Energy

EPA on and off the Hill


With help from Anthony Adragna, Gavin Bade and Eric Wolff

Editor’s Note: This edition of Morning Energy is published weekdays at 10 a.m. POLITICO Pro Energy subscribers hold exclusive early access to the newsletter each morning at 6 a.m. Learn more about POLITICO Pro’s comprehensive policy intelligence coverage, policy tools and services at politicopro.com.

EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler this morning will face the House Science panel for the first time.

Wheeler will also discuss the revocation of California’s waiver that allows the state to enforce its tougher greenhouse gas emissions standards for vehicles.

While last week’s repeal of the Obama-era water pollution rule was a win for farmers, U.S. agriculture continues to struggle with President Donald Trump’s trade and immigration policy.

ALMOST FRIDAY! I’m your host, Kelsey Tamborrino. FERC’s John Peschke was the first to correctly identify General Sherman, the largest tree in the world, found in California’s Sequoia National Park. For today: Which country was the first to elect a female prime minister? Send your tips, energy gossip and comments to ktamborrino@politico.com.

WHEELER’S VERY BUSY MORNING: Wheeler and Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao are slated to get into the details this morning of the Trump administration’s plans to revoke a waiver allowing California to enforce stricter greenhouse gas standards for cars and light trucks. The president on Wednesday tweeted those plans out, arguing that rolling back the stricter rules will increase safety without seriously increasing the effects of climate change — a claim opponents say is unsubstantiated.

After making the announcement, Wheeler will head to the Hill to testify before the House Science Committee. His appearance will mark the first time an administrator testifies before the Science panel during the Trump administration — and you can bet Democrats will have a litany of questions, particularly on the Trump administration’s deregulatory action.

Democrats on the Science panel have been critical of EPA’s moves on everything from the Clean Power Plan replacement to the methane rule. Earlier this week, Chairwoman Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas) signed onto a letter to Wheeler that argued he has restricted the scientific review process for the ongoing rulemakings on ozone and particulate matter.

Johnson has pressed the administrator on EPA’s scientific advisory committees and Integrated Risk Information System program. She also previously threatened “the use of compulsory power” if EPA did not cooperate with the committee’s investigation into why the Trump administration scuttled a health study into the risks of formaldehyde, accusing EPA of stonewalling her committee.

TRUMP: EPA WILL ISSUE VIOLATION OVER HOMELESSNESS: The president said EPA will issue environmental violations within a week to the city of San Francisco, claiming — without evidence — that the city’s homeless population is polluting the ocean, the Associated Press reports. According to the AP, Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One last night that a “tremendous amount of waste, including needles, is going through storm drains into the ocean.”

Worth noting: Audrey Cooper of the San Francisco Chronicle tweeted, “Nearly all of SF’s storm drains flow to treatment plants, not to the ocean. As a result, SF actually has relatively low non-point source pollution.”

FARM FOCUS: Amid Trump’s ever-deepening trade wars, immigration crackdown and controversial approach to ethanol policy, environmental deregulation has provided a rare bright spot for farmers and ranchers, Pro’s Catherine Boudeau and Annie Snider report. Along with the WOTUS move, Trump’s EPA has also defended the safety of two pesticides that some research has linked to cancer and damage to children’s developing brains.

But scaling back environmental rules has been one of the only promises kept by the Trump administration to American agriculture, the pair reports. Several farmers told POLITICO less regulation only goes so far, adding they want to see the president deliver elsewhere. “The [Renewable Fuel Standard] is on par with trade in terms of the level of frustration,” said Mark Watne, president of the North Dakota Farmers Union. “And some folks who initially supported the trade war are realizing that what’s going on with China has nothing to do with agriculture.”

TRUMP, OIL STATE SENATORS TALK BIOFUEL: Trump will meet with a group of oil state senators today to discuss changes to the RFS he is considering. Sens. Bill Cassidy and Pat Toomey said they’d be at the meeting, and Sen. Ted Cruz is also expected to attend. The group is expected to press the case that the administration should put a cap on the cost of compliance credits, called Renewable Identification Numbers.

The RIN cap proposal was one of the hopes of refiners in the last round of negotiations in early 2018, but biofuels groups oppose it and the oil industry itself is split on the idea, leading to its eventual rejection. None of those dynamics have changed in the intervening year. The White House has been considering a package that would boost biofuel blending requirements and limit the number of refineries that receive exemptions from the program, but Trump was unlikely to make an announcement before meeting with the oil state senators.

