TOP HEADLINES

 

Trump Says Solar Tariff Decision Coming Soon, Stakes Huge For Industry

 

States Urge Court To Issue Clean Power Plan Ruling

 

Arguments In 'Exceptional' Events Suit Set For March 22

 

GAO To Review Pruitt's Phone Booth

 

New York, Connecticut Sue EPA Over Out-Of-State Pollution

 

Former Energy Employee Says He Was Fired For Leaking Photos Of Perry With Coal Mogul

 

Jack Gerard To Step Down As Head Of Powerful American Petroleum Institute

 

Nuclear War, Extreme Weather Top List Of 2018 Threats In Global Survey

 

 

White House And Diplomacy

 

Trump Says Solar Tariff Decision Coming Soon, Stakes Huge For Industry. According to Reuters, “U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he would announce a decision soon on whether to slap tariffs on imported solar panels, and quipped that when countries dump subsidized panels in the United States, ‘Everybody goes out of business.’ The solar industry is anxiously awaiting the decision, which will have wide-reaching implications for the sector. Domestic panel producers opposed to cheap imports would benefit from a tariff. But installers that have relied on the lower-cost hardware for their recent breakneck growth would suffer. In an interview with Reuters, Trump declined to say how he would land on the case - which was triggered last year by a domestic manufacturer’s trade grievance - but complained about the effect of imports on U.S. panel makers. ‘You know, they dump ‘em - government-subsidized, lots of things happening - they dump the panels, then everybody goes out of business,’ he said. Asked when the decision would be announced, he said: ‘Pretty soon. Honestly, pretty soon.’ According to a process governed by the International Trade Commission, Trump has until Jan. 26 to make his decision.” [Reuters, 1/17/18 (=)]

 

US Unilateralism Makes Tacking Climate Change Harder, WEF Warns . According to Guardian, “The World Economic Forum delivered a strong warning about Donald Trump’s go-it-alone approach to tackling climate change as it highlighted the growing threat of environmental collapse in its annual assessment of the risks facing the international community. In the run-up to the US president’s speech to its annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, next week, the WEF avoided mentioning Trump by name but said ‘nation-state unilateralism’ would make it harder to tackle global warming and ecological damage. The WEF’s global risks perception survey showed Trump’s arrival in the White House in 2017 had coincided with a marked increase in concern about the environment among experts polled by the Swiss-based organisation. It said all five environmental risks covered by the survey – extreme weather events, natural disasters, failure of climate-change mitigation and adaptation, biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse, and human-made natural disasters – had become more prominent. ‘This follows a year characterised by high-impact hurricanes, extreme temperatures and the first rise in CO2 emissions for four years. We have been pushing our planet to the brink and the damage is becoming increasingly clear. ‘Biodiversity is being lost at mass-extinction rates, agricultural systems are under strain, and pollution of the air and sea has become an increasingly pressing threat to human health.’” [Guardian, 1/17/18 (+)]

 

Report Raises Favoritism Concerns Over Use Of Trump Property. According to E&E News, “A total of 64 trade groups, companies, foreign governments and other interest groups held events at President Trump’s properties during his first year in office, according to a report released yesterday by a watchdog group. The report from Public Citizen details the potential conflicts of interest posed by groups spending money at Trump’s hotels, restaurants, golf courses and real estate developments globally. Public Citizen President Robert Weissman said in a statement, ‘Donald Trump entered office with the most blatant and potentially corrupting conflicts of interest in the history of American politics, and things only got worse from there.’ He added, ‘Business is booming at the Trump International Hotel in D.C., not because of the decor, but because corporations and foreign governments want to curry favor with the president.’ Among the groups the report identifies are 35 political candidates or political organizations, 16 trade groups, four charities, four foreign governments, three religious groups, two companies, and one college football team. One notable trade group was the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which has emerged as a powerful ally of the Trump administration in its quest for deregulation. … Another notable trade group was the National Mining Association, which has staked out a position in a fight over Fish and Wildlife Service mitigation policies.” [E&E News, 1/17/18 (=)]

 

Federal Agencies

 

EPA

 

States Urge Court To Issue Clean Power Plan Ruling. According to Politico, “A coalition of states that support the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan urged the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals today to issue its ruling on the underlying rule, saying the Trump EPA’s plan to repeal and replace the controversial regulation will take too long. The requests comes after EPA asked the court last week to keep the lawsuit on hold indefinitely, ‘pending the conclusion of rulemaking.’ ‘Neither EPA’s proposed repeal of the Clean Power Plan nor its prolonged and uncertain plans to replace the rule justify additional abeyance,’ the states wrote in their filing today. They argued that the newly extended comment period on the advance notice seeking ideas on how to regulate carbon dioxide more narrowly ‘means it is unlikely that the agency will complete repeal until late 2018 at the earliest, more than two years after en banc argument in this case.’ Any challenge to that repeal, the states added, would touch on all the same legal arguments made in the original challenge to the Clean Power Plan — meaning issuing the ruling on the underlying Clean Power Plan would serve ‘judicial economy’ by avoiding rehashing old legal arguments in a new case. Environmental groups made a similar request last year, but the court continued to keep the lawsuit on hold. WHAT’S NEXT: The court will decide whether to put the lawsuit on hold once again. It has previously done so only for limited periods, although the practical effect has been a long-term pause in the proceedings. There is no timeline for the court to decide.” [Politico, 1/17/18 (=)]

 

