Energy

U.S. troops headed to Syrian oil fields


With help from Anthony Adragna, Matt Daily, and Ben Lefebvre

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The U.S. will send tanks and troops to protect oil fields in Syria, despite President Donald Trump‘s order to withdraw U.S. forces.

Massachusetts on Thursday launched its civil suit against Exxon, accusing the oil giant of deceiving investors and Bay State residents.

New York City is breathing new life into an underground transmission line that would carry Canadian hydro power into the city.

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Several people knew when the last time two expansion teams played in the World Series, but NYISO’s Ben Cohen was the first to compose a poem, submitting this lovely haiku: “The Mets and KC / a series played in ’15 / Rios got his ring.“ Thanks for that. I would ask for the next trivia answer in sonnet form, except that Gavin Bade will be taking his turn at the wheel starting Monday, and he might get cranky with me. So instead, some math: Take the number of outs in a baseball inning, multiply that by the number of umpires on the field in a World Series game, and then subtract the number of hitters in a starting lineup, then add the number of bases on the diamond. Send the name of the Nationals player who wears that number to me at ewolff@politico.com, and send your tips, energy gossip and comments to Gbade@politico.com.

SYRIA WITHDRAWAL HITS OIL SNAG: Despite Trump’s order to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria, the U.S. is preparing to use residual forces to secure the oil fields in the eastern part of the country — which Trump has repeatedly said were already secured, Pro Defense’s Wesley Morgan reports. “The U.S. is committed to reinforcing our position, in coordination with our SDF partners, in northeast Syria with additional military assets to prevent those oil fields from falling back into the hands of ISIS or other destabilizing actors,” a defense official said, referring to the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces.

The field in question, Deir Ez-Zor, was seized by ISIS in 2014 during the civil war and was reported to be earning $1 million per day from oil sales. Years of fighting that forced ISIS to retreat left the production infrastructure devastated, according to Matt Reed of Foreign Reports, a consulting agency focused on energy and the Middle East. “The coalition destroyed the ISIS oil trade at every point along the supply chain — from the wellhead to storage sites to refineries,” Reed wrote in an email to POLITICO. “The Kurds took the Omar field — Syria’s largest — in October 2017. But by that time the coalition had turned the sprawling complex and countless wells into scrap metal.”

Don’t expect the oil markets to panic over the fate of these fields: Syria’s production had been on the decline for years before the civil war, and was well below 400,000 barrels per day by the time the fighting escalated. And Deir Ez-Zor was hardly the crown jewel, with previous production levels estimated at no more than 40,000 bpd.

Dems baffled: Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) tried to lay out the situation in a tweet Thursday night. “So we are clear. This is nuts. We are abandoning our allies, abetting ethnic cleansing, allowing ISIS prisoners to be released, then we are going to protect oil fields hundreds of miles away? This is logistically crazy, strategically upside down, and morally bankrupt.“

MASSACHUSETTS LAUNCHES EXXON CLIMATE SUIT: Massachusetts will now join New York in suing ExxonMobil over claims that it misled investors and deceived consumers about the risks of climate change. After more than three years of investigating, Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey sued Exxon Mobil Thursday, Pro’s Zack Colman reports. “We know this case isn’t going to be easy. Exxon fought us every step of the way,” Healey said in a press call. “But they can’t hide from their own record.”

The Bay State’s suit goes further than New York’s accusing the oil behemoth of deceiving the state’s consumers by “greenwashing”. Exxon called the suit “baseless” and said it looks forward to making its case in court.

CHAOS AT CASAC: The normally sedate meetings of EPA’s science boards don’t typically generate controversy, but the six members of the Clean Air Science Advisory Board could not agree on how much soot it‘s OK for Americans to breath at their Thursday meeting. The board, whose members were all appointed during the Trump administration, battled over whether the standard should be lowered, as an EPA staff report recommended, Pro’s Alex Guillén reports.

“The review process is so dysfunctional that we need to stop,” Mark Frampton, a pulmonologist at the University of Rochester serving on the board, said. Wheeler disbanded a group of particulate experts that would typically advise CASAC on setting these standards, and some board members wished it was still in existence. “That’s where all the real work occurred,” said James Boylan, a CASAC member who works at the Georgia Department of Natural Resources

EPA DUMPS TWO ADVISORY BOARDS: EPA said Thursday it would follow through on a Trump executive order to eliminate one-third of bodies not specifically required to exist by law by shutting down two committees: the National Advisory Council for Environmental Policy and Technology, which advised on numerous environmental issues, and the Environmental Laboratory Advisory Board, which advised EPA on lab accreditation, Pro’s Alex Guillén reported.

CASH FOR CLEAN CARS: Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is floating a $400 billion cash-for-clunkers style program to promote electric vehicle purchases, Pro’s Anthony Adragna reports. The program would be part of a larger climate bill Democrats would introduce if they take the majority after next year’s elections. It would offer rebates starting at $3,000 to trade in a gas-powered car for plug-in electric, plug-in hybrid or hydrogen fuel cell versions, and larger incentives would be available for low-income consumers or those purchasing American-made cars, according to Schumer’s office. Schumer also proposes billions in new spending on electric vehicle charging and manufacturing programs.

FERC, INTERIOR NOMS TO GET HEARINGS SOON: Senate Energy Chairman Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) told Pro’s Anthony Adragna she plans to hold hearings on the nominations of James Danly for FERC and Katharine MacGregor to become deputy secretary of Interior “in the next couple of weeks.”

MURKOWSKI, ALEXANDER BACK PERRY’S UKRAINE DIPLOMACY: Murkowski and Alexander on Thursday defended outgoing Energy Secretary Rick Perry’s efforts to wean Ukraine off Russian energy, Anthony reported. “I think the U.S.’s energy dominance gives us an ability, with all that we have, to be doing so much more on the diplomatic front,” Murkowski said. “And I think that the secretary was focused on that, and I think rightly so.” Murkowski did knock Perry for not obeying a House subpoena. “Subpoenas are things that are pretty hard to ignore,“ she said.

ERNST TO WHEELER: GET THE RFS RIGHT OR GET OUT: Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) wants 15 billion gallons of ethanol blending under the Renewable Fuel Standard. “If we get to a point where the EPA is not following through on what the president has directed them to do … then I’m ready to call for the resignation of Andrew Wheeler,” Ernst said, according to the Des Moines Register.

NEW YORK CITY WANTS THAT SWEET SWEET CANADIAN HYDRO: Mayor Bill de Blasio is breathing new life into a dormant underground transmission project that would carry carbon-free Canadian hydro power into the five boroughs, an effort to meet the city’s climate goals, Pro New York’s Danielle Muoio and Joe Anuta report. The city is exploring purchasing hydropower from the Champlain Hudson Power Express, and De Blasio said the city may loan the company some of the $3 billion needed to get the project built, in addition to agreeing to buy half the power on the transmission line. However, the idea faces resistance from environmentalists who say large dams harm local ecosystems.

McKENNA BACK ON THE TRUMP TEAM: Energy lobbyist Mike McKenna is joining the White House legislative affairs team next week. McKenna is a Republican lobbyist who has represented electric power companies and briefly led President Donald Trump’s Energy Department transition team. McKenna left the DOE transition team post shortly after the Trump administration said those officials would need to deregister as lobbyists, Zack reports. McKenna has been a vocal critic of measures to regulate and tax greenhouse gas emissions. He’s also generally opposed incentives for clean energy, like wind power and electric vehicles.

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