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RICK PERRY SET TO HAND OFF ‘ENERGY DOMINANCE’ AGENDA TO DAN BROUILLETTE: Rick Perry resigning from the Energy Department won’t change the “energy dominance” agenda set by the agency during his tenure, which focused mostly on exporting coal and natural gas.
Sources confirmed to Josh that Perry is planning to resign in the coming months before the 2020 election campaign heats up, ending his reign as the last original cabinet head from the core energy and environment agencies, after the EPA’s Scott Pruitt and Interior’s Ryan Zinke previously quit.
Perry, the former Texas governor and presidential candidate, has been more politically-savvy than his counterparts — avoiding the ethics controversies of Pruitt and Zinke.
The agenda won’t change, with a ready replacement: Just like Pruitt and Zinke were replaced by more seasoned operators, Perry would be succeeded, at least on a temporary basis and likely more permanently, by a career conservative bureaucrat, Deputy Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette.
“The only silver lining here is that Brouillette is equally capable in keeping America at the forefront of the energy revolution,” Dan Eberhart, CEO of the oil services firm Canary and a Trump donor, told Josh. “Democrats keep going after the president’s cabinet thinking they can stop his agenda but what they find is a deep bench. There’s not a dud among them.”
Joe McMonigle, a former DOE chief of staff in the George W. Bush administration, told Josh that Brouillette would often substitute for Perry at cabinet meetings as Perry traveled the world promoting energy exports. McMonigle overlapped at DOE with Brouillette, who worked on legislative affairs in the Bush administration.
“He knows how to work the department from all angles and is an effective manager,” McMonigle said. “Dan is really not going to miss a beat.”
Perry’s legacy: Perry is best known for his failed bid to save struggling coal and nuclear plants by proposing a plan to subsidize them, which was rejected by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. He’s also pushed Eastern European countries dependent on energy from Russia to increase imports of American liquified natural gas, touting gas’s role in reducing emissions in the U.S. as an alternative to coal.
Trump administration allies, however, say Perry, who oversaw the wind energy boom in Texas, has succeeded more broadly.
Perry has defended DOE’s advanced energy research agency from White House budget cuts, boosted research into battery storage, solar, and artificial intelligence, and established a new cybersecurity office.
“Certainly he has been a proponent of oil and gas exports, but he has done quite a bit on other issues too,” McMonigle said.
Welcome to Daily on Energy, written by Washington Examiner Energy and Environment Writers Josh Siegel (@SiegelScribe) and Abby Smith (@AbbySmithDC). Email [email protected] or [email protected] for tips, suggestions, calendar items, and anything else. If a friend sent this to you and you’d like to sign up, click here. If signing up doesn’t work, shoot us an email, and we’ll add you to our list.
TRUMP ANNOUNCES DEAL TO BOOST DEMAND FOR ETHANOL, IN WIN FOR FARMERS: The Trump administration moved Friday to quell complaints from farmers — a key voting constituency — by increasing federal mandates for production of corn-based ethanol and biodiesel.
President Trump has sought for weeks to broker a compromise between ethanol supporters and the oil industry over the Renewable Fuel Standard.
“President Trump’s leadership has led to an agreement that continues to promote domestic ethanol and biodiesel production, supporting our Nation’s farmers and providing greater energy security,” Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler said in a press release.
Farmers have criticized the administration’s policy of exempting some small oil refineries from RFS requirements to blend billions of gallons of corn ethanol into gasoline, which they argue are eroding the market for ethanol and the corn used to make it.
In a series of proposed changes to the RFS, EPA says it will issue a notice for public comment on expanding biofuel requirements so that more than 15 billion gallons of conventional ethanol be blended into the nation’s fuel supply beginning in 2020.
EPA said it will propose a rule to streamline labeling and remove other barriers to the sale of E15, a gasoline fuel blend that is 15% ethanol. EPA intends to take final action later this year.
It would also force large refiners that blend more biofuels to make up for smaller ones that receive economic exceptions.
Farm state senator Chuck Grassley, an Iowa Republican, credited Trump for “fighting for the farmer,” while the oil and gas industry group American Petroleum Institute criticized him for “playing politics.”