Trump's Critics Say Legal Delay 'Unsubtle And Intolerable'. According to E&E News, “State attorneys general and green groups are pressing a federal appeals court to reject the Trump administration’s efforts to stall litigation over the Clean Power Plan. In two separate court filings yesterday, coalitions of states and environmental groups urged the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to issue a ruling on President Obama’s signature climate change rule without delay. The case has been on ice in the federal court as EPA under Trump works out how it plans to replace President Obama’s signature climate rule. EPA last week requested that the court continue delaying a ruling on the case as the agency considers its options for regulating greenhouse gas emissions from power plants. Late last year, the agency put out a notice indicating it plans to look into implementing a much more limited regulation focused on controlling facility-level or ‘inside-the-fence-line’ emissions. But many state attorneys general and environmentalists are arguing that the court is obligated to act now. It’s an argument they’ve been making continually as EPA has sought to hold off on a ruling, but critics of the Trump administration say they’re getting increasingly impatient as time goes by with no replacement. In their filing, top lawyers from 17 states and a number of cities and counties called for the judges on the case to come to a decision. Attorneys for six cities and counties also signed on to the petition.” [E&E News, 1/18/18 (=)]

 

Source: Pruitt To Visit Japan Next Week. According to Politico, “EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt will go to Japan next week to discuss ‘general environment cooperation,’ an administration official told POLITICO today. Details of who Pruitt will meet with or what he plans to discuss were not immediately available. EPA officials refused to confirm the trip ahead of time, as they have in the past. EPA’s inspector general is already investigating Pruitt’s travel and recently expanded its probe at the request of a Democratic lawmaker to include a December trip to Morocco, where Pruitt discussed natural gas imports, in addition to other environmental issues. Pruitt also reportedly plans to visit Israel from Jan. 26-28, officials there have said. It’s unclear if the trips could be combined. Japan is the leading importer of liquefied natural gas and has also increasingly relied on coal-fired power following the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011. One of the biggest American coal companies has a deal to send a quarter of its exports to Japan, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday.” [Politico, 1/18/18 (=)]

 

GAO To Review Pruitt's Phone Booth. According to E&E News, “EPA Inspector General Arthur Elkins said in a letter to Rep. Pete DeFazio (D-Ore.) that his office had learned that GAO had ‘accepted a congressional request to review appropriation law questions regarding the installation of the security booth.’ ‘The GAO will be reviewing virtually the same scope of issues that we planned to examine,’ Elkins said in the Jan. 10 letter, which was shared on social media last week by Democrats on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, where DeFazio is ranking member. Chuck Young, a GAO spokesman, confirmed to E&E News that the congressional watchdog office is reviewing the matter. ‘We have been asked for an appropriations law legal opinion on this, and we are doing the work, as mentioned in the letter,’ Young said. At a congressional hearing last month, Pruitt called the facility ‘a secure phone line’ used for sensitive communications, including talks with the White House. The EPA inspector general also planned to examine Pruitt’s secure communications facility but now will no longer conduct that review.” [E&E News, 1/17/18 (=)]

 

Arguments In 'Exceptional' Events Suit Set For March 22. According to E&E News, “A federal appellate court will hold oral arguments March 22 on a legal challenge brought by environmental groups to U.S. EPA’s latest guidance for handling ‘exceptional’ air pollution events. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit set the date in an order yesterday; the makeup of the three-judge panel hearing the arguments will be announced later, according to the order. The guidance, issued under the Obama administration in September 2016, is geared to making it easier for states to get a pass on ‘exceedances’ of air quality standards for ground-level ozone, particulate matter and other common pollutants because of wildfires and other forces outside regulators’ direct control. The agency acted in response to recurring complaints from state regulators that the previous system for proving an exceptional event was costly and time-consuming. Under President Trump, EPA recently signaled that still more changes are in the works ‘to allow for greater state flexibility in flagging and excluding’ pollution stemming from exceptional events from the data used to determine compliance with federal standards, according to a rundown of regulatory priorities released last month.” [E&E News, 1/17/18 (=)]

 

EPA Selects 31 Sites For 'Redevelopment Focus List'. According to E&E News, “U.S. EPA today promoted the the commercial potential of more than two dozen heavily polluted former industrial areas in 21 states, including the U.S. Smelter and Lead Refinery Inc. Superfund site and other high-profile tracts. The selected Superfund sites are ‘ready to become catalysts for economic growth and revitalization,’ Administrator Scott Pruitt said in a statement. ‘EPA is more than a collaborative partner to remediate the nation’s most contaminated sites, we’re also working to successfully integrate Superfund sites back into communities across the country.’ Pruitt visited the U.S. Smelter site in East Chicago, Ind., last year as part of his ‘Back-to-Basics’ tour, which sought to narrow the focus of the agency to core issues like clean land, water and air. The New Bedford Superfund site in New Bedford, Mass., is another notable cleanup effort on the ‘Redevelopment Focus List.’ The site includes an 18,000-acre harbor and urban estuary with sediment that has been contaminated by polychlorinated biphenyls and heavy metals. Those sites were chosen from a broader list of more than 1,340 Superfund sites that are eligible for federal cleanup dollars. What set the U.S. Steel, New Bedford and 29 other sites apart, according to EPA, is previous outside interest in them, their access to transportation corridors, their land values and other economic factors.” [E&E News, 1/17/18 (=)]

 

EPA Official Declines To Testify At Superfund Hearing. According to The Hill, “Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt’s point man for Superfund efforts has declined to testify at a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing on the sites’ cleanup efforts scheduled for Thursday. After previously promising to speak at the hearing, Albert Kelly withdrew his name from the witness list last week, citing ‘an unavoidable scheduling conflict,’ according to a Democratic spokesperson for the committee. Kelly, a former chairman of Oklahoma-based SpiritBank, made headlines recently following news that he had been banned from working in the banking industry. The Intercept also reported that the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) had fined Kelly $125,000 in May 2017 for violating the law. According to a consent order obtained by the The Intercept through a Freedom of Information Act request, the FDIC believed it had reason to think Kelly ‘violated a law or regulation, by entering into an agreement pertaining to a loan by the Bank without FDIC approval.’ Two weeks later, Pruitt appointed Kelly his senior adviser and head of the Superfund Task Force. An EPA spokesperson said that an Office of Land and Emergency Management official will now testify at Thursday’s committee hearing. … ‘[The EPA is] falling back on a technicality as an excuse for Mr. Kelly’s unacceptable absence. E&C Democrats were advised by the Majority in December that Mr. Kelly would attend the Superfund hearing,’ said the spokesperson. ‘The Majority didn’t send the formal invitations until last week, but Mr. Kelly was scheduled to appear before the formal invites ever went out.’” [The Hill, 1/17/18 (+)]

