Politics
Biden’s Secret Weapon to Cleaning Up Energy Is Spelled FERC
- Once-obscure agency to play high-profile role driving shift
- Independent agency oversees electric grid and gas pipelines
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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.