Daily on Energy: Pruitt not rushing his climate change red teams

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EPA ‘RED TEAMS’ ON TRACK TO CHALLENGE CLIMATE SCIENCE: The Trump administration is looking to create a “red team” to challenge the accepted science on climate change and the impact of carbon dioxide emissions on the Earth’s temperature, but there is no timeline on when that exercise will occur even though it is “very important,” according to Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt.

The EPA administrator sat down with the Washington Examiner for an interview that included discussion of the proposed red team-blue team process that he says will open up a dialogue over the science behind global warming to see what is true and what is not.

“The red team-blue team is still being evaluated,” Pruitt said. “I think it’s very, very important. I think the American people deserve an open, honest dialogue about what do we know, what don’t we know with respect to CO2 and its impact.”

The critics: The Trump administration has been criticized by environmentalists and others for ignoring the effects of manmade global warming in the wake of Hurricanes Irma and Harvey. Although climate scientists are careful not to equate weather with global warming, they say the intensity of the storms is a result of a warmer planet.

Put science to the test: The Trump administration feels a need to put climate change to the test. The red team/blue team process Pruitt wants to set up has been widely used by the military to test assumptions about an enemy’s wartime capability. A red team would challenge the assumptions of the blue team.

In the case of climate change, the red team would be made up of skeptics, who would challenge the science held by the majority of climate scientists who say human activity is causing the Earth’s temperature to rise and will have disastrous consequences unless abated.

NOTHING TO SEE HERE: Trump, meanwhile, made climate change news Thursday by discounting any link between global warming and Hurricanes Harvey and Irma.

‘Bigger storms’: “We’ve had bigger storms than this,” Trump told reporters when asked if Harvey and Irma changed his views of climate change.

Trump said storms from the 1910s, 1930s and 1940s were worse.

Storm watchers: The Trump administration has been consistent in refusing to discuss the influence of climate change on extreme weather events.

Pruitt told the Washington Examiner Monday that climate change discussion related to the hurricanes is “insensitive” and represents “absolute misplaced priorities.”

RETURN OF THE OBSTRUCTIONIST LEADER: Former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is resurrecting his annual clean energy conference after a two-year hiatus.

The ninth National Clean Energy Summit will be held Oct. 13, with former Vice President Al Gore headlining with Ernest Moniz, energy secretary under former President Barack Obama.

Thursday’s surprise: The summit announced that two Republican mayors will join a panel discussion at the conference. Jim Brainard, six-term mayor of Carmel, Ind., will be there. Brainard is part of a national coalition of mayors who pledge to meet the goals of the Paris climate agreement despite President Trump’s decision to withdraw from the pact.

He will be joined by Dale Ross, mayor of Georgetown, Texas, who has been vocal about the GOP needing to accept the science of climate change in the wake of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma.

COAL GROUP LOVES TRUMP HOTEL: The National Mining Association will hold a private conference at Trump International Hotel in Washington next month.

The association’s board members will meet at the Pennsylvania Avenue hotel Oct. 3-4, the Intercept reported.

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MARCH OF THE CLIMATE BILLS: Democrats are gearing up to start a climate debate that hasn’t been seen in Washington since 2009. The rollout of bills began Thursday with Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass, and co-author of the 2009 Waxman-Markey bill, the only cap-and-trade legislation to ever pass the House. It died in the Senate, and there hasn’t been a climate debate on Capitol Hill since.

What’s in the new plan? Now that Markey is in the Senate, his ideas for climate legislation are a little more focused and a lot more, shall we say, conservative. Instead of doling out billions of dollars to bolster a clean energy revolution, as Waxman-Markey attempted, his new bill looks to develop a National Strategic Action Plan to address public health challenges associated with climate change, such as heat stroke and the rise of diseases such as the Zika virus.

The Climate Change Health Protection and Promotion Act would direct the secretary of Health and Human Services, acting through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, to develop a national plan to assist health professionals “in preparing for and responding to the public health effects of climate change,” according to Markey’s office.

Preventive medicine: “We have to have preventative care programs in place, so, these events that occur because of climate stop sending people to emergency rooms,” Markey said at a press conference to introduce the bill.

Because climate change “is a lot like Donald Trump, if you ignore it it only gets worse,” he quipped.

Why now? Part of the bill’s rollout has to do with Irma and Harvey. The storms’ intensity is being linked to rising global temperatures. Also relevant to the bill release, the U.N. General Assembly convenes next week, and advocates are holding Climate Week to coincide with the visit of foreign dignitaries.