 

Democrats: He Bailed. According to Politico, “The House Energy and Commerce Environment Subcommittee takes a look at ways today to improve the Superfund program, but Democrats are upset they won’t get to question Albert Kelly, the former Oklahoma banker Pruitt tapped to lead a Superfund task force. A spokesman for panel Democrats said the agency promised in December that Kelly would appear but backed out last week citing ‘an unavoidable schedule conflict.’ That came after The Intercept published a story detailing how Kelly had been banned from banking for life by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation last year. ‘There is no excuse for allowing someone who is banned for life from ever working at a bank again to be in charge of the multibillion dollar Superfund program,’ the spokesman told ME. ‘Democrats are very concerned with his stewardship of the program and believe that Mr. Kelly should appear before the Committee to address these concerns in public.’ Both EPA and committee Republicans say Kelly was never formally invited to appear. ‘We believe that tomorrow’s two panels of witnesses — including [principal deputy assistant administrator from the office that oversees the program] Barry Breen from EPA — are well versed and suited to speak to the current pace of Superfund cleanups as well as potential improvements to the law,’ a Republican committee spokesman said. The session kicks off in Rayburn 2322 at 10:15 a.m.” [Politico, 1/18/18 (+)]

 

FOIA Lawsuits Jump — Report. According to E&E News, “U.S. EPA has seen a surge of Freedom of Information Act lawsuits under the Trump administration. Legal complaints filed under the public records law against the environmental agency went up from 10 such suits in fiscal 2016 to 35 in fiscal 2017, an increase of 250 percent. EPA is not the only federal agency that saw its FOIA lawsuits substantially increase over the past year. As detailed in a report released yesterday by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse’s FOIA Project, there were 651 FOIA lawsuits across the government in fiscal 2017, a rise of 26 percent over the prior year. ‘The agencies experiencing significantly more FOIA lawsuits often were government offices in charge of areas where there was heightened public concern,’ said the report by the Syracuse University research center, making note of EPA. The Department of the Interior also saw a spike in its FOIA lawsuits, from 42 in fiscal 2016 to 68 to fiscal 2017. The Justice Department registered the most FOIA lawsuits at 197 in fiscal 2017, an increase of 20 percent from the prior year. Next came the Department of Homeland Security, with 98 such suits filed in fiscal 2017, a 46 percent spike. Interior was ranked third behind those two departments, according to the report. Not every agency saw an increase in FOIA lawsuits. The Energy Department saw such complaints drop from 10 in fiscal 2016 to nine in fiscal 2017.” [E&E News, 1/17/18 (=)]

 

State Auditor Wants To Release Investigation Pruitt Kept Secret. According to E&E News, “Oklahoma’s state auditor wants a court order allowing him to release an investigative audit of Superfund spending suppressed by U.S. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt when he was Oklahoma attorney general. In a legal filing yesterday, State Auditor Gary Jones said Pruitt had already released the audit years ago, without authorization, to the organization Jones had been investigating. The filing was Jones’ response to a lawsuit filed last year by a Washington watchdog group seeking release of the audit, done in response to allegations of corruption at the Tar Creek Superfund site near Miami, Okla. As EPA administrator, Pruitt is now in charge of Superfund. ‘The auditor’s response completely vindicates our position and demonstrates why this audit should be released to the public immediately,’ said Daniel Stevens, the executive director of the group, called Campaign for Accountability.” [E&E News, 1/18/18 (=)]

 

Scott Pruitt Aims To Accelerate His Efforts To Remake The EPA; The Skeptic Of Climate Science Wants To Speed Up Permitting, Repeal Obama Rule On Power-Plant Emissions. According to Wall Street Journal, “Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt plans to use his second year on the job to accelerate efforts to remake the agency, saying he wants to speed its permitting processes and transform a culture he says is bureaucratic. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Mr. Pruitt outlined the changes he is looking to make in year two: repealing and rewriting Obama-era rules for power plant emissions, speeding up the EPA’s permit review process, implementing weekly performance assessments across the agency and fostering a public debate about climate change. … Discussing his plans for the year, Mr. Pruitt emphasized the importance of moving quickly. ‘There’s tremendous opportunity to show really significant results to the American people in a really short time frame,’ Mr. Pruitt said. … Going forward, Mr. Pruitt wants to use metrics to measure the weekly performance of every EPA office and wants final permit decisions completed within six months. He already has a multicolored pyramid diagram outlining his plan to streamline the agency’s bureaucracy and organizational workflow. ‘That’s the thing that’s been so striking to me as I’ve come into this position…is just the lack of focus and lack of energy and lack of commitment to actually get results,’ said Mr. Pruitt, speaking during a 30-minute interview in his wood-paneled office this week. ‘We have permits that literally are sitting on a shelf, and just sitting there because there’s just no attention, no leadership, no direction. It’s that simple.’” [Wall Street Journal, 1/17/18 (-)]

 

