Daily on Energy: Trump silent as tainted Russian oil surges across Europe

Transneft said last week that one of its local companies contaminated millions of barrels of oil flowing into several European countries from Russia, forcing Poland, Germany, Ukraine, Slovakia, and other countries to halt imports.

The oil was contaminated with organic elements that would damage refineries in the recipient countries, according to Reuters.

An opportunity for U.S., ignored by the Trump administration: Trump donor and Canary CEO Dan Eberhardt tells John the oil crisis is “a wake-up call” for Europe that it cannot depend on Russian energy supplies and an opportunity that the U.S. should seize upon.

The Trump administration believes dependence on Russian natural gas makes Europe strategically vulnerable. President Trump wants Europe to diversify its supply by importing more U.S. natural gas.

Eberhardt’s company is one of the largest manufacturers of well components for oil drillers in the United States.

“It could take months to clean up the Druzhba pipeline and dilute all the contaminated oil,” Eberhardt predicts. “In the meantime, refiners in Central and Eastern Europe are going to need to find alternative supplies.”

He says Transneft is a state-owned monopoly, so it will be difficult for Russia to escape the blame for the tainted supply. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said last week that the tainted supply woes will cost Russia’s reputation as a dependable supplier.

“EU leaders may not care much for President Trump, but they have to admit that the U.S. is a much better trading partner than Russia, especially when it comes to something as critical to security as oil and gas supplies,” Eberhardt said.

European representatives visit the White House: Of note, Slovak Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini visited the White House on Friday as his country suffered the fallout, but the discussion was limited to reiterating the administration’s previous stance on opposing the Russian Nordstream II natural gas pipeline, not oil, according to the White House.

The Slovak government has said it could take weeks to rid its system of the contaminated Russian oil.

John also learned that the deputy foreign minister of Belarus, Oleg Kravchenko, a country significantly affected by the oil crisis, was also at the White House last week to meet with Fiona Hill, National Security Council senior director for European and Russian Affairs. However, no details were divulged from the meeting.

Belarus was one of the first countries to detect the contamination, and predicts it taking months to clean up the system.

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MEANWHILE … NEW SANCTIONS LEVELED AGAINST IRAN: Saturday brought new sanctions on Iran’s nuclear reactor and power plant complex aimed at blocking the nation’s development of nuclear weapons.

“Starting May 4, assistance to expand Iran’s Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant beyond the existing reactor unit will be exposed to sanctions,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced late in the evening on Friday.

The tightening on sanctions on Iran’s nuclear power complex follows the May 2 deadline for countries to stop importing the Islamic Republic’s oil or face consequences.

RENEWABLE ENERGY GROWTH STALLS FOR FIRST TIME SINCE 2001: Last year was the first since 2001 that growth in renewable power capacity around the world failed to increase compared to the prior year, according to a Monday report from the International Energy Association.

Renewables added as much net capacity in 2018 as 2017. New net capacity from solar, wind, hydro, bioenergy, and other renewable sources increased by about 180 gigawatts in 2018, the same as the previous year.

Consequences for Paris agreement: This “unexpected” flattening of growth “raises concerns about meeting long-term climate goals,” IEA said. Energy-related carbon emissions rose 1.7% globally last year, reaching a record high.

Renewable capacity additions need to grow by over 300 gigawatts on average each year between 2018 and 2030 to reach the goals of the Paris Agreement, the IEA projects.

“The world cannot afford to press pause on the expansion of renewables and governments need to act quickly to correct this situation and enable a faster flow of new projects,” said Fatih Birol, the IEA’s executive director.

What caused the stalled growth: The biggest contributors to renewable energy’s struggles were less solar growth in China — the largest market for renewables — as the government relaxed its subsidy program for the industry to control costs.

And there was less growth from wind power in the European Union, the second largest market for renewables, and India.

FERC ALLAYS CLIMATE CHANGE CONCERNS TO MOVE NATURAL GAS FROM PA TO NORTHEAST: The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission managed to allay concerns about greenhouse gas emissions to issue a long-sought permit Friday to build a pipeline to move natural gas from the shale fields of Pennsylvania to utilities in the Northeast.

The regulators issued a 3-1 majority decision with two Republicans and one Democrat voting in favor of Transco’s pipeline project to connect New York and points north, furthering Trump’s “energy dominance” agenda.

The two Republicans, Chairman Neil Chatterjee and Commissioner Bernard McNamee, voted in favor of the project’s certificate approval, which looked at a range of environmental factors, but didn’t go far enough for Democrats. Yet, despite their differences on the issue of greenhouse gas emissions, they managed to gain the vote of Democratic Commissioner Cheryl LaFleur, who concurred in full with the pipeline’s approval.

