Daines Encourages Commission To Focus On Economics
U.S. Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., stressed the importance of economic and safety regulations while asking questions to two nominees of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission last week.
Daines noted that the commission’s mission is “to assist consumers in containing reliable, safe, secure and economically efficient energy.”
Daines asked nominees Laura Swett and David LaCerte if they agree the commission isn’t a climate regulator, but its primary mission is to be an economic and safety regulator. Both nominees agreed with Daines.
The senator also discussed the importance of hydropower since it’s Montana’s second largest share of electricity generation. Many of the existing dams are currently undergoing relicensing, which can take up to a decade to complete.
Daines asked the nominees, if confirmed, to speed up the licensing and relicensing process.
Daines urged the nominees to keep in mind of the increasing demands for energy. The senator said, “If we’re going to meet demands, we simply need more of virtually every energy source. We simply need to be building more, which includes permitting more and trying to accelerate, getting, as you said, more of these electrons on the grid, more natural gas, more coal, more hydropower, more nuclear, more geothermal, more wind, more solar, we need more electrons.”