Budget Gridlock Renews Talk Of Mostly Flat EPA FY18 Funding Scenario. According to Inside EPA, “The ongoing federal budget stalemate that has left EPA and other agencies without final spending plans more than 100 days into fiscal year 2018 is reviving talk of a seemingly unlikely scenario in which lawmakers approve a year-long continuing resolution (CR) that only slightly tweaks current EPA funding levels, allowing it to avoid the steepest cuts to many programs. The odds of such an outcome remain highly uncertain -- as multiple Capitol Hill and other sources cite continued bipartisan interest in a long-term budget deal that could increase spending for both defense and non-defense programs. Additionally, ongoing efforts by the Trump administration and many Republicans to restrict EPA means few observers are predicting the agency will entirely escape budget cuts in FY18. But pending Hill consideration of an additional short-term CR -- to avert a Jan. 20 government shutdown by extending funding into mid-February -- is doing little to resolve the question of whether the Republican-controlled Congress and the Trump administration can finalize FY18 spending bills, as unrelated health care and immigration fights spill over into the budget debate.” [Inside EPA, 1/17/18 (=)]

 

DOE

 

Former Energy Employee Says He Was Fired For Leaking Photos Of Perry With Coal Mogul. According to The Hill, “A former photographer for the Department of Energy said he was illegally fired for leaking photographs of Energy Secretary Rick Perry meeting with a coal mogul. Simon Edelman filed a whistleblower complaint earlier this month with the Energy Department’s Office of Inspector General, saying his leaking the photos was protected by the First Amendment. ‘In retaliation for exercising his First Amendment rights, Mr. Edelman was placed on administrative leave, had thousands of dollars of personal possessions unlawfully seized … and was unlawfully terminated from his job effective December 27, 2017,’ the complaint from John Tye of Whistleblower Aid reads. … Edelman served as a staff reporter for the Department of Energy and had worked at the agency since 2015. He took photos in March 2017 of Perry meeting with Murray Energy Corp. head Bob Murray. The images showed the two hugging and a memo Murray gave to Perry outlining steps he wanted the Trump administration to take to save the coal industry. Edelman said one of those steps led directly to Perry’s September proposal to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to require electric grid operators to pay more money to coal and nuclear plants. ‘I think we can help you with this,’ Perry said, according to Edelman, referring to Murray’s requests.” [The Hill, 1/17/18 (=)]

 

Leaker Of Perry-Murray Photos Seeks Whistleblower Protection. According to E&E News, “‘They came in, they were very friendly, they got right down to business,’ Edelman said of the secretary and Murray. ‘And then soon thereafter, there was a proposal that looked very familiar to what Murray had given Perry at the time.’ Edelman said that a day after the photos were published, he was placed on administrative leave without pay, despite having reached an agreement with DOE to extend his appointment through 2019. DOE officials also seized thousands of dollars’ worth of his personal possessions — including a computer with photos of his father, who recently died — that have yet to be returned, he said. Edelman is now accusing DOE of illegally firing him as a reprisal for exercising his constitutional rights and giving no reason for failing to renew his employment agreement. He is also asking the Department of Justice and FBI, as well as DOE’s inspector general, to investigate whether the Trump administration sought to provide Murray with policy relief after accepting more than $300,000 in campaign contributions. A DOE spokeswoman has dismissed Edelman’s accusations and account of the meeting as ‘ridiculous.’” [E&E News, 1/17/18 (=)]

 

CEQ

 

Alexander Reading Up On White. According to Politico, “Sen. Lamar Alexander said Wednesday he’s ‘studying’ White House Council on Environmental Quality nominee Kathleen Hartnett White’s record and reading her book, ‘Fueling Freedom.’ ‘I’ve only read about a fourth of the book, so I can’t judge a book by its cover or its first 75 pages,’ he said. ‘It’s an interesting book.’ Advocates see Alexander as potentially opposing White’s selection given his record of combating mercury pollution and his acknowledgment of human-driven climate change.” [Politico, 1/18/18 (=)]

 

Congress

 

Senate

 

Dems Bash Pruitt Over Cleanup Rules./ According to E&E News, “Eight Senate Democrats yesterday rebuked U.S. EPA’s recent decision not to issue new regulations governing the Superfund insurance companies must have to conduct hardrock mining. In a letter, the senators accused Administrator Scott Pruitt of failing to protect taxpayers from the environmental risks of non-coal mining, a top source of pollution with an estimated 500,000 abandoned mines nationwide. In December, Pruitt signed a final rule updating Section 108(b) of the Superfund law, the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA). Two years before, a federal court had ordered EPA to draft new hardrock financial assurance standards more than three decades after the agency was supposed to have set them. But, Pruitt rejected the Obama administration’s proposed additional bonding requirements. Citing concerns among regulators and the regulated community, the final rule imposed no new assurance requirements because of existing federal and state programs created since CERCLA’s passage. The Democrats disagreed, arguing EPA inaction helped create $50 billion in cleanup costs at hardrock Superfund sites. ‘By conjuring up the baseless determination that there is no risk of taxpayer funded cleanups from hard rock mining and therefore not requiring assurances, you are assuring that we will continue to create high-cost environmental disasters,’ the senators wrote.” [E&E News, 1/18/18 (=)]

 

House of Representatives

 

 

Judiciary And Legal

 

 

 

Ally Groups

 

Report: Science Committee Role Falls Under Trump. According to Politico, “A new report from the Union of Concerned Scientists looked into 73 federal science advisory committees under the Trump administration, and found such committees met less often than in any year since tracking began in 1997. The report also found fewer experts serve on science advisory committees at DOE, Commerce and EPA than at any time since 1997. Overall membership on advisory committees also dropped by 14 percent from 2016, according to the report.” [Politico, 1/18/18 (+)]

 

