Trump Names Democrat David Rosner as FERC Chairman

President Trump has appointed David Rosner as chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), elevating the Democratic commissioner to lead the independent energy regulator after Republican Mark Christie stepped down from the position.

Rosner has served as a FERC commissioner since June 2024 and officially assumed the chairman role on Aug. 13. The appointment represents a temporary arrangement as Trump awaits Senate confirmation of two Republican nominees who would shift the commission to a 3-2 Republican majority.

The appointment follows Christie’s departure on Aug. 8, which left FERC with just three sitting commissioners for five days—the first time since 1997 that the commission operated without a chair for multiple consecutive days. The five-member commission currently includes Rosner, Republican Lindsay See, and Democrat Judy Chang.

Sworn in as a FERC commissioner in June 2024, Rosner brings nearly two decades of experience in energy technologies, market design, and policy, including senior roles at FERC, the U.S. Department of Energy, and the Bipartisan Policy Center. He holds master’s degrees in economics and public policy from American University and a bachelor’s degree in economics from Tufts University. His term runs through June 30, 2027. Courtesy: FERC

Rosner brings nearly two decades of energy sector experience to the chairmanship and has an extensive background in both government and private sector roles. Prior to his commissioner appointment, he served as an energy industry analyst for FERC, where he led efforts on electric transmission rulemakings, energy storage resources, offshore wind integration, fuel security, and natural gas-electric coordination.

According to the Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC)—a Washington, D.C.–based think tank dedicated to developing and advancing pragmatic, consensus-driven policy solutions through collaboration between leaders of both major political parties—Rosner’s designation as FERC chairman is backed with a bipartisan record. “FERC has critical responsibilities in helping ensure a reliable and affordable supply of energy for Americans,” said BPC Executive Vice President David R. Hill. “Chairman Rosner’s strong understanding of the energy challenges facing our country, and demonstrated record of bipartisan work to address those challenges, make him well-suited to carry out the responsibilities of FERC chairman.” Hill noted Rosner was a key BPC staff member with its Energy program from 2006 to 2014.

In June 2025, Trump nominated Laura Swett, an energy attorney at Vinson & Elkins, to fill Christie’s seat. Expectations are that she will become chair upon confirmation. Trump also nominated David LaCerte, a White House senior advisor, to fill another vacant position. If both receive Senate approval, Republicans will control the commission 3-2.

Christie’s departure followed Trump’s earlier request for Democratic Chairman Willie Phillips to resign in April 2025, although Phillips’ term was slated to end in June 2026. Phillips’ exit left the commission with a 2-2 partisan split until Rosner’s elevation.

In his final letter as chairman, Christie highlighted a wave of late-term actions, including multiple natural gas project approvals, 24 notices to proceed on LNG and pipeline construction, new hydropower licensing, and court victories defending FERC orders, and meetings with state regulators on resource adequacy. “This is my final letter as Chairman of FERC. My term expired June 30, 2025, and I was not reappointed. I depart the Commission at the close of business today deeply proud of the accomplishments this Commission has achieved during my tenure, described in these regular letters, and grateful for the opportunity to serve the American public,” he wrote.

Since January 2025, FERC has advanced a broad agenda with substantial impact for the power sector. On Feb. 20 the regulatory body launched a major review of co-location arrangements between AI-driven data centers and generation facilities in PJM, seeking to clarify rules for nearly 8.5 GW of proposed projects that bypass traditional interconnection

FERC also maintained its landmark transmission planning requirements through Order No. 1920-B, issued April 11, 2025, which clarified key provisions from the original Order No. 1920. The rule requires transmission providers to conduct 20-year forward-looking regional transmission planning cycles every five years, using at least three scenarios to identify long-term transmission needs

And earlier this summer, on July 24, FERC approved new reliability standards specifically applicable to inverter-based resources (IBRs), like solar and wind facilities. While most mandatory reliability standards were designed for traditional synchronous generators, IBRs use power electronics to convert direct current to alternating current. Today’s action ensures these resources are required to meet reliability expectations like synchronous generators. “This is an important step toward ensuring that inverter-based resources support, rather than threaten, the reliability of the Bulk Power System,” said Christie.

FERC also unanimously approved comprehensive revisions to its National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) procedures on June 30, 2025, to accelerate energy infrastructure permitting. The changes remove references to rescinded Council on Environmental Quality regulations and eliminate requirements to consider climate change and environmental justice in environmental assessments. The reforms include authorization for FERC to adopt categorical exclusions from other agencies and allow natural gas companies to submit self-prepared environmental assessments. On June 18, FERC also issued four orders reducing natural gas infrastructure barriers, including temporarily waiving Order No. 871 through June 30, 2026, and raising cost limits for pipeline modifications without full certificate proceedings.

The regulatory body’s efforts have been soundly centered on growing concerns about grid reliability amid accelerating changes in the power sector. The commission’s May 15, 2025 Summer Assessment warned that grids face heightened challenges from data center-driven demand growth. At the time, Christie underscored a central concern: “We are losing dispatchable generation at a pace that is not sustainable and we are not adding sufficient equivalent generation capacity.”

However, FERC and the North American Reliability Corp.’s (FERC and NERC) April 17, 2025 joint report on January arctic weather showed improved system performance. The event required no manual load shedding despite natural gas demand peaking at 150 Bcf/day and electric demand reaching 683 GW. The entities credited enhanced gas-electric coordination and winterization improvements from lessons learned during Winter Storms Uri and Elliott.

This year, notably, FERC’s efforts to strengthen natural gas–electric coordination sought to pair regulatory reforms with education and joint planning. Following multiple federal-state Current Issues Collaborative meetings focused on coordination, the commission on Aug. 4 released a gas-electric markets webinar and a fact sheet on capacity release mechanisms. Christie had repeatedly framed gas-electric coordination as “possibly the most crucial challenge” for reliability.

Under Rosner’s leadership, FERC remains likely to continue its focus on accelerating interconnection processes and addressing the fundamental challenge of maintaining grid reliability amid unprecedented demand growth from AI data centers. Rosner has consistently prioritized grid reliability balanced with affordability, managing the energy transition, and supporting gas and transmission infrastructure development, and has stressed an all-of-the-above energy philosophy.

—Sonal Patel is a POWER senior editor (@sonalcpatel, @POWERmagazine).