President Donald Trump on Monday designated Mark Christie chair of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, placing the veteran Republican regulator in charge of aligning oversight of the power and natural gas industries with Trump’s “energy dominance” agenda.
Christie, who has served on the commission since 2021, leads an agency that issues permits for gas pipelines and the construction of liquefied natural gas infrastructure. It is increasingly engaging in major challenges around meeting rising electricity demand.
Christie has been a vociferous critic of Biden-era rules and policy initiatives he viewed as federal overreach. But he has also worked closely with former Chair Willie Phillips to make changes to FERC Order 1920, the most sweeping federal efforts in 25 years to direct and plan for the expansion of regional electric grids.
FERC’s new chair will enter a scrum of GOP politicians, energy executives and wealthy Big Tech political donors trying to steer energy policy under Trump. FERC’s chair will face pressure to address record power demand as the tech industry builds massive data centers for artificial intelligence and more U.S. factories come online.