Greens Carpe Diem With Carper. According to Politico, “Environmentalist groups who once counted themselves skeptics of Tom Carper’s commitment to their agenda, are now lifting the Delaware Democrat up as an emerging leader of the Trump resistance. ‘We’ve been quite happy with how he’s led the resistance to Scott Pruitt and Scott Pruitt’s attacks on EPA,’ said Ben Schreiber, senior political strategist for Friends of the Earth. ‘I think and hope there will be a time when something is so explosive that Ranking Member Carper does, in fact, break protocol and not play nice.’ For activist groups, ‘Carper’s green credibility was bolstered when the ranking Democrat on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee changed his stance and announced his opposition to the Keystone XL pipeline last year,’ Pro’s Anthony Adragna reports. ‘Since then, they say the congenial ex-governor has led fights against some of President Donald Trump’s most controversial nominees and pushed back as the administration dismantled many of the Obama-era environmental policies.’ Back in 2016, when Carper was selected to lead committee Democrats, some expressed worry he was too business-friendly and lacked the fiery rhetoric on climate change issues, like his predecessor former Sen. Barbara Boxer. But now, ‘Carper has tapped into rhetoric of the environmental community, bashing EPA’s moves to erase the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan as ‘not just irresponsible — it’s irrational,’ Anthony writes. ‘He’s been splendid, energetic, passionate and thoughtful at working with the chairman,’ Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse said. Read the story here.” [Politico, 1/18/18 (+)]

 

The NAACP Is Bringing Renewable Energy To Communities Of Color. According To Grist, “Over the next year, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People will install solar panels on 20 households and 10 community centers, train 100 people in solar job skills, and push for equitable solar access policies in at least five states across the U.S. ‘Underserved communities cannot be left behind in a clean energy transition,’ Derrick Johnson, NAACP President and CEO, said in a statement about the new Solar Equity Initiative. ‘Clean energy is a fundamental civil right which must be available to all, within the framework of a just transition.’ The initiative began on Martin Luther King Jr. Day by installing solar panels on the Jenesse Center, a transitional housing program in L.A. for survivors of domestic abuse. The NAACP estimated that solar energy could save the center nearly $49,000 over the course of a lifetime, leaving more resources to go toward services for women and families. Aside from the financial benefits, the NAACP points out that a just transition to clean energy will improve health outcomes. Last year, a report by the Clean Air Task Force and the NAACP found that black Americans are exposed to air nearly 40 percent more polluted than their white counterparts. Pollution has led to 138,000 asthma attacks among black school children and over 100,000 missed school days each year. It’s just a start, but this new initiative could help alleviate the disproportionate environmental burdens that black communities face.” [Grist, 1/17/18 (+)]

 

Opposition Groups

 

Jack Gerard To Step Down As Head Of Powerful American Petroleum Institute. According to Washington Post, “Jack Gerard announced Wednesday he would step down as head of the American Petroleum Institute, a powerful lobbying association representing a wide variety of oil and natural gas companies. Gerard has been running API for 10 years, a period in which crude oil prices have lurched from less than $30 a barrel to $140 a barrel and back down again. The period covered the entire presidency of Barack Obama, a frequent target of Gerard’s over policy differences, and the first year of the Trump presidency, during which he pressed for a tax bill favorable to the industry. He has pushed successfully for lifting restrictions on crude oil exports, speeding permits for natural gas export facilities and rapidly restarting of offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico in the wake of the BP oil spill. He has also fought against higher taxes or the elimination of long-standing tax breaks for the industry. Gerard is one of the highest paid association heads in Washington. In 2015 he earned $6.3 million from API and its affiliates in 2015, according to the Internal Revenue Service Form 990 for the group. He will remain until his contract ends in August.” [Washington Post, 1/17/18 (=)]

 

API's Gerard To Exit On An Oil Industry Winning Streak. According to Politico, “American Petroleum Institute President and CEO Jack Gerard’s plan to exit the powerful trade association could signal the end an era for oil industry lobbying. Gerard notched up a long list of achievements during his 10-year tenure, which coincided with the oil and gas boom that turned the U.S. into the world’s largest energy producer. He will step down in August after deciding not to renew his contract, API announced. … But he warned at that event that it wasn’t time for API to take ‘a victory lap,’ as he cited a to-do list that contained little more than continuing a yearslong fight to repeal a biofuels mandate the industry finds burdensome and streamlining the federal permitting process. ‘It’s hard to say API wasn’t successful under his tenure,’ said John Northington, a former Clinton-era Interior Department official who works as an energy consultant for many API member companies, adding that it delivered much of what the industry wanted to accomplish. Not all energy industry insiders agreed, however. Some pointed that for an organization with annual revenue of around $250 million — much of which it spent on advertisements, including one that ran during last year’s Super Bowl, or donations to Republicans — the API’s influence was limited. Despite a string of recent wins, it hadn’t managed to record any progress in altering the decade-old Renewable Fuel Standard for biofuels or ending restrictions under the Jones Act against foreign-flagged ships transporting fuel between U.S. ports.” [Politico, 1/18/18 (=)]

 

Climate Denial Group Protected Former Executive Charged With Stalking Colleague, Ex-Staffers Say. According to HuffPost, “Eugene Koprowski’s temper earned him a reputation around the office pretty quickly. Koprowski started work as the marketing director at the Heartland Institute, a right-wing think tank based outside Chicago, in July 2015. Former colleagues say he frequently raised his voice and threw tantrums if they questioned him. One described him as ‘violent generally.’ He sent condescending emails to a female colleague, reprimanding her in almost comically sinister terms: ‘We will have no more insubordination.’ Despite these outbursts, former colleagues say Koprowski enjoyed protected status in the office because of his friendship with Joseph Morris, a conservative Chicago lawyer who is also a major fundraiser for Heartland and a close ally to its chief executive, Joseph Bast. HuffPost spoke to three former staffers who confirmed these accounts, but requested anonymity for fear of retribution or jeopardizing future employment in the libertarian policy community. Heartland, they said, fostered a culture that allowed Koprowski, 52, to relentlessly harass a female subordinate half his age ― to the point where she took out a restraining order against him in October 2015. And though Koprowski was apparently fired sometime after the woman complained to human resources, her former colleagues say his termination came in response to other misbehavior ― not his repeated, undesired romantic pursuit of the woman who reported to him.” [HuffPost, 1/17/18 (+)]

