Bloomberg detailed FERC’s role in achieving President Biden’s climate and energy ambitions, quoting AEE’s Jeff Dennis. Read excerpts below and the full story here (sub req).

President Joe Biden outlined ambitious new plans for taking on climate change on Wednesday, but the most potent weapon may already be in his arsenal. The five-member Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is poised to play a pivotal role fulfilling Biden’s clean-energy ambitions, including his vow to strip greenhouse gas emissions from the power sector over the next 14 years. FERC could help Biden deliver on those promises by fostering carbon prices on electricity, propelling a massive build-out of high-voltage power lines and making it harder to build natural gas pipelines… 

Environmentalists are counting on FERC to make major changes pushing the nation away from fossil fuels. Activists have already briefed Biden officials on how FERC can impose a climate litmus test to effectively block future natural gas projects. They also are urging policies to encourage state programs rewarding emission-free renewable and nuclear power… 

FERC’s past transmission efforts have mostly spurred small, local projects, said Jeff Dennis, managing director of Advanced Energy Economy, an association of clean energy businesses. Now, the commission can reform planning processes to encourage big transmission projects that cross multiple jurisdictions and “are really critical to unlocking more capacity for renewables,” Dennis said.

Even a small shift in FERC’s approach to renewable energy could buttress state efforts to subsidize emission-free nuclear, wind and solar power.

States are “a real driver of decarbonization policy,” and FERC policy can ensure they have the power to “to go further and faster,” Dennis said.

Read the full story here (sub req).