FORMER GREENPEACE CHIEF LEADS CLIMATE SKEPTICS GROUP WITH HAPPER AT WHITE HOUSE: The co-founder of the environmental group Greenpeace, Patrick Moore, on Monday took the helm of a group of climate change skeptics known as the “CO2 Coalition” to counter the global scientific consensus that climate change is a crisis resulting in more extreme weather.

Moore will take the place of physicist William Happer as the group’s chairman of the board. Happer is now at the White House ramping up a new climate skeptics panel to counter scientific conclusions that show climate change threatens national security.

Moore’s new leadership role will be aimed at educating the public about the benefits of carbon dioxide to humanity as “the main building block of life on Earth,” said the CO2 Coalition.

The coalition will also play up the supposition that CO2 is a “very weak greenhouse gas that may have the added benefit of slight warming of the climate” and will use U.S. government data to show that the “modest” warming has resulted in no increase in extreme weather such as hurricanes and droughts or changes in the rate of sea-level rise.

Moore’s campaign contradicts the findings of the United Nations and the U.S. government that increased warming due to carbon dioxide emissions and other greenhouse gases is raising the temperature, and poses a threat in the coming decades if drastic measures aren’t taken to reduce CO2 output.

DEMOCRATIC ATTORNEYS GENERAL OPPOSE TRUMP’S ROLLBACK OF LIGHTBULB EFFICIENCY RULES: A coalition of 16 Democratic attorneys general submitted comments Friday to the Energy Department opposing the agency’s proposal to rollback federal energy efficiency standards for specialty lightbulbs.

The proposed changes to a 2017 Obama administration rule would apply to lightbulbs commonly used in bathrooms, chandeliers, and recessed lighting fixtures.

The attorneys general estimate that 3 billion light sockets contain these types of bulbs or nearly half of all lighting sockets in residential buildings across the U.S.

“It’s not very bright to cut common-sense standards that save consumers money,” said California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, who initiated the comments.

The Obama administration said the standards would save consumers money, and limit greenhouse gas emissions. But the trade group for the world’s leading light bulb manufacturers, the National Electrical Manufacturers Association, lobbied the Trump administration for the change, saying the Obama rules were rushed and violate the law.

TRUMP NOMINATES ROB WALLACE TO LEAD FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE: Trump announced the nomination Friday of Rob Wallace to lead the Interior Department’s Fish and Wildlife Service and National Park Service, a position that has been vacant since the start of the administration.

Wallace, a Wyoming native, is a former energy industry lobbyist and staff member on Capitol Hill. He was the Republican staff director of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and chief of staff to the late Sen. Malcolm Wallop, R-Wyo.

He previously served as manager of government relations for GE Power, a unit of General Electric. Wallace is currently an operating partner of i2Capital, where he works with ranchers, energy companies, conservationists, and regulators to “balance the needs of conservation and energy development in the West.”

Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, in a statement said Wallop is the “right person for this job.”

HOUSTON MAYOR AWARDS SAUDI CONSUL FOR HELPING WIN OIL CONFERENCE BID: Saudi Arabia’s consul general in Houston was offered a rare, symbolic honor from the metropolis’ mayor.

Mayor Sylvester Turner presided over a ceremony last week granted Consul General Sultan Abdullah Al-Luwaihan Al-Anqari honorary Houston citizenship for Saudi Arabia’s help in rebuilding the city after devastating hurricanes and for lobbying on behalf of the Texas city to win it the host position for a major global oil conference next year.

Read John’s exclusive reporting here.

The Rundown

Washington Post One million species face extinction, U.N. panel says. And humans will suffer as a result.

Wall Street Journal Rivals vie for mastery over America’s hottest oil field

Reuters Arctic nations to meet amid tensions over environment, resources

Courier Journal With or without Green New Deal, Kentucky’s energy future is heading away from coal

Calendar

TUESDAY | May 7

12:15 p.m., 529 14^th Street NW. The Interstate Natural Gas Association of America Foundation will host an on-the-record briefing Tuesday to release its 2019 flagship study, “The Role of Natural Gas in the Transition to a Lower-Carbon Economy.”

3 p.m., 2362-A Rayburn. Interior Secretary David Bernhardt testifies before the House Appropriations Committee’s Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Subcommittee on the fiscal 2020 budget.

WEDNESDAY | May 8

10 a.m., 2322 Rayburn. House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Environment and Climate Change Subcommittee holds a hearing on legislation to ban asbestos.

2:30 p.m., 222 Russell. The Senate Armed Service Committee’s strategic forces panel holds a hearing on “Department of Energy’s Atomic Defense Activities and Programs.”