 

New York’s Silly Climate Suit. According to Heartland Institute, “The 67-page suit claims that burning of fossil fuels marketed by the oil industry changes the climate and that these changes are ‘injuring New York City.’ The suit projects an increase in deaths from heat waves, flooding from extreme weather that would impact the city’s water supply system, increasing frequency of droughts that would diminish water to upstate New York reservoirs, and catastrophic flooding from rising oceans. Hurricane Sandy is mentioned several times in the suit as an example of both extreme weather and rising oceans from human-caused warming. As a result of Sandy, New York launched a $20 billion effort to prepare for the effects of climate change in 2017. The city wants oil firms to pay for this effort, claiming they are causing ‘continuous and reoccurring injuries to the city.’ But these claims border on the superstitious. Hurricane Sandy hit New Jersey and New York City on October 29, 2012 with Category 1 hurricane-force winds of 81 miles per hour. It came ashore at high tide causing extensive flooding. The storm resulted in 147 and over $50 billion in assessed damage. But this has happened before. … Today we still live in a world of superstition. Climate advocates tell us that if we change our light bulbs we can save polar bears. If we erect wind turbines we can make the storms less severe. And if we drive electric cars we can stop the oceans from rising. Our modern witches are the oil and coal companies.” [Heartland Institute, 1/17/18 (-)]

 

Frigid Cold Is Why We Need Dependable Energy. According to Heartland Institute, “So it is a tragedy that America can no longer build modern coal-fired power stations to replace its aging fleet. Clearly, the rule limiting CO2 emissions from new coal-fired power stations must be cancelled as soon as possible. The climate scare has also impeded coal’s development in the USA by restricting its export. In particular, Asia would be a huge market for inexpensive American coal if sufficient U.S. export facilities were available. But, again, thanks largely to the climate scare contributing to the blocking of construction of coal export terminals, America exports only about as much coal as does Poland. To ensure energy security, especially when demand soars during bitterly cold spells and heat waves, and to ‘restore America’s advantages in the world and build upon our country’s great strengths’ (quoting from the NSS fact sheets), the U.S. must expand its fleet of coal-fired power stations and build coal export facilities as quickly as possible. To make that possible, the Trump administration must do everything in its power to thoroughly debunk the climate alarm that has so crippled coal’s development.” [Heartland Institute, 1/17/18 (-)]

 

Industry

 

SEIA To Trump: Don’t Do It! According to Politico, “The Solar Energy Industries Association made a last ditch plea to Trump today, sending a letter asking him not to impose trade remedies as high as those proposed by the International Trade Commission. SEIA said those tariffs would lead to the loss of thousands of jobs. ‘Ironically, the very jobs we all want to grow, American manufacturing jobs, will retract as the number of projects are scaled back significantly,’ SEIA president Abigail Ross Hopper wrote in the letter.” [Politico, 1/18/18 (+)]

 

Opinion

 

Op-Ed: New York City Mayor Fights Fossil Fuels From Backseat Of SUV, Private Jet. According to an op-ed by Tim Morris in The Times-Picayune, “‘This is a tragedy that was wrought by the fossil-fuel companies,’ de Blasio, a Democrat, said at a news conference announcing New York City’s suit. ‘We are going after those who have profited. And what a horrible, disgusting way to profit.’ Given de Blasio’s obvious revulsion for fossil fuels, one might expect that the mayor gets around the city on a bicycle and throws a few extra blankets on the bed when winter arrives. But, that would be mistaken. There is not even evidence that he turns dow the thermostat in the Governor’s Mansion. Some New York news outlets suggested that if he truly cared about the carbon emissions that cause global warming, de Blasio would park at least part of the fleet of SUVs that ferry him around the city. The New Yorker Observer noted that ‘On the very day that he condemned President Donald Trump for pulling out of the Paris Agreement and said all New Yorkers must change their lifestyle to curb carbon emissions ... de Blasio said he personally was exempt. When asked why he traveled in a two-SUV caravan to his favorite Brooklyn gym five days a week, the mayor responded to a caller on WNYC, ‘I wish my life was like everyone else’s, but it’s not, for obvious reasons. But again, the issue is not cheap symbolism here.’ … Bloomberg has routinely splurged on carbon usage by deploying his personal fleet of carbon-inefficient private jets and helicopters for long-distance travel. He would use them to fly to a weekend home in Bermuda, for instance, or to Europe.” [Times-Picayune, 1/17/18 (-)]

 

Op-Ed: Don't Shortchange The EPA -- Businesses And Communities Depend On The Agency. According to an op-ed by Dean Burke in The Hill, “The city of Tacoma, Wash., is the home to one of the first ever EPA-designated Superfund sites in the United States. Here in our community, we have seen firsthand how funding and support from the Environmental Protection Agency can transform an American city for the better. Members of Congress now have less than a week to create a budget for FY2018. For many agencies, large gaps exist between the various funding levels proposed by the White House, House of Representatives, and the Senate, but the EPA is particularly vulnerable. For more than 100 years, our city shoreline was seen as a means to an end—valued primarily as a site for industry and an engine for growth, but with a harmful downside. Smelters and chemical plants provided jobs and supported a growing city, but, over time, they introduced extreme levels of pollution into our neighborhoods and waterways. Tacoma is located about 30 miles south of Seattle, on the picturesque eastern shore of Puget Sound. From many parts of our shoreline, there are stunning views of Mount Rainier. However, for decades, Tacoma residents have been conditioned to stay away from the waterfront. The shoreline was seen as a dirty, dangerous and industrialized place. Over the past decade, Tacoma residents’ relationship with the waterfront has changed dramatically. What once seemed an uninviting industrial zone is now a welcoming venue for outdoor recreation and social interaction. … Members of Congress: The EPA has catalyzed incredible transformations in Tacoma, but this work isn’t finished—here and in other communities across the United States. Please maintain healthy funding levels for the EPA, and watch business and communities flourish as a result.” [The Hill, 1/17/18 (+)]

