As the deadline imposed by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) approaches for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to determine whether to exercise its regulatory authority over the electricity market in a manner designed to throw a life line to coal and nuclear power generators, the FERC commissioners have not hesitated to publicly make known their feelings on the rule. In a recent interview with Bloomberg, Chairman Neil Chatterjee hinted that he may favor a temporary, middle-ground approach in order to meet the DOE deadline.

DOE’s proposed rulemaking addresses the assertion that the closure of coal and nuclear plants would negatively impact the reliability and resilience of the U.S. electrical grid. While Chairman Chatterjee did not provide full support for Energy Secretary Rick Perry’s subsidy-based plan to stop the decommissioning of coal and nuclear plants, the interim solution the chairman suggested in the interview offers some hope for proponents of the rule after S&P Global reported that Commissioner Robert Powelson had indicated that FERC did not “do politics” and would not “destroy the marketplace” and Commissioner Cheryl LaFleur offered support to these statements on twitter.