Senator Ron Wyden said a new appointment will make the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission “unbalanced”.
Following the Thursday’s confirmation of James Danly to be a member of FERC, Wyden said the move makes the group “unbalanced and partisan” and threatens the validity of its decisions “by defying the commonsense meaning of a bipartisan commission”. He said he questions the legitimacy of the commission and believes its in violation of its Congressional directive. Wyden said he will carefully review any and all decisions coming from FERC “while it remains unbalanced and numerically tilted towards predetermined conclusions”.
Wyden’s release said there are currently two vacancies on the commission. With the confirmation of Danly, three of the four confirmed commissioners are now Republicans, leaving one Democratic vacancy and running counter “to the commission’s longstanding tradition of balance and bipartisan”.