 

Research And Analysis

 

Nuclear War, Extreme Weather Top List Of 2018 Threats In Global Survey. According to USA Today, “Nuclear war, cyberattacks and environmental disasters top the list of man-made threats to global stability in 2018, according to a survey of 1,000 international leaders from business, government, education and service groups. Another global financial meltdown, more likely in past years, has ebbed because of economic expansions underway worldwide, the annual World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report found. It was released Wednesday in advance of the forum’s meeting next week in Davos, Switzerland. Mother Nature topped the most significant risks facing the world for a second year in a row, the survey showed. That includes natural disasters and extreme weather events that human-caused climate change may be abetting. … Extreme weather in 2017 included three major Atlantic hurricanes — Harvey, Irma and Maria — that caused a record $200 billion in damage. Record high temperatures struck southern Europe, eastern and southern Africa, South America and parts of Russia and China. Last year, Trump withdrew the United States from the landmark Paris Climate Accord that aims to reduce carbon emissions blamed for global warming. … Climate change continues to cause havoc because governments and businesses fail to combat the causes.” [USA Today, 1/17/18 (=)]

 

One Year In, Trump's Environmental Agenda Is Already Taking A Measurable Toll. According to Los Angeles Times, “One year into the Trump administration’s unrelenting push to dilute and disable clean air and water policies, the impact is being felt in communities across the country. Power plants have been given expanded license to pollute, the dirtiest trucks are being allowed to remain on the roads and punishment of the biggest environmental scofflaws is on the decline. The real-time impact of the most industry-friendly regulatory regime in decades is at times overshadowed by policy battles that are years from resolution. President Trump’s moves to shrink national monuments, return drilling to the waters off the West Coast and allow natural gas companies to release more methane into the air are destined to be tied up in court for the foreseeable future. The contentious Keystone XL pipeline may never get built as volatile oil prices threaten its profitability. Yet the air and the water are already being affected as the administration tinkers with programs obscure to most Americans, with names like ‘Effluent Limitations Guidelines and Standards for Steam Electric Power Plants’ and ‘Air Quality Designations for Ozone.’ The numbers emerging from the federal government’s database of enforcement actions against polluters show that from the time EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt took the helm early last year through November, the dollar amount of pollution-control equipment and cleanup activity the EPA demanded environmental scofflaws install dropped by more than 85%. Even compared with the dollar amount required during the same period of the George W. Bush administration, there is a dropoff of more than 50%.” [Los Angeles Times, 1/18/18 (+)]

 

Climate Scientists Say They May Be Able To Rule Out The Worst Case Scenarios — And The Best Ones. According to Washington Post, “Climate scientists on Wednesday suggested they may be able to rule out some of the most dire scenarios of what will happen if greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere were to double. Unfortunately, the same scientists say the best-case scenarios are also probably unrealistic. How a doubling of atmospheric greenhouses would affect the climate is of tremendous importance, as humans are running out of time to avoid that outcome. With current atmospheric concentrations at 405 parts per million, as opposed to around 280 parts per million before the dawn of the industrial era, that planet is already about halfway there. … Cox explained that with current emissions levels, we’re probably committed to a warming that would be about half of the central equilibrium climate sensitivity (or ECS) number. ‘If we believe the ECS is 4, we’re already committed to 2 degrees,’ he said. ‘An ECS of 3 means that the aspirational limit of Paris of 1.5 degrees is essentially about to be passed. An ECS of 2.8 means we still have the possibility of avoiding 2 degrees — we’re very close to 1.5, but we could still avoid 2.’ ‘If this study is proved correct, it wouldn’t change our best guess of what the future would look like under climate change — but it would make the worst case scenario slightly less catastrophic,’ said Sanderson.” [Washington Post, 1/17/18 (+)]

 

Actuaries Say Rising Seas More Damaging Than Heat. According to E&E News, “Sea-level rise now exceeds air temperature increases as the most important driver of extreme climate events across the United States and Canada, according to new findings from a coalition of insurance risk experts. In the latest update to the quarterly ‘Actuaries Climate Index,’ experts found that the five-year moving average of climate extremes across the U.S. and Canada remained at a record high level during the spring of 2017, continuing a pattern established during the previous winter. The index, developed by the American Academy of Actuaries and three partner organizations, provides a statistical window into climate change by measuring deviations from the 30-year average across six metrics: high and low temperatures, high winds, heavy precipitation, drought, and sea level. ‘Of course, the balance of average temperatures and sea level are closely related. Higher temperatures are helping to cause higher sea levels,’ said Doug Collins, chairman of the Climate Index Working Group, which produced the report on behalf of AAA and its partners, the Canadian Institute of Actuaries, Casualty Actuarial Society and Society of Actuaries. Collins added that the changes in sea level ‘are still relatively small in terms of annual or even decadal changes. But they are steadily rising, and have been steadily rising for some time. This makes it harder to defend our coastal cities from storms.’” [E&E News, 1/18/18 (=)]

 

