Neil Chatterjee: “Make energy policy boring again!”

Political Climate

In today’s episode, the hosts are joined by one of the most thoughtful—and occasionally controversial—voices in energy policy today.

Neil Chatterjee served on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission from 2017 to 2021. During that time, he also served two stints as the chairman of the commission. At FERC, Chatterjee gained a reputation for his candor, as well as his divisive takes. For instance, in 2020, he embraced carbon pricing, a move that drew the ire of his boss and may have cost him the chairmanship.

More recently, Chatterjee frustrated his former colleagues shortly after the 2024 election when he publicly offered to give the President-elect advice on how to shrink FERC. As part of a recent media blitz, Chatterjee has celebrated the prospect of American energy dominance in the second Trump administration.

In today’s episode, Chatterjee delves into a range of topics: he makes the case for throwing out the playbook on energy politics to meet the demands of AI, digs into the potential of distributed energy resources and explains why he wants to “put the nerds back in charge” of our energy system.

Also in today’s episode: Emily explains what may have gone wrong for permitting reform in the lame duck session of Congress, and highlights the scenarios through which reform could get included in a 2025 reconciliation package instead.

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