With help from Alex Guillén and Eric Geller
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— The top Democrat on the Natural Resources Committee is mulling a subpoena for the Interior Department if it doesn’t provide details on how it is deciding to reopen national parks.
— A federal judge nixed an effort by environmental groups to stop Interior from resuming coal leasing on federal lands, but noted the challengers still have another option.
— An auto industry trade group intends to defend EPA’s auto emissions rollback from arguments that the rule is too stringent.
WELCOME BACK! IT’S TUESDAY! I’m your host, Kelsey Tamborrino. Check out the POLITICO Energy podcast — all the energy and environmental politics and policy news you need to start your day, in just five minutes. Listen and subscribe for free at politico.com/energy-podcast.
Stephen Myrow of Beacon Policy Advisors gets the trivia win for correctly identifying former Energy Secretary Charles Duncan Jr. as the former coffee company chief. Prior to his position in the Cabinet, Duncan — who served under the Carter administration — joined Duncan Foods Company, his family’s company, which produced Maryland Club Coffee. For today: How many senators successfully went directly from the Senate to the White House? Bonus points for naming who replaced them in the Senate once they were elected president.
Some housekeeping: I’m off today, so please send your energy tips to Alex, at [email protected], who’ll be in your inboxes Wednesday morning.
GRIJALVA WEIGHS SUBPOENA OVER PARKS REOPENING: House Natural Resources Chair Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.) is considering issuing a subpoena to the Interior Department if it doesn’t provide more detail on its plans to reopen national parks around the country, Pro’s Anthony Adragna reports.
Grijalva told POLITICO on Friday he is concerned that the Trump administration’s reopening of the federal parks was being done for the political optics and lacked precautions to safeguard human health and safety, particularly at the Grand Canyon, which sits near the Covid-19-ravaged Navajo Nation. He added he had received “minimal” information from the administration on its reopening criteria.
“I do want the parks open, but I don’t want it to be a political decision that we do it so it looks good. I want to do it so it is indeed safe and that we are not contributing to what this pandemic has already done to the state of Arizona and to the rest of the nation,” he said. “We need to do our oversight and accountability, even on the money that was allocated to Interior in terms of a response to the pandemic.”
Interior Secretary David Bernhardt visited the Grand Canyon on Saturday, as the site opened up limited access to the public.
You may recall, Grijalva previously threatened Interior with a subpoena for documents concerning the relocation of the Bureau of Land Management to Colorado, though it was never issued amid the health crisis. Democrats on the panel granted unilateral subpoena authority to Grijalva in February.
JUDGE WON’T SECOND-GUESS COAL LEASING MOVE: A federal judge won’t second-guess Interior’s justification for resuming coal leasing on federal lands after green groups and several states called on him to rule that the department failed to comply with an April 2019 order to conduct a review before lifting the Obama-era leasing moratorium, Pro’s Alex Guillén reports. On Friday, Chief Judge Brian Morris of the U.S. District Court for Montana said BLM had satisfied his prior order to go through the NEPA process before lifting the moratorium, and the quality of that NEPA review is not a matter for him to rule on in the lawsuit.
The challengers still have another option. They can bring a new, separate legal action against Interior’s environmental assessment, as well as against any specific leases that may be issued.
AUTO INDUSTRY TO FIGHT LAWSUIT SAYING AUTO STANDARDS TOO STRINGENT: The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, which includes automakers and vehicle parts manufacturers, on Friday moved to defend EPA’s auto emissions rollback — from a libertarian think tank that argues the weakened rule is still too stringent. Increasing the standards’ stringency gives the industry a “return on its investment in advanced emissions-reduction and fuel economy technologies,” as well as public health and environmental benefits, the Alliance argued as it moved to intervene in the lawsuit brought by the Competitive Enterprise Institute.
But the companies in the group also set themselves up to defend the rule from upcoming attacks from blue states and environmentalists that it is too lax. EPA and NHTSA “lawfully exercised their discretion in setting their standards in accordance with the applicable statutory requirements,” they wrote. Notably, five companies did not join the Alliance’s action: Ford, Honda, BMW and Volkswagen (the four companies that struck a voluntary, more stringent emissions deal with California last year), plus Mercedes-Benz, which has been rumored to be in talks to join the deal.
In a statement, Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.) said she was “disappointed” to see the auto industry further fracturing. “I have argued it’s in the long-term interest for the administration, California and the auto industry to be on the same page. We must continue to be at the forefront of innovation and technology,” she said. “Today’s action sets us further back from this goal.”
WOTUS — JUDGE WON’T DELAY INJUNCTION HEARING: A federal judge has denied the Trump administration’s request to delay an upcoming hearing on California’s request to block the rewritten Waters of the U.S. rule. The administration last week had asked for more briefing time, which would have meant the Navigable Waters Protection rule would have been in effect for weeks before the judge could decide on a preliminary injunction. But Judge Richard Seeborg of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California concluded in a Friday evening order that there’s significant interest in deciding on an injunction before the rule takes effect.
THE SACKETTS ARE BACK(ETTS): An Idaho couple that has long been battling EPA over whether their property in Idaho is subject to federal Clean Water Act jurisdiction are now helping to defend the NWP rule. Chantell and Michael Sackett went to the Supreme Court in 2012 and won the right to challenge EPA compliance orders in court. But the couple’s subsequent dispute over the details of their property hasn’t gone well, with a district court judge ruling last year that in their specific case, the land is subject to federal permitting authority under 1980s rules in place since the Obama WOTUS rule was repealed.
