Daily on Energy: Senate to vote on nominee for EPA air chief

‘Obstructionist’ in chief: Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said Thursday he would try to derail Wehrum’s chances, aiming to persuade Republicans to join with his party to kill his appointment.

‘Reject’ the nominee: Schumer said there is “strong opposition” to Wehrum. “He does not deserve to be in this position.” He said he hopes “to get bipartisan support to reject this awful nomination.”

Sen. Tom Carper of Delaware, the top Democrat on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, took to the floor after Schumer to ask Republicans as well as Democrats “to vote ‘no’ on his “dangerous” nomination.  

On Wednesday, the Senate invoked cloture on Wehrum’s nomination by a 49-46 party line vote, a procedural step opening debate.

Why Democrats don’t like him: Democrats say Wehrum’s ties to industry prevent him from being an effective and faithful environmental enforcer. Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, a moderate Democrat from a coal state who usually gives deference to Trump’s energy nominees, said he would vote against Wehrum.

“I am concerned that he does not fully appreciate the deadly impacts of silica and other harmful agents,” Manchin said.

Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois had placed a hold on Wehrum’s confirmation last month to block him from being considered on the floor.

What Wehrum would do: Wehrum, an energy industry lawyer and former EPA official, would oversee climate change regulations.

Peabody-funded study: The study by Quanta Technology and funded by coal giant Peabody will be submitted to Arizona’s state utility commission Thursday afternoon. It supports the idea of keeping the Navajo Generating Station open or risk significant dangers from brownouts and blackouts in the region. Peabody supplies the station with coal.

Natural gas vs. coal: The study shows that Arizona’s one major natural gas line that supplies the entire state would be strained by closing the coal plant, posing major reliability problems.

Trump’s bid to save the plant: The Trump Interior Department is overseeing the plant’s retirement, which originally was slated for the end of this year, but that Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke managed to get extended through the end of 2019. The Interior Department is the second-largest owner of the plant.

In the meantime, Peabody is trying to get new owners to operate the plant after 2019. But the fate of the plant, which is the largest coal plant in the western U.S., is extremely uncertain.

An economic boom: “This is an agreement that will provide Alaska with an economic boom comparable to the development of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System in the 1970s,” said Alaska Gov. Bill Walker.

Who is involved: The development corporation and the Alaskan government signed the joint liquefied natural gas, or LNG, development agreement with the state-run China Petrochemical Corporation, or Sinopec, CIC Capital Corp., and the Bank of China.

China wants ‘stable’ supply from U.S.: Sinopec said its goal is to help create a “stable” route for purchasing LNG from Alaska.

Follow the leader: The introduction of the bill fulfills the terms of a budget resolution passed by the Republican-controlled House and Senate that directed the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, which Murkowski leads, to create legislation to raise $1 billion over a decade to help pay for tax reform.

Murkowski said her committee will mark up the legislation on Wednesday.

Long-term play: The Congressional Budget Office estimates the legislation would raise $1.092 billion over the 10-year budget window. Between royalties and federal income taxes, energy development would “raise substantially greater revenues,” Murkowski said.

Drilling doubts: Many former government officials and environmental groups doubt drilling in the 1.5 million-acre “1002” section of the 19.6-million-acre refuge can meet those revenue expectations. That’s because oil prices are hovering just above $50 a barrel, and competition is fierce from natural gas in the nation’s shale regions.

“Nothing in this bill can magically make these fantastical revenue assumptions materialize,” said Adam Kolton, executive director of the Alaska Wilderness League.

Nitty gritty: The legislation calls for the first lease sales for drilling in the refuge to occur within four years. It would split the revenue in half between Alaska’s government and the federal government.

Meeting on major grid proposal: He told the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee that he met with the Department of Energy on behalf of Murray a few months ago about Energy Secretary Rick Perry’s proposal to subsidize coal and nuclear plants.

He said he also participated in a Capitol Hill meeting on the subject with the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, an independent agency, is considering the proposal to pay coal and nuclear plants to support the “resilience and reliability” they provide to the grid.

Murray’s power play: Bob Murray, the outspoken CEO of Murray Energy and ally of Trump, has been a leading proponent of Perry’s proposal, which is opposed by most of the energy industry because they say it would upset competitive power markets.

Privy to plan: Wheeler also acknowledged that he has seen a copy of Murray’s “action plan” the coal CEO said he provided to Trump in January to help the struggling coal industry.

“I did not work on that [plan] or have a copy of that memo,” Wheeler said. “I saw it briefly at the beginning of year but don’t have possession of it. I looked at it.”

Democrats said that puts Wheeler’s impartiality in doubt.

“The American people are entitled to an EPA that is not following a coal company’s three-page plan, but what is in the best interest of the American people,” said Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I.

No meeting, no vote: Durbin requested a meeting with Zinke about his recommendation for Trump to shrink multiple national monuments out West. Trump is expected to announce his decisions on those recommendations next month.

“Please let the secretary know that while my colleagues and I await his scheduling decision, my holds on Department of Interior nominees continues,” Durbin wrote to the department.

Zinke frustrated by wait: Zinke expressed his frustrations about the holds in a letter this week to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y.

“These nominees have been forced to wait significantly longer than either the Obama or Bush administration’s first-term nominees,” Zinke said.

For example, Brenda Berman, nominated to be commissioner of the Bureau of Reclamation, has waited 132 days to be confirmed, Zinke said.

Reaping benefits on refiners: Icahn resigned as special adviser to the president in August after the New Yorker published an article about the conflicts created by his advisory role.

He 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 and other oil refiners from the responsibility of blending the ethanol, according to the New Yorker.

Rule change: “Changing the rules in the middle of the game is bad for business and will jeopardize over $50 billion of private investment planned by industry under the existing phase-out terms,” the governors say.

The House plan: Last week, House Republicans introduced a tax reform bill that would trim the wind industry’s 2.3-cent-per-kilowatt hour tax credit to 1.5 cents.

The wind industry says the proposal would disrupt investment planning because producers have been preparing for a phaseout of the tax credit over five years, as Congress agreed to in a bipartisan 2015 agreement.

All eyes on Senate: The Senate on Thursday will roll out their tax reform plan. Key Senate Republicans have already said they would oppose changes to the wind tax credit.