Trump slowness to nominate members of Energy Commision has held up $13 billion

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President Donald Trump’s slowness to nominate members to an energy commission helped cause a bureaucratic logjam that held up $13 billion in pipeline and gas-export projects

Billions of dollars’ worth of shovel-ready infrastructure projects have been held up by a bureaucratic morass that President Donald Trump helped to create.

Trump’s slowness to fill vacancies at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is one reason for a growing backlog of natural gas pipelines and a gas export terminal awaiting approval from the agency, which has been unable to conduct major business since February. The waiting list has grown to at least $13 billion worth of projects expected to generate more than 23,000 construction jobs, according to a POLITICO analysis — largely in states Trump won in November.

Finally, the agency is ready to get back to work after the Senate confirmed two FERC nominees late Thursday. The commission was crippled by leadership vacancies just two weeks after Trump’s inauguration when he demoted its former chairman, who promptly quit. Since July 1, four of the agency’s five seats have been vacant.

FERC oversees interstate pipelines, liquefied natural gas exports and wholesale electricity markets. For the projects’ supporters and people who follow the agency, Thursday’s confirmation of Pennsylvania regulator Rob Powelson and Republican Senate aide Neil Chatterjee could not have come too soon.

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Many of the largest pipeline projects waiting for approval run right through Trump country, carrying gas out of shale plays in West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Ohio — all states Trump won last year and hopes to win again. One project alone, called Atlantic Coast, would bring 10,000 jobs to West Virginia, Virginia and North Carolina, and the $2 billion NEXUS line would put 3,300 people to work in Michigan and Pennsylvania, states Trump flipped to red for the first time in decades.

Encouraging domestic energy production and rebuilding the nation’s infrastructure were major campaign themes for Trump, whose promises of a $1 trillion infrastructure plan have yet to yield concrete progress on Capitol Hill.

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