President Trump unexpectedly appointed staunch conservative James Danly as the new chair of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Thursday night. The move to demote current Chair Neil Chatterjee, a Republican and former McConnell energy advisor, was reportedly retribution for Chatterjee’s recent actions to address climate change and support clean energy, including leading a technical conference on implementing a carbon tax into wholesale electricity markets and an order allowing distributed energy resources like small solar and battery installations to enter markets. Chatterjee also opposed a proposal by former Energy Secretary Rick Perry to subsidize struggling coal and nuclear plants. If elected, Democratic nominee Joe Biden could replace Danly as FERC chair without Senate approval. (Washington Examiner, E&E $, Politico Pro $)