The American Energy Alliance opposes the nomination of Judy Chang for a seat on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Chang has a long history of public opposition to approval of the energy infrastructure that FERC is statutorily required to approve. She is an established advocate against FERC’s statutory mandate and this makes her an inappropriate choice for a seat on the Commission.
Chang spent many years as an architect of the energy policies of the state of Massachusetts, where electricity rates are the third highest in the continental US and natural gas prices regularly spike to unaffordable levels. She has opposed the construction of natural gas pipelines, resulting in Massachusetts being forced to import LNG to run the electric grid rather than using domestic supplies. She has complained about natural gas prices being too low, when one of FERC’s statutory mandates is maintaining reasonable natural gas prices. Chang has opposed the continued use of natural gas, even though ensuring adequate supplies of natural gas is another of FERC’s mandates from Congress.
In short, Chang has a history of deliberately driving energy costs up and opposing and undermining the work that Congress has tasked FERC to undertake. She should not have a seat on the Commission where she will be in a position to undermine Congress’ express intent from within while inflicting her ideologically motivated increased energy costs on average Americans.
A NO vote on the nomination of Judy Chang is a vote in support of free markets and affordable energy. AEA will include this vote in its American Energy Scorecard.