On May 8, 2017, the White House announced that President Donald J. Trump will nominate Neil Chatterjee and Robert Powelson as commissioners of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Chatterjee is an energy policy advisor and liaison to the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, and Powelson is a commissioner of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission and President of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners.
If confirmed by the United States Senate, the nominees would fill two of the current vacancies on the five-commissioner panel and restore quorum to the regulatory body, which has been unable to permit major interstate natural gas pipeline projects since February 3, 2017.