With help from Anthony Adragna
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— While air travel emissions are forecast to climb, the pressure for a global effort to cut those emissions has waned under the Trump administration, experts and activists say.
— A Texas Democrat wants the House Oversight Committee to look into whether Energy Secretary Rick Perry helped two Texas oil men win drilling leases in Ukraine.
— Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced his bid for president on Sunday, adding his name to the crowded Democratic field.
WELCOME TO MONDAY! I’m your host, Kelsey Tamborrino. Check out the new 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.
Bracewell’s Frank Maisano gets the trivia win for knowing that Claude Kitchin of North Carolina won a lottery to make him the first member of Congress to select an office in the first ever congressional office building, Cannon. For today: When did the first national Thanksgiving Day take place as proclaimed by President George Washington? Send your tips, energy gossip and comments to ktamborrino@politico.com.
FLIGHT SCHOOL: President Donald Trump’s effort to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris climate agreement is well documented. But the Paris deal isn’t the only international effort to cut emissions that is being undermined by a lack of U.S. leadership.
Climate experts and activists say the absence of U.S. leadership in the negotiations at the U.N.’s International Civil Aviation Organization has emboldened countries like China to weaken plans to curb the emissions from their fast-growing fleets of planes, Pro’s Zack Colman reports this morning.
There are few green alternatives available to replace oil-based jet fuel for air travel, so international climate change efforts have focused on making planes more efficient and offsetting their pollution under a program called the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation, Zack reports. The program was established after discussions between President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jingping, and has garnered support from dozens of countries.
The Trump administration has participated in the ICAO conversations and officially supports CORSIA, but the Federal Aviation Administration has conditioned CORSIA implementation on “a high level of participation by other countries, particularly by countries with significant aviation activity.” And officials with knowledge of the process privately say that the Trump administration has squandered the climate change leverage that the U.S. had won over China under the Obama administration, Zack reports.
“The CORSIA deal was made at the political level, leveraging favorable conditions, such as the U.S.-China climate cooperation, against industrial reluctance,” said Shuo Li, a climate campaigner with Greenpeace in China. “Many of these favorable conditions do not exist now, and the result of that is playing out in ICAO.”
CASTRO URGES PERRY PROBE: Rep. Joaquín Castro, a Democratic member of the Intelligence Committee, said Friday he’d encourage the Oversight Committee to look into whether Perry helped two Texas oil men win potentially lucrative drilling leases in Ukraine. A company run by Michael Bleyzer and Alex Cranberg, two men who backed Perry’s political campaigns, won the leases after Perry submitted Bleyzer’s name to Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky as a possible adviser on the country’s energy matters, the Associated Press reported. “It looks too much like a pay-to-play scheme,” Castro told reporters on a Friday call. “Secretary Perry deserves due process, everything would have to be proven and so forth, but the appearance is a pay-to-play scheme.”
Castro said Perry’s behavior “mirrors closely” his actions as Texas governor and normally the Justice Department would investigate, though he conceded it was unlikely to do so under the Trump administration. “It seems to be a consistent pattern of cronyism that can rise to the level of illegality and it would be regretful if, at the very least, there isn’t an investigation of that act,” Castro said.
Testify? Castro called Perry, one of the so-called three amigos on Ukrainian policy, a “significant player” in the impeachment inquiry and encouraged him to testify. “They were following the president and Rudy Giuliani’s directives to get the Ukrainian government to investigate the Bidens or announce an investigation of the Bidens,” Castro said. “Rick Perry and others apparently were on that mission to help the president accomplish it. …He obviously had a significant role and it would be helpful to hear from him.” But he indicated Democrats would not await court orders compelling their testimony.
PERRY SAYS: Perry, who will depart the administration on Dec. 1, has repeatedly denied wrongdoing or that he ever heard the words Biden or Burisma as part of his Ukrainian activities — something he reiterated in an interview with Fox News. “Not once, not once was the name Burisma [or] the Bidens mentioned to me,” Perry said. “Not by the president, not by Rudy Giuliani and not by Gordon Sondland. And if there’s anyone saying anything different, then they’re surmising. And that’s not a wise thing to do.”