But the Trump EPA’s new NWP rule will benefit the Sacketts. “Under the Navigable Waters Protection Rule, the Sacketts would be able to finally build a home on their vacant lot without permission from the Army [Corps of Engineers]. The nationwide injunction sought by California would prevent that outcome,” the couple, represented by the Pacific Legal Foundation, wrote in a Thursday brief opposing California’s request to block the rule nationwide.
COAL COMPANY ATTACKS MERCURY RULE: Just hours after EPA’s revamped mercury rule was published, a Colorado coal company sued, and is expected to argue that the entire rule is unjustified and should be struck down. A key feature of the rulemaking was EPA’s assurance that, despite declaring it was never “appropriate or necessary” to regulate mercury emissions, it was leaving the numeric limits in place, meaning coal plants must still run their pollution controls. Environmentalists warned that EPA was practically inviting a lawsuit to topple the numeric limits by undoing the legal underpinnings.
The Friday complaint from Westmoreland Mining doesn’t elaborate on its legal argument and the company did not return a request for comment. But it is represented by the same attorneys from Baker & Hostetler who during the rulemaking process filed comments on behalf of the “ad hoc” National Bituminous Coal Group, which urged EPA to remove power plants from the list of sources subject to this sort of regulation. Ironically, Westmoreland is already suing EPA over the Affordable Clean Energy rule — which it argues is unlawful because EPA already regulates mercury emissions from power plants.
AGENCIES EYE PHASED RETURN: EPA will slowly begin reopening its offices amid the coronavirus pandemic. E&E News reports that Administrator Andrew Wheeler told staff in an internal email last week that the agency will begin its Phase 1 reopening at the Region 4, Region 7 and Region 10 offices, which would bring staff back in phases with social distancing restrictions.
At Interior, Bernhardt wrote in a message to employees that each bureau has finalized a plan for a phased return and that the department “will expeditiously utilize new and existing hiring authorities” to allow bureaus to hire support staff for coronavirus response and recovery. “Many States are now implementing protocols to return to normal operations,” he wrote. “The Department will adapt to these various postures at the pace of the States.”
The Energy Department said it received confirmation of one new employee at the department’s headquarters who tested positive with Covid-19. The individual hadn’t been at the department’s D.C. headquarters since March 18, Secretary Dan Brouillette wrote in an update, adding that two previously confirmed cases have recovered. The secretary said that “when the time is right,” the department will begin the first phase of its return to headquarters.
KEEPING THE LIGHTS ON: The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and DOE joined with the U.K. National Cyber Security Centre on Friday to issue security guidance for industrial control system operators. The best-practices document offers high-level advice and appears designed for executives rather than IT administrators or chief information security officers; in addition to the actual security advice, it lists the potential impacts of a cyber incident, from short-term problems such as shutdowns to long-term troubles such as lawsuits. One section lists the most common IT and operational technology flaws that CISA saw in fiscal 2019, including porous boundary protections that allowed undetected incursions; authentication failures that made it difficult to trace breaches back to specific compromised accounts; and lack of fidelity to the “principle of least functionality,” magnifying the scope of damage that hackers could do.
GOP SENATORS CALL ON FERC TO REDUCE ‘REGULATORY BURDEN’: Six Republican senators, including Environment and Public Works Chair John Barrasso (Wyo.) and Energy Chair Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), threw their support behind FERC’s decision to continue processing applications for new natural gas projects and liquefied natural gas export facilities, despite calls from Democratic lawmakers and state attorneys general to stop. “Slowing the approval process and delaying construction at a time when millions of Americans are out of work is profoundly wrong,” the senators wrote. Instead, they call on the regulatory agency to “evaluate opportunities to reduce the regulatory burden on infrastructure projects.”
Related: The United States is set to become a swing LNG producer among the downturn in capacity utilization, according to recent analysis from IHS Markit.
DUCKWORTH PANS ACTING IG APPOINTMENT: Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), ranking member the Commerce Subcommittee on Transportation and Safety, wrote to the president to oppose his recent decision to replace Mitchell Behm as the acting inspector general of the Transportation Department with Howard “Skip” Elliott. Elliott, the current administrator of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, is still performing his PHMSA duties while acting as IG. “A system where USDOT Acting IG Skip Elliott is charged with auditing and investigating the actions of PHMSA Administrator Skip Elliott makes a mockery of the entire system of independent Federal agency inspectors general,” she writes.
E&C LAWMAKERS INTRODUCE WASTE BILL: Rep. David McKinley (R-W.Va.), a member of the Energy and Commerce Committee, introduced bipartisan legislation, H.R. 6987 (116), Friday to expand the Paycheck Protection Program to include payments for waste and recycling collection services as covered utility payments for calculating the eligible amount for forgiveness of indebtedness on a PPP loan. The National Waste & Recycling Association, a trade group that represents private U.S. waste and recycling companies, said it drafted the legislative language and called on the House to swiftly pass the bill. The bill was co-sponsored by E&C Chair Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), Vice Chair Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-N.Y.), Environment and Climate Change Subcommittee Chair Paul Tonko (D-N.Y.) and ranking member John Shimkus (R-Ill.).
— “Trump’s drive against watchdogs faces constitutional reckoning,” via POLITICO.
— “Ohio OKs North America’s first freshwater offshore wind farm — with a caveat,” via Electrek.
— “Revenge of the Obamacrats,” via The Atlantic.
— “National parks hope visitors comply with virus measures,” via Associated Press.
— “Pebble Mine alters Alaska road plan, riling environmentalists,” via Bloomberg Law.
— “Iran oil tanker reaches Venezuela amid U.S. tension,” via BBC News.
THAT’S ALL FOR ME!