House support: Rep. Matt Cartwright, D-Pa., introduced a companion bill to Markey’s legislation. “Hurricanes Irma and Harvey demonstrated the often tragic results of climate change. But climate change doesn’t only appear as a disastrous storm. Climate change impacts our lives daily – from the air we breathe and to the water we drink. We need to take action,” Cartwright said.

SOLAR WILL BURY COAL MINES: Markey also set up a renewable vs. fossil fuels debate in introducing his legislation, offering a dire prediction for coal.

“Wind and solar is going to bury coal,” Markey said. “The only blue-collar jobs in our country are not coal miners. They are the people installing wind on roofs of buildings. Solar on roofs of homes.”

The U.S. will have 500,000 people working in wind and solar by 2020, while coal jobs will employ 50,000, he added.

ADVOCATES PUSH OFF: Other climate-related bills gained momentum Thursday, with 300 groups endorsing a House bill that would ban fossil fuel exports that Trump has touted, while mandating the use of 100 percent renewable energy.

The “Off Fossil Fuels Act,” or OFF Act, introduced by Army veteran Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, is being hailed by environmentalists as “the strongest, most aggressive climate and energy bill in Congress.”

The 300 groups sent a letter to each member of Congress pressing them to support the bill.

Climate aggression: Its tone is certainly much more in line with anti-fossil fuel activists, and it’s a lot more antagonistic than Markey’s bill.

The 300 groups include scores of organizations looking to ban fossil fuels at the state level, but there are a lot of religious and church groups represented, as well. The anti-fossil fuel group 350.org, which stoked the Keep It In the Ground movement during the presidential election, is well represented with nearly all its local and state chapters signing onto the letter.

CLIMATE BILL WITH LEGS: Of the recent introductions of climate change measures, only one seems to have the bipartisan support for passage this year.

That measure would give tax subsidies to companies looking to build carbon-capture technology at coal and other fossil fuel plants. Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., is a big supporter of the legislation and has a bipartisan coalition of 24 other senators.

Barrasso, chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, held a hearing Wednesday to underscore the importance of the legislation. He sees the technology as the future of the coal industry in his state.

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I, a climate stalwart, said at the hearing that he is pleased with the 25 co-sponsors, but would like to pad the bill out with more Republicans before pursuing a floor vote.

FERC CHIEF: COAL SUPPORT MUST WAIT: New Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chairman Neil Chatterjee on Thursday promised a wait-and-see approach in deciding whether the commission will act to preserve the nation’s coal and nuclear plants.

Chatterjee, testifying before a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee, took a more cautious stance on the matter than he did upon becoming chairman one month ago, when he said on the agency’s podcast that coal and nuclear plants need to be properly compensated to recognize the value they provide to the power system.

‘Fuel Neutral’: “Being from Kentucky, I have seen first hand the importance of coal-fired generation and what it means for the delivery of not just affordable, but reliable electricity,” Chatterjee said in his first public appearance since being appointed chairman.

“In terms of strategies or a path forward, the commission is fuel neutral and will look to ensure as the grid undergoes this transformation, we make sure we evaluate the attributes of fuel sources to see what values they provide and if there is a demonstrated need for reliability whether those things can be compensated.”

FAMILIAR SOUND: Chatterjee, a Republican, will be FERC chairman until Trump’s nominee to head the commission, Kevin McIntyre, is confirmed by the Senate, likely sometime this fall.

And Chatterjee’s noncommittal approach to propping up coal and nuclear plants sounds a lot like how McIntyre views the matter.

McIntyre, also a Republican, testified during his confirmation hearing this month that he would adhere to FERC’s basic duties of approving and regulating the interstate transmission of electricity, natural gas and crude oil, without favoring one energy source over another.

No favorites: “FERC does not pick fuels among different generating resources, so it’s important it be open to the science, and the characteristics of reliability and economics that are important to satisfying the energy needs of our nation,” McIntyre said.

Add it all up… and it appears FERC will not act to help coal and nuclear without further study on whether changes to the electricity grid have created vulnerability and reliability concerns.

Read our full account of the hearing here.

PRUITT SAYS NO PROMISES TO ICAHN ON ETHANOL: Pruitt assured Democratic senators that he did not make promises to billionaire investor and Trump adviser Carl Icahn about changing a policy that requires oil refineries to blend ethanol into gasoline.

