With help from Alex Guillén, Eric Wolff and Zack Colman
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— The second and final night of Democratic debates is tonight in Detroit, where there could be a larger clash over climate plans.
— Senate committees will mark up bills to impose sanctions on companies aiding construction of Russia-backed pipelines and to reauthorize Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration programs.
— Ryan Zinke’s emails are under investigation by the Justice Department, adding to the ongoing ethical probes into the former Interior secretary.
WELCOME TO WEDNESDAY! I’m your host, Kelsey Tamborrino. ClearView Energy’s Christi Tezak gets the win for identifying Pierre Charles L’Enfant, who was commissioned by George Washington to create the urban plan for D.C. For today: How many justices served on the first Supreme Court? Send your tips, energy gossip and comments to ktamborrino@politico.com.
ABOUT LAST NIGHT: Democratic hopefuls once again only discussed their climate plans briefly last night, but the discussion managed to span issues including the Flint, Mich., drinking water crisis to a declaration by Sen. Bernie Sanders that the fossil fuel industry is criminal.
“We’ve got to ask ourselves a simple question: What do you do with an industry that willingly, for billions of dollars in short-term profits, is destroying this planet. I say that is criminal activity that cannot be allowed to continue,” Sanders (I-Vt.) said.
The response came after more than an hour without a specific climate question. Former Maryland Rep. John Delaney was the first to get a chance to respond to a climate question, by calling for a direct air capture market and panning the Green New Deal as unrealistic. Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan, meanwhile, called for “a sustainable and regenerative agriculture system that sequesters carbon into the soil,” and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren highlighted a “green industrial policy” plan that “takes advantage of the fact that we do what we do best, which is innovate and create.”
Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar said “a voice from the Heartland” is required to make progress on infrastructure and climate change, and called for changing the capital gains rate to pay for rural broadband and green infrastructure. Author Marianne Williamson used her time to put the drinking water crisis in plain terms: “We need to say it like it is, it’s bigger than Flint. It’s all over this country. It’s particularly people of color. It’s particularly people who do not have the money to fight back.”
READY FOR ROUND 2: The remaining 10 Democrats will debate tonight, and it’s expected to be more combative. Washington Gov. Jay Inslee has signaled he’ll go after his opponents for their lack of action on climate change. Inslee — who unveiled another climate plan Monday — wrote an op-ed this week on the need for Democrats to increase their focus on the issue, and tweeted last night that he was “mad as hell” climate was not brought up in the first hour. Not to mention, the super PAC supporting him unveiled new ads this week hitting several front-runners for not making climate change a high priority.
Eyes will also be on former Vice President Joe Biden after his previous debate clash with Sen. Kamala Harris, whom he’ll face again tonight. This time the California Democrat will come armed with new environmental justice legislation she crafted with Green New Deal author Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.).
Who’s debating tonight: Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet; Biden; New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker; former HUD Secretary Julián Castro; New York Mayor Bill de Blasio; Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard; New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand; Harris; Inslee and entrepreneur Andrew Yang.
TRYING THIS AGAIN: The Senate Foreign Relations Committee this morning will mark up a bill, S. 1441 (116), from Ted Cruz (R-Texas) that would put financial penalties on companies that supply pipe-laying vessels for use in building the Nord Stream 2 and TurkStream pipelines. The bill was scheduled to get a vote last week but was delayed at the request of Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.). While Cruz agreed to the delay, he stressed he wanted to advance the bill before the August recess.
PIPES, the PIPES are calling: The Senate Commerce Committee votes this morning on legislation, S. 2299 (116), the so-called PIPES Act, to reauthorize PHMSA pipeline safety programs from fiscal 2020 to 2023. The committee will also mark up S. 2297 (116) to reauthorize the Coast Guard.
— Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) filed three amendments to the PHMSA measure, including one to require companies to use the best available technology to capture natural gas when making pipeline repairs.
AGs PRESS ON PFAS: Twenty-two state attorneys general want Congress to include key provisions in a final PFAS package being negotiated as part of the annual defense bill, Pro’s Annie Snider reports. In a letter to congressional leaders, the Democratic AGs urged a series of specific “first steps” that they found to be “immediate legislative needs” as they work to address the issue in their states.
