The U.S. Senate voted 50-49 on Dec. 6 to confirm Bernard McNamee as a member of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, restoring the agency’s Republican majority amid questions of McNamee’s support for fossil fuels over renewable energy. On the same day, the Harvard Electricity Law Initiative filed a brief with FERC saying that McNamee must recuse himself from proceedings related to rates for fuel-secure generators in view of his role in designing the U.S. Energy Department’s proposal to prop up the country’s coal and nuclear plants. The controversial plan was unanimously rejected by the commission in January. A day before the vote, a group of state attorneys general led by Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey wrote a letter urging Senators to oppose the confirmation pointing to comments made at a 2018 conference in Texas where McNamee called the choice between fossil fuels and renewables as a “constant battle between liberty and tyranny.” The vote comes at a time when the commission is considering major dockets including a review of the 1999 gas pipeline policy, grid resiliency, and state policy priorities. In October, President Donald Trump nominated McNamee for the term ending June 30, 2020, to fill the vacancy resulting from Commissioner Robert Powelson’s resignation. McNamee served as the Executive Director of the U.S. Energy Department’s Office of Policy.