Subscribe today to the Washington Examiner magazine and get Washington Briefing: politics and policy stories that will keep you up to date with what’s going on in Washington. SUBSCRIBE NOW: Just $1.00 an issue!
TRUMP FACES COURT CHALLENGE OVER ETHANOL PLAN AS HE TAKES VICTORY LAP IN IOWA: Oil refiners took their first shot at President Trump’s week-old ethanol plan in court on Monday ahead of his trip to Iowa later on Tuesday to rally behind renewable fuels.
The American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers, representing refiners in Washington, asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to rule on the legality of Trump’s plan to allow 15% ethanol fuel blends to be sold year-round.
If the court rules in favor of the refinery industry, it could make Trump’s victory for corn farmers and ethanol producers short-lived.
The Environmental Protection Agency approved the E15 plan on May 31, lifting restrictions on the fuel to allow it to be sold in the summer months. Ethanol industry groups tell John that EPA is well within its legal rights to lift the restrictions.
Nevertheless, the refinery industry is confident the court will rule that only Congress can make such a change.
“We fully expect the court’s ruling to align with what the EPA and Congress have each previously concluded” in the past when looking at this issue, said Chet Thompson, the president and CEO of the refinery trade group.
The language of the Clean Air Act “does not authorize” EPA to waive Reid vapor pressure restrictions on any fuel beyond a 10% ethanol fuel blend, Thompson added.
“Nothing has changed — a waiver for E15 is unlawful, plain and simple,” he added.
Thompson also had a message for Trump ahead of his trip to Iowa.
He said the EPA plan does not fix the “shortcomings” of the federal government’s flagship renewable fuel program, the Renewable Fuel Standard, which requires refiners to blend billions of gallons of ethanol in the fuel system each year.
Thompson said the program has “plagued markets with volatility” for years. He invited Trump to visit with refiners in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and elsewhere to “fully understand the economic harm” that EPA’s ethanol program “is causing and the overwhelming need for its reform.”
But the ethanol industry is not without its own woes even after E15: The ethanol industry faces an EPA that has a track record under Trump of granting dozens of waivers to the oil industry to free refiners from the ethanol blending requirements.
Renewable fuel lobbyists say the refinery waivers eliminate any of the gains from selling more E15 during the summer months.
Many of the large ethanol trade groups will be pressing the EPA to end the practice of granting small refinery waivers. Lawmakers on Capitol Hill have introduced legislation to prevent the agency from misusing its authority in granting the waivers. A group of Senate Democrats sent a letter to the EPA Tuesday asking that the refinery waivers be suspended.
A House letter to leadership was sent Friday stressing the importance of renewing previously expired tax credits for renewable fuels to offset the harm caused by EPA’s refinery exemption program.
It is unclear if the ethanol industry will bring up the issue with Trump in Iowa, or if Trump will address it directly in public remarks.
The White House says Trump will address “renewable energy” in remarks given at the Southwest Iowa Renewable Energy ethanol plant in Council Bluffs, Iowa, at 3:20 p.m.
Welcome to Daily on Energy, written by Washington Examiner Energy and Environment Writers John Siciliano (@JohnDSiciliano) and Josh Siegel (@SiegelScribe). Email [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.
FORMER EPA CHIEFS SLAM TRUMP OVER SCIENCE, CLIMATE, AND STAFFING: Both former Republican and Democratic EPA chiefs came together on Capitol Hill on Tuesday to admonish the agency under the Trump administration.
Gina McCarthy, EPA administrator under President Barack Obama, said her message to the political leadership is to “do their jobs.”
McCarthy quipped that the constant roll-back of her rules “is beginning to tick me off a bit,” although she refrained from that issue dominating her remarks at the House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing.
She instead focused on how the administration is trying to undo public health protections.
Former Republican EPA chief Christine Todd Whitman voiced alarm over the lack of the agency’s concern about climate change. She fears the agency will no longer attract the best and brightest, but will instead force scientists and policymakers to look elsewhere.
“The hostility of EPA leadership to its own mission is driving people out, and keeping new people away,” Whitman remarked.
Whitman said it is wrong that the agency has been refocused to become an industry-friendly agency, saying it undermines the core functions of EPA in guarding public health.
“This trend must be reversed,” she said.
The Energy and Commerce Committee’s oversight hearing was meant to review the direction the agency is taking under the Trump administration.
GLOBAL CARBON EMISSIONS SPIKED NEARLY 3% IN 2018, BP ANALYSIS SHOWS: Global carbon emissions increased 2.9% in 2018 — the most in seven years — as energy demand soared, according to an analysis by oil and gas giant BP.
BP released its annual statistical review of world energy Tuesday, finding that extreme weather patterns across the globe explained the stronger demand for energy and higher carbon emissions. U.S., China, and Russia experienced a significant number of both hot and cold days, leading to more use of heating and air conditioning, BP’s group chief economist Spencer Dale explained on a Webcast Tuesday.