TOUGH TALK FOR GAS TAX ADVOCATES: As talks begin on funding for the surface transportation bill that advanced from the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on Tuesday, it’s unlikely Republicans will rely on a gas tax increase, Pro’s Tanya Snyder and Anthony Adragna report. “I have heard over the course of four, five years that [Majority Leader Mitch] McConnell didn’t want the gas tax increase because he doesn’t want Republicans to be accused of raising taxes,” said Finance Chairman Chuck Grassley, who met with EPW Chairman John Barrasso on Tuesday on pay-fors. “So that seems to me a big hurdle for my committee to overcome.”
DOJ INVESTIGATING ZINKE: The Justice Department is investigating whether Zinke used personal email accounts for official business as part of a larger criminal probe into the former Interior secretary, according to a letter released by House Democrats on Tuesday. Interior’s acting inspector general told the chairmen of the Natural Resources and Oversight committees that the investigation they requested into Zinke’s email has been combined with an ongoing probe the IG is conducting with DOJ, POLITICO’s Nick Juliano reports.
That larger probe includes Zinke’s participation in a land deal with the chairman of Halliburton, as well as Interior’s obstruction of a tribal casino project in Connecticut following extensive lobbying by a rival casino company, both of which were first reported by POLITICO.
GLIDING INTO YOUR WEDNESDAY: EPA’s IG will release a report today on EPA’s 2017 testing of emissions from glider trucks, in which a refurbished engine is placed in a new truck frame. That test, conducted at EPA’s Ann Arbor lab, concluded that gliders pollute more than newly built engines, and under certain circumstances can emit 450 times as much particulate matter pollution and up to 43 times as much nitrogen oxides.
House Republicans last year alleged that the Trump EPA worked with Volvo, whose new engines compete with glider trucks, to make gliders appear dirty. Bill Wehrum, then EPA’s air chief, defended his agency’s study, arguing that Volvo helped EPA obtain the gliders for testing but that EPA ignored the company’s “unsolicited” views on the test procedures.
Note: This is not the review of EPA’s proposed (and long-stalled) repeal of Obama-era rules for glider emissions, which Senate Democrats alleged cut corners on key regulatory review requirements. That review — which the IG said in April was being stonewalled by the Office of Management and Budget — is expected this fall, a spokeswoman told ME.
FORMER STATE OFFICIAL ALLEGES SCIENTIFIC SUPPRESSION: A former State Department scientist said the Trump administration’s decision to block his congressional testimony felt like part of a “pattern” of scientific suppression. “What I think is important is that I look to the body of science, and some of the suggestions that we received I had never seen in a mainstream climate article in over 25 years,” Rod Schoonover, who resigned from State’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research, said at an event hosted by the World Resources Institute on Tuesday.
Schoonover said administration officials prevented him from submitting his written testimony into the official record because its findings contradicted Trump’s climate change policy. “I don’t think it’s correct to call this a policy dispute. I think there’s what the science says — there’s what mainstream science says — and then there’s what mainstream science doesn’t say.”
GEORGIA POWER SAYS VOGTLE WILL BE ON TIME: Georgia Power said it will put two new units of the Vogtle nuclear plant into service on time in 2021 and 2022. The company responded to a Tuesday report by staff from the Georgia Public Service Commission that was doubtful the project could meet the anticipated commercial operation dates. “Georgia Power’s regulatory-approved in-service dates remain November 2021 and November 2022 for units 3 and 4, respectively,” the utility said in a statement. “Milestones achieved this year include the first fuel order placed in more than 30 years for a newly-designed reactor in the U.S. and the site workforce reaching an all-time high with approximately 8,000 workers currently on site.”
— “FirstEnergy handed out $1 million in campaign cash before nuclear bailout vote,” via The Columbus Dispatch.
— “Fearing defections, Trump and McConnell crank up pressure on budget vote,” via POLITICO.
— “EPA to close a Las Vegas office, reassign employees,” via Government Executive.
— “‘They’re not thugs’: Miners spend second night protesting on railroad tracks,” via WYMT.
— “Trump aide submitted drafts of 2016 ‘America First’ energy speech to UAE for edits, emails show,” via ABC News.
— “U.S. can’t find files on investigation into nuclear arms plant,” via the Associated Press.
THAT’S ALL FOR ME!
