Deputy energy secretary nominee Danly testifies for Senate panel

The Donald Trump administration’s pick to be deputy secretary of energy, told a Senate panel Wednesday that if confirmed his focus would be on easing federal regulatory approval for new infrastructure and electricity projects.  

In his prepared testimony to the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, James Danly also said keeping the Department of Energy’s National Laboratory system at the forefront of science and engineering would be a top priority.

“I believe my prior roles as general counsel, commissioner, and chairman at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission give me a unique and important vantage point on how to achieve the president and the secretary’s shared vision of ensuring affordable, reliable and secure energy for the American people,” Danly said.

“We face an acute need to build all kinds of infrastructure throughout the country, but the federal permitting regime has become nothing short of an impediment to that development,” Danly said in the testimony. “Infrastructure projects take longer to build and are increasingly expensive or—worse—never get developed in the first place.”

Many of the senators during the hearing stressed the emergence of the increased demand for energy. 

During the panel, Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS) asked Danly what steps he believes DOE will take to push nuclear energy to meet demands for baseload power. Danly said it was important research to continue at Idaho National Laboratory, to prove demonstration and cases for small modular reactors. 

Danly also staked out a pro-nuclear position. “I don’t see a way we can meet the demand that we’re facing without nuclear power being part of the solution,” Danly said. 

Most of the challenges involving implementing nuclear and natural gas are regulatory based, Danly said in a response to Sen. Dave McCormick’s (R-Pa.) question. He said the pricing on the back-end of nuclear projects is extremely expensive.

Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) was concerned with the recent layoffs of workers at the Hanford nuclear cleanup site and asked if Danly would commit to a budget that would abide by the objectives of the Tri-Party Agreement. While Danly said creating a budget is not part of his nominated role, he said is committed to abiding by the agreement, as the DOE does. 

President Trump nominated Danly Jan. 22. If confirmed, Danly would serve as the right hand to Secretary of Energy Chris Wright. A recording of the hearing webcast is available online.