Sudden Warming From Thawing Gas Downplayed In Study. According to E&E News, “Recently, some scientists have begun to speculate about whether another explosion could occur in today’s warming climate, and whether that gas could make it out of the ocean and into the atmosphere. Scientists warn that such an event could dramatically worsen global warming, since methane is such a potent greenhouse gas — up to 30 times as powerful a warming agent as carbon dioxide, over the course of a century. The possibility has been widely debated among climate scientists. Many researchers have been skeptical that such an explosion is likely at all, or that the gas would make it to the atmosphere. Natural processes, such as microbial activity, would likely trap or consume the gas again before it made it to the surface, they’ve suggested. The new study suggests that this may be correct. On the one hand, ancient gas does seem to be leaking from the seafloor. Scientists have already discovered numerous slow-leaking methane vents, or ‘seeps,’ throughout the world’s oceans. But the research does indicate that the majority of the gas leaking from the bottom of the ocean is failing to make it up to the top. The scientists still aren’t sure what’s stopping it, and more research will be necessary to figure out where all that gas is going.” [E&E News, 1/18/18 (=)]

 

Texas Researchers Dig Into Quake Data. According to E&E News, “A statewide effort at monitoring earthquakes in Texas has resulted in at least one broad conclusion: There is a correlation between oil and gas industry operations and seismic activity. Once you drill down from that conclusion, it gets a lot more complicated. Correlation is not causation. Texas has one year’s worth of data. The number of seismic events is relatively small, and the vast majority have been minor quakes, undetectable to the average person and harmless to property. A slew of quakes possibly associated with oil and gas operations in the Barnett Shale region around Fort Worth prompted the state of Texas to fund the creation of TexNet, a system of permanent and mobile seismometers maintained and operated by the University of Texas, Austin’s Bureau of Economic Geology. TexNet has been feeding scientists with real-time data on earthquakes in Texas, a state regarded as having relatively stable geology with no major earthquake issues. The publicly available online TexNet catalog of quakes shows a pattern: Most events are clustered around active oil patches, in particular the Permian Basin and Eagle Ford Shale. The quakes are mostly minor, and scientists are still struggling to determine how these swarms of small quakes may be linked to larger events or even what is causing them.” [E&E News, 1/18/18 (=)]

 

 

New York, Connecticut Sue EPA Over Out-Of-State Pollution. According to The Hill, “The attorney generals for New York and Connecticut are suing the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over out-of-state air pollution that affects their constituents. New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced Wednesday that he is partnering with Connecticut Attorney General George Jepsen on a lawsuit aimed at forcing the EPA to implement tougher regulatory standards on interstate smog pollution. ‘Millions of New Yorkers breathe unhealthy air due to smog pollution, much of which blows into New York from upwind states,’ Schneiderman said in a statement. ‘Yet the Trump EPA continues to ignore its responsibilities under the Clean Air Act to reduce interstate smog pollution. Since the Trump EPA refuses to follow the law, we’re suing to protect the health of New Yorkers.’ Schneiderman, a vocal critic of President Trump who has filed several other lawsuits against the administration, and Jepsen want the EPA to implement the ‘Good Neighbor’ clause of the Clean Air Act. The clause would force the federal government to put tougher air quality standards in place to protect ‘downwind’ states when ‘upwind’ states fail to mitigate pollution spillover.” [The Hill, 1/17/18 (=)]

 

Tariffs Could Fall Heaviest On Southeastern States. According to E&E News, “Expected tariffs on imported solar equipment could throttle a renewable energy boom in the Southeast, extending the reliance on natural gas and coal by the region’s utilities. The Southeast had historically been a laggard on clean energy, but that changed as solar energy costs plummeted in the past 18 months. Many developers began eyeing the increasingly attractive utility-scale market that analysts say could drive solar’s growth in the United States for the next five years or more. Southeastern states are vulnerable to price increases associated with a tariff because the region’s cost margins for solar are so thin, experts said. That means a 30 percent tariff on cells and panels, as has been suggested by some members of the U.S. International Trade Commission, could take those states out of play for utility-scale solar as the Trump administration considers penalizing overseas suppliers. The White House is expected to approve the tariffs as early as this week. ‘It wasn’t that economically friendly for utility-scale solar, but that’s really changed in the past couple of years. You’re seeing states like Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana where there are some big projects,’ said M.J. Shiao, head of Americas research at GTM Research. ‘Ultimately, you increase the price by 10, 15 cents a watt, that could ultimately affect the viability of the project going forward.’” [E&E News, 1/18/18 (=)]

 

Montana

 

Deal Will Send Mont. Coal To Japanese Power Plants. According to E&E News, “Montana coal will fuel two power plants being built near Japan’s defunct Fukushima Daiichi nuclear facility under an agreement announced yesterday by Cloud Peak Energy Inc. The company’s deal with Singapore-based shipper JERA Trading Pte. Ltd. calls for coal exports starting at the end of 2019. American coal companies have begun banking on exports to make up for lost domestic consumption as waves of power plants close. Cloud Peak will ship coal from its Spring Creek mine near Decker, Mont., to two integrated coal gasification combined-cycle (IGCC) power plants in Japan’s Fukushima prefecture. The shipments will continue for between 30 and 40 months, reaching 1 million metric tons in the final contract year. The first of the 540-megawatt, low-emission power plants is expected to come online in September 2020.” [E&E News, 1/17/18 (=)]

 

Pennsylvania

 

The First Congressional Election Of 2018: A Test Of Trump In Western Pennsylvania. According to Washington Post, “It snowed the night before Conor Lamb’s campaign rally, coating most of the 18th Congressional District and keeping some voters at home. But 70 loyal Democrats shoveled out and drove to the American Legion hall to meet their candidate for Congress in a district that gave Donald Trump a 19-point victory in 2016. ‘I’m not running against the president,’ Lamb said. ‘But a coal mine just announced last week that it’s closing. Coal-fired power plants have continued to close every 15 days since the president took office. People are tired of career politicians on both sides. They want results.’ … The race will test Trump’s popularity in a district where that wasn’t a question in 2016 — and perhaps provide a 2018 road map for both parties. Republicans will use last month’s tax legislation as a GOP selling point, while Democrats will try to win back union households that broke overwhelmingly for Trump.” [Washington Post, 1/17/18 (=)]