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Neil Chatterjee, former commissioner and chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, stressed the importance of political bipartisanship in achieving key energy policy goals at the Harvard Kennedy School on Monday.
Chatterjee said that partisan politics pose a roadblock to meeting rising energy demands, particularly from artificial intelligence. The seminar was hosted by the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and co-sponsored by the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government and the Salata Institute for Climate and Sustainability.
“The energy policy discussion regarding climate change and decarbonization became very, very political. And to me, that is unfortunate, because the questions before us today, honestly, are not cleanly political,” Chatterjee said.
The former commissioner said that the United States faces a three-part challenge of slashing carbon emissions, lowering energy costs for consumers, and supplying enough energy to data centers that run AI systems. The urgency to meet the final challenge has grown with AI’s role in national security and the ensuing “AI race,” he added.
“We cannot allow an autocracy to control AI in the 21st century,” he said.
Chatterjee argued that the relatively flat demand for power over the last two decades left energy-related decisions to politicians, rather than engineers and scientists, fueling partisan divides.
“We are stuck in this antiquated notion — this antiquated system — where if you are for fossil fuels, you’re of the political right, and if you’re for clean energy and climate solutions, you’re of the political left,” Chatterjee said. “I think that is so damaging and we’ve got to bust our way out of it.”
Chatterjee argued energy policy must be pulled out of partisanship. Both sides should compromise on a diverse energy mix, with the left acknowledging some continued role for fossil fuels and the right recognizing the need to expand clean energy.
Drawing on his work at FERC — which regulates the sale of electricity, petroleum, and natural gas — Chatterjee said the agency shows how bipartisan governance should craft climate policy. FERC’s regulatory board is staffed by five members, no more than three of whom can be of the same political party. Each member’s tenure also lasts five years to ride out a presidential term.
The former commissioner called FERC “a beacon of stability” in an “otherwise volatile regulatory landscape.”
He called on government actors to replicate that stability by taking more responsibility at the state and federal levels to expand clean energy capacity, adding that stronger coordination between the two levels of government is needed to break ground on new clean energy infrastructure.
“I think if we get out of our partisan corners and recognize this is what it will take to win the AI race, we can start to take some of the politics out of energy,” Chatterjee said.
He closed with a call to action.
“We are facing down a genuine demographic crisis in the energy space, where experienced leadership is retiring,” Chatterjee said. “This is so important for humanity, for the economy, for society writ large. Please go work in government, work in energy, work in this space.”