BP ANNOUNCES NEW LEADER TO REPLACE BOB DUDLEY: Oil and gas giant BP announced a new CEO Friday to replace the retiring Bob Dudley, who restored the company from near collapse after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010.
Bernard Looney, currently chief executive of BP’s upstream division — its oil and gas production — will succeed Dudley when he retires in March.
Looney, 49, joined BP in 1991 as a drilling engineer and worked in operational roles in the North Sea, Vietnam, and the Gulf of Mexico, the company said.
“Bernard is a terrific choice to lead the company next,” said Dudley, 64, who took over BP just after the 2010 oil spill that killed 11 workers, said in a statement. “He knows BP and our industry as well as anyone but is creative and not bound by traditional ways of working.”
Dudley’s legacy: Dudley has been one of the more outspoken oil and gas CEOs on combating climate change. At the CERAWeek energy conference Josh attended in March, Dudley implored the industry to invest more in renewables, and encouraged governments across the world to impose carbon prices. He pushed industry to maintain dialogue with lawmakers of all stripes, “including those behind the Green New Deal.” BP also has partnered with the Environmental Defense on a partnership to advance “technological breakthroughs” and practices to reduce methane emissions from oil and gas.
API’S ERIK MILITO TO TAKE OVER OFFSHORE ENERGY TRADE GROUP: Erik Milito, a top official of the American Petroleum Institute, is leaving the group to become president of the National Ocean Industries Association.
NOIA, an offshore energy trade group, announced Friday that Milito is joining them effective Nov. 1. Milito has worked at API for 17 years, most recently as vice president of upstream and industry operations in charge of issues related to oil and gas production.
“I am confident in his ability to inspire the NOIA membership and convey to the public the important role that offshore energy plays in America and beyond,” said NOIA Chairman Richard Clark.
CONSERVATIVE AND INDUSTRY GROUPS CALL ON SENATE TO MOVE CLEAN ENERGY BILLS: The U.S. Chamber of Commerce led a coalition of conservative, industry, and environmental groups Thursday in urging Senate leadership to allow votes on a suite of clean energy innovation bills.
The groups encouraged Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, along with Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, to package together a number of bills that have passed energy and environment committees.
These include the USE It Act supporting carbon capture utilization and direct air capture research; the LEADING Act to accelerate R&D into carbon capture for gas plants; the Nuclear Energy Leadership Act to spur the development of advanced nuclear technologies; and the BEST Act directing the Energy Department to establish a R&D and demonstration program for grid-scale energy storage.
“While we may not agree on everything, we believe there is much common ground upon which all sides of the debate can come together to begin to address climate change, promote American technological leadership, and foster continued economic growth,” the groups wrote in a letter to McConnell and Schumer. Other groups on the letter include ClearPath Action, Third Way, the Edison Electric Institute, the Nature Conservancy, and others.
IRAN’S ATTACK ON SAUDI OIL REVEALED A GLARING GAP IN AMERICAN MISSILE DEFENSES: The Iranian attack on Saudi oil facilities Sept. 14 pulled the curtain back on one of the Pentagon’s inconvenient truths, namely that despite untold billions spent on missile defense, the United States does not have a reliable shield against low-flying cruise missiles and small, hard-to-detect drones.
All the U.S. technology employed by the Saudis, including early warning radars and Patriot anti-missile missiles, are useless in the age of cruise missiles and cheap, relatively low-tech drones.
In the attack, none of the 18 drones or seven cruise missiles were detected, much less engaged by Saudi air defenses, leaving various U.S. officials sputtering to explain the embarrassing failure.
Read more from the Washington Examiner’s Jamie McIntyre here.
The Rundown
Reuters US Supreme Court to hear Appalachian Trail pipeline fight
New York Times Britain, struggling with Brexit, eyes another retreat. This one’s from fossil fuels
Wall Street Journal Attaining carbon-neutral shipping is a Herculean task
Washington Post Radical warming in Siberia leaves millions on unstable ground
Bloomberg Shale jobs are drying up in the Permian Basin
Calendar
FRIDAY | OCTOBER 4
House and Senate are out