Pruitt, the Associated Press reported Thursday, responded to letters from five senators looking into potential conflicts of interest involving Icahn, who resigned in August as a special adviser to Trump on regulatory reform.

What Icahn wanted: Icahn pressed the Trump administration to change a requirement that refiners be held responsible for ensuring that corn-based ethanol is mixed into gasoline. One of his investment firms, Icahn Enterprises, owns a large stake in an oil refinery business, CVR Energy.

Icahn unsuccessfully tried to pressure the government to change the rules regarding the “point of obligation,” trying to forgive CVR from the responsibility of blending the ethanol.

What rejection looks like: “I made no assurances with regard to the point of obligation or any other substantive issue,” Pruitt wrote to Democrats Monday.

Icahn resigned as Trump’s adviser last month.

COAL ASH TO ASHES: The Environmental Protection Agency is looking to revise 11 pieces of an Obama administration rule governing the ashy leftovers from burning coal at power plants.

The agency announced the decision Thursday in answering two industry petitions to reconsider several pieces of the regulation.

The waste is typically stored in large containment ponds. But after some large coal ash spills, the Obama administration crafted regulations to better contain and deal with the waste.

One coal decision deserves another: The decision follows a Wednesday announcement by the EPA that it will delay for two years the Obama-era rule on handling toxic wastewater from coal plants. Both rules are seen by the industry as part of an increasing regulatory burden on coal plant operators.

RUNDOWN

Reuters Oil and chemical spills from Hurricane Harvey big, but dwarfed by Katrina

Washington Post New study shows plants are offsetting human emissions by removing carbon dioxide from the air

Wall Street Journal Texas energy producers are buying sand from mines close to drilling fields

Texas Tribune EPA won’t release benzene levels post-Harvey; private tests show elevated levels

New York Times Diverging fates of two forests offer clues to climate change’s potential impact on wildfires

Reuters Energy firms battle startups to wire Europe’s highways for electric cars

Calendar

SUNDAY, SEPT. 17

Sept. 17-20, New Orleans. The National Association of State Energy Officials, representing state-appointed energy officials, holds its annual 2017 meeting. naseo.org/event?EventID=1421

TUESDAY, SEPT. 19

7 a.m., New York. The Energy Marketing Conference for Retailers holds its Eighth Semi-Annual Energy Marketing Conference. energymarketingconferences.com/september-2017/

9:30 a.m., 366 Dirksen. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee holds markup to vote on the nominations of Richard Glick to be a member of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission; David Jonas to be Energy Department general counsel; Kevin McIntyre to be a member of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission; Joseph Balash to be assistant Interior secretary for land and minerals management; and Ryan Douglas Nelson to be Interior Department solicitor. energy.senate.gov

10 a.m., 1616 Rhode Island Ave. NW, The Center for Strategic and International Studies hosts Laszlo Varro, chief economist at the International Energy Agency, to discuss the IEA’s World Energy Investment 2017 report.

csis.org/events/ieas-world-energy-investment-2017

10 a.m., 366 Dirksen. The Energy and Natural Resources Committee holds a hearing to examine the vegetation management requirements for electricity assets located on federal lands and to receive testimony on Section 2310 of the Energy and Natural Resources Act of 2017 and the Electricity Reliability and Forest Protection Act.

energy.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/2017/9/full-committee-hearing-to

WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 20

10 a.m., 406 Dirksen. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hearing on the nomination of Michael Dourson to be assistant EPA administrator; Matthew Leopold to be assistant EPA administrator; David Ross to be assistant EPA administrator; William Wehrum to be assistant EPA administrator; and Jeffery Baran to be a member of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. epw.senate.gov

4 p.m., 1521 16th St. NW. The Institute of World Politics hosts lecture called “Energy Security: New Market Realities” with Sara Vakhshouri of SVB Energy International. The lecture will discuss how the rise of North America’s shale oil and gas production has changed market dynamics, energy trade flow and energy security. iwp.edu/events/detail/energy-security-new-market-realities

FRIDAY, SEPT. 22

International Trade Commission to make Solar Trade Petition Injury Determination. usitc.gov/

10 a.m.,1616 Rhode Island Ave. NW. The Center for Strategic and International Studies hosts Bjorn Otto Sverdrup, senior vice president for Sustainability at Statoil, to present Statoil’s Climate Roadmap. csis.org/events/statoils-climate-roadmap

Daily on Energy: Pruitt not rushing his climate change red teams

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