WASHINGTON – David LaCerte, a White House Liaison and Senior Advisor to the Director for the U.S. Office of Personnel Management from Louisiana, said he is "agnostic” about new power made from solar, wind, and other green sources during a confirmation hearing for a position on the panel that regulates utility companies, The Advocate reports. 

“The Federal Power Act requires that commissioners be neutral on these decisions, and I commit to follow the law,” LaCerte testified during his Thursday confirmation hearing to become one of five commissioners on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

FERC's duties include signing off on electricity-gathering plants.

According to The Advocate, Senators on the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources feared that FERC might discriminate against making more energy using renewable resources because of criticisms by the Trump administration about green energy, favoring fossil fuels instead.

“Artificial Intelligence, data centers, and reindustrialization present a compounding of these issues which will require diligent planning, forecasting, and regulatory oversight from both the states as well as FERC,” LaCerte said. “Reducing processing time and the associated administrative burden will speed projects along, allowing those cost savings to be passed to ratepayers.”

Delaying green energy projects would increase the cost of electricity, New Mexico Sen. Martin Heinrich said, adding that 90% of the projects use wind, solar and renewables to fuel electricity generation

LeCerte graduated from Nicholls State University and the LSU Paul M. Hebert School of Law.

The committee will vote on whether to recommend that the full Senate approve LaCerte’s nomination at a later date.