There is “no puzzle” as to why emissions increased last year, Dale said. Dale said the higher carbon emissions driven by extreme weather could be a one-year blip, or the start of a more “worrying, vicious cycle” given the impact of climate change on extreme weather.
But, he warned, even if these weather effects are short-lived, and carbon emissions slow because of that, recent trends in the energy sector suggest the world is still far away from reaching the goals of the Paris agreement.
HOUSE BUDGET COMMITTEE CLIMATE HEARING BECOMES GREEN NEW DEAL FIGHT: A House Budget Committee hearing focused on the economic costs of climate change Tuesday devolved into a fight over the progressive Green New Deal.
“We’re supposed to be the committee of fiscal discipline — the committee that’s responsible for managing and addressing our nation’s debt, but instead of talking about a budget, we’re here to discuss [the Green New Deal],” said Rep. Bill Johnson, R-Ohio.
Committee Chairman Rep. John Yarmuth, D-Ky., however, said the hearing was not intended to be about the Green New Deal but rather about the costs of climate change. He said the budget panel is not one of the 11 committees that have jurisdiction over issues arising from the Green New Deal.
He charged that Republicans are transfixed with the potential cost of the Green New Deal to distract from the GOP’s inadequate response to climate change, which will cause major damage to the U.S. economy.
“As a governing body, we must plan for the consequences of a changing climate if we are to avoid future catastrophe,” Yarmuth said. “Climate change is increasingly an economic and fiscal issue. If no mitigating action is taken, climate change will increasingly wreck havoc on the U.S. economy.”
Tallying the costs: Yarmuth noted between 2005 and 2014, the federal government spent an average of $36 billion annually responding to extreme weather and wildfires. In 2018, Congress appropriated more than $130 billion for disaster-related purposes. He said climate change would also increase costs related to flood insurance, crop insurance, federal facility preservation and repairs, and public health.
Alfredo Gomez, the director of the environment research team at the U.S. Government Accountability Office, said his office has included climate change on its “high risk” list since 2013.
But since then, Gomez testified to the committee, the federal government has failed to adopt a “strategic approach for identifying, prioritizing, and implementing investments for disaster resilience” to protect against climate change impacts from extreme weather.
EXELON’S CHRIS CRANE NAMED CHAIRMAN OF EEI: The Edison Electric Institute elected Chris Crane, the president and CEO of Exelon, as its chairman of the board, the trade group announced Tuesday at its annual convention in Philadelphia.
Crane previously served as the EEI’s vice chairman. He succeeds Lynn Good, the president and CEO of Duke Energy.
“Chris is a strong champion for our industry, and I am looking forward to his continued leadership as our industry works to deliver a clean and resilient energy future for our customers,” said EEI President Tom Kuhn.
SENATORS INTRODUCE BIPARTISAN BILL TO HELP FINANCE CARBON CAPTURE PROJECTS: Sens. Michael Bennett, D-Colo., and Rob Portman, R-Ohio, introduced legislation Monday to make carbon capture projects eligible for private activity bonds, giving developers access to tax-exempt debt.
The financing could be used to install carbon capture equipment on power plants or industrial facilities. Currently, carbon capture equipment cannot be financed with private activity bonds, which are used to help pay for airports, mass transit, pollution control equipment at coal plants, and more. Bennet, a 2020 presidential candidate, and Portman previously introduced the bill last session of Congress.
ENERGY DEPARTMENT ANNOUNCES $39 MILLION FUNDING FOR ‘ADVANCED’ COAL PROJECTS: The Energy Department announced Monday it will provide $39 million to 17 projects looking to develop advanced technologies to improve the efficiency of coal plants.
The projects, managed by DOE’s National Energy Technology Laboratory, support the agency’s goal to improve the average efficiency of currently operating coal plants by 5% from 2017 levels by 2020.
“The Trump Administration remains committed to ensuring a coal-fueled power plant fleet that provides stable energy to the power grid,” said DOE’s Assistant Secretary for Fossil Energy Steven Winberg.
The Rundown
E&E News EPA may spin off disputed changes in Clean Power Plan redo
Politico Nature Conservancy taps Obama Interior secretary as interim CEO
Washington Post EPA chief will focus on ocean trash, not climate change, at upcoming global summit
Wall Street Journal US targets efforts by China, others to recruit government scientists
Calendar
TUESDAY | June 11
9 a.m. – 3 p.m., Philadelphia. The Edison Electric Institute, representing the investor-owned utility industry, hold the final day of its 2019 annual convention in Philadelphia.
THURSDAY | June 13
10 a.m., 366 Dirksen. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee holds a hearing to examine the outlook for wildland fire and management programs for 2019.