“I know what I saw, I know what I heard, and I stand by my statements that I made all along and will continue to,” he added. Perry touted how Trump directed him to push U.S. liquefied natural gas abroad, and also signaled he was unimpressed with the current 2020 Democratic field — “I hear too many people talking about, ‘If you vote for me, here’s what I’ll give you: free, free, free, free. … There are no free lunches. Stuff costs,” he said.
BLOOMBERG 2020: Bloomberg officially announced his bid for president on Sunday in a video that slammed “the outright denial of this administration to protect the only home we have from the growing menace of climate change.” The video accompanying his announcement is part of an initial $34 million ad buy, playing up both his personal story and juxtaposition to Trump.
Bloomberg has spent millions to fight climate change, including with the Sierra Club’s “Beyond Coal” campaign and a new initiative called “Beyond Carbon” that aims to cut greenhouse gas emissions. His campaign website touts his role as the U.N. secretary-general’s special envoy for climate action and promises he “will ensure the federal government leads an ambitious agenda to accelerate the U.S. toward a clean energy economy.”
But progressives and climate activists have so far had a fairly muted response to the announcement. “The first reaction is just a huge, ‘Why?'” RL Miller, political director of the advocacy group Climate Hawks Vote, told InsideClimate News. “Why is he doing this?
NORD STREAM 2 SANCTIONS BILL ATTACHED TO NDAA: Among the priorities hitching a ride on the annual defense authorization bill is a measure to stop Russia’s Nord Stream 2 pipeline, according to Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Jim Risch. The Senate Republican told Defense News that sanctions on companies involved in the Russia-to-Germany pipeline have been added to the draft 2020 National Defense Authorization Act.
“The reason for the push is that this window is closing,” said Risch (R-Idaho). “A lot of Nord Stream is done already.” The text of the sanctions provision has not been made public, but Risch told Defense News it is close to the stalled bill, S. 1441 (116) from Sen. Ted Cruz that would impose sanctions on companies aiding in the construction of the Nord Stream 2 and cleared the Foreign Relations Committee in late July.
STAY THE COURSE: The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered lawsuits over EPA’s Affordable Clean Energy rule to remain on a normal schedule for judicial review, Pro’s Alex Guillén reports. By doing so, the court rejected a request by EPA to speed up the process, as well as a competing effort from challengers to slow it down.
The question of scheduling became a contentious issue in the ACE rule lawsuits because of the upcoming 2020 election. EPA had requested expedited review, a move that would have seen oral arguments take place as early as April, increasing the chances of securing a legally binding court ruling during Trump’s term. Blue states and environmental groups meanwhile had asked for the case to be paused for at least a few months until a related rulemaking on New Source Review permitting could be completed.
WRIGHT AGAIN: Trump renominated Commissioner David Wright to a seat on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Friday, Pro’s Anthony Adragna reports. Wright, who is currently serving out the reminder of a five-year term that ends on June 30, 2020, won Senate confirmation by voice vote in May 2018.
NEVADA BECOMES 4TH STATE TO BACK CALIFORNIA: Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak signed an executive order on Friday directing the state to adopt clean car standards in line with California — becoming the fourth state to do so amid the Golden State’s fight with the Trump administration over vehicle emissions regulations, Alex reports for Pros.
— “Utilities targeted in cyberattacks identified,” via The Wall Street Journal.
— “EPA proposal lets toxins flow at struggling coal plants,” via E&E News.
— “Group stages sit-in at Mayor Pete Buttigieg’s office to protest climate change,” via ABC 57.
— “Climate action threatens Sempra’s natural gas company. It’s using customer money to fight back, critics say,” via The San Diego Union-Tribune.
— “Harvard and Yale students disrupt football game for fossil fuel protest,” via The Guardian.
— “Ukraine energy official says Giuliani associates tried to recruit him,” via The Wall Street Journal.
THAT’S ALL FOR ME!