The last word: Trump is notorious for taking the advice of the last person to speak with him, and some biofuel groups worry that Trump will change the policy package after hearing from oil state senators. But Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, a biofuel champion, is more optimistic. “I shouldn’t have to go back to the president and say anything more,” he told reporters Wednesday. “If the president and the people advising him say we have a deal, we have a deal.”

PURPA CHANGES COMING: FERC is expected to approve today reforms to how it implements the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act, a 1978 law that directs utilities to buy power from certain renewable energy and cogeneration facilities.

Utilities and state-regulators have long pressed FERC to loosen the law’s must-purchase requirement, as well as rules on how much utilities must pay the qualifying facilities. The solar industry, which has resisted changes to the law, recently signaled it could be open to some alterations if renewable energy providers are allowed to compete for utility customers.

Chairman Neil Chatterjee last week teased the commission’s coming order, tweeting FERC’s open meeting agenda with the message: “It’s time to modernize PURPA.” Reforms could include easing purchase and pricing requirements for some utilities, as well as changes to the one-mile rule that currently dictates how far apart PURPA facilities must be located.

QUORUM COUNTS: Commissioner Richard Glick said he will not seek any waivers to the Trump administration’s ethics pledge or other conflict-of-interest rules that would allow him to participate in decisions regarding his former employer Avangrid, Pro’s Gavin Bade reports. That means Glick will be unable to participate in multiple cases involving the Northeast utility until November, depriving the commission of a quorum on issues including a high-profile PJM proceeding.

COURT DELAYS ‘GOOD NEIGHBOR’ CASE: The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals canceled arguments scheduled for Friday in a lawsuit challenging a 2018 EPA rule related to ozone pollution, Pro’s Alex Guillén reports. The decision gives EPA more time to figure out how to respond to a court ruling faulting a separate but related 2016 rule following a legal fight that broke out this week when the cases became entangled.

COURT BLOCKS ANTI-PROTEST LAW: A federal district court blocked a South Dakota law that would have threatened pipeline protesters — or anyone even supporting such protests — with fines and jail time. The state’s “riot boosting” law was written in such broad language that the court ruled it violated First Amendment rights. “Giving a supporting email or a letter to the editor in support of a protest is encouraging,” U.S. District Judge Lawrence Piersol wrote in the decision. “Giving a cup of coffee or a thumbs up or $10 to protesters is encouraging the protesters. … And each of the examples involve protected speech or expressive activity.”

‘THIS IS THE TIME TO WAKE UP’: Swedish teen climate advocate Greta Thunberg finished her time on Capitol Hill on Wednesday with a speech urging lawmakers to treat climate change like an emergency and depoliticize the issue. “This is above all an emergency. Not just any emergency, this is the biggest crisis humanity has ever faced. We need to treat it accordingly,” she said. “You must unite behind science. You must take action. You must do the impossible because giving up can never be an option.”

Thunberg said all of the solutions to the problem are not yet known but implored members of Congress to quit framing the issue in a rosy, optimistic tone. “Stop telling people everything will be fine,” she said. “This is not something you can package or sell or like on social media.”

CARPER’S NEXT AUTO MOVE: Sen. Tom Carper, ranking member on the EPW Committee, said he’s reaching out to automakers following the move to revoke California’s waiver in hopes of getting them to sign onto a voluntary agreement with the state. “They’ve now seen what this administration is up to,” he told reporters. “My hope is that this will convince some of these auto companies that have been standing back, waiting to decide whether or not they’re going to join the Fabulous Four,” referring to the agreement inked between Ford, Volkswagen, BMW, Honda and California.

ANOTHER CLIMATE FORUM: MSNBC’s two-day climate forum kicks off today from Georgetown University, where Sens. Bernie Sanders and Michael Bennet, author Marianne Williamson, entrepreneur Andrew Yang, former Rep. John Delaney, Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan and former HUD Secretary Julián Castro are scheduled to speak. The forum will give several candidates who did not make the cut for CNN seven-hour climate town hall the chance to pitch their climate plans. Several 2020 candidates, however, are not scheduled to appear — former Vice President Joe Biden, Sens. Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris and Amy Klobuchar, and former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke.

— “Kennedy to challenge Markey for Massachusetts Senate seat,” POLITICO.

— “Trump fight on California auto emissions could outlast presidency,” Reuters.

— “Fossil fuel divestment has ‘zero’ climate impact, says Bill Gates,” via Financial Times.

— “Facing fines, polluters turn to Trump’s enforcement fixer,” via E&E News.

— “Blackstone may entertain offers for Cheniere Energy Partners stake, exec says,” via S&P Global Market Intelligence.

THAT’S ALL FOR ME!





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