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ZINKE GETS TROLLED ON TWITTER AFTER TELLING OIL GROUP HE WORKS FOR INDUSTRY: Here’s a little story about Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke that began on Tuesday after he spoke at a Louisiana oil and gas industry event.

It began like this: The Louisiana Oil and Gas Association tweeted a photo of Zinke giving the keynote at the industry shindig, with the line: “Our government should work for you, the #oilandgas industry.” The oil and gas group attributed the line to Zinke.

That generated a Twitter storm: The line got a lot of replies that basically asked: Why is he working for the oil industry — shouldn’t the secretary be working for the people?

Zinke responds, sort of: Later, Zinke posted his own one line tweet that read: “Government should work for you. Period.” It looked like Zinke was responding to the trolls on Twitter. But that doesn’t seem to be the fact, according to the agency.

Heather Swift, Zinke’s senior adviser and spokeswoman, told John that the secretary’s post was not a response, but a statement of fact.

Agency claims Zinke was just reiterating: “That wasn’t a clarification tweet,” Swift said in an email. “That was a reiteration of what he always says and believes.”

Interior takes umbrage: “Only DC elites would be offended by the thought that the government should work for the people,” she added.

Nevertheless, the Zinke post elicited some pointed responses and calls for his resignation.  

Conservation groups pounced: “Yes, you work for the people, not for the oil industry, and we demand a rigorous and thorough public process, not a dismissal of our concerns, rights, and knowledge, esp. when it comes to using AK as your path to ‘energy dominance.’ Period. #gettowork,” tweeted the Northern Alaska Environment Center, a conservation group opposing Arctic drilling.

‘So you work for us’: Conservation Land Foundation Government Affairs Director David Feinman replied, “indeed, and you’re government. so you work for us. and we are telling you to stop selling off the public lands we all own. so, work for us. not the extractive industries. #MonumentsForAll #KeepItPublic #SaveGrandStaircase.”

The second day of the Louisiana conference began with a panel of Conservation District Office Managers.

More remarks from the speech: The Louisiana oil group also tweeted other Zinke remarks, including: “Decisions shouldn’t be made in DC, but in the field… the Mississippi River looks a different than the Potomac River.”

It then concluded the keynote address by tweeting that Zinke got a standing ovation.

The group told John there wasn’t video available of the speech.

When asked for a copy of the remarks, Swift said Zinke rarely speaks from prepared remarks.  

Welcome to Daily on Energy, compiled 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.  

CHINA’S TARIFFS THREATEN THE US NATURAL GAS BOOM, BUT HOW BADLY?: China’s new list of $60 billion worth of tariffs on U.S. goods includes liquefied natural gas, threatening the Trump administration’s ambition to flood the world with cheap natural gas as a key component of its energy dominance agenda.

China’s Finance Ministry said Tuesday that it is moving forward a 10 percent tariff on American liquefied natural gas, or LNG, starting next month, in response to President Trump’s latest round of tariffs.

The penalty is not as severe as the 25 percent tariff on LNG that China threatened in August.

China is the largest growth market for LNG imports, and the U.S. is seeking to be a major exporter.

Now it has a ‘competitive disadvantage’: “The 10 percent tariff puts U.S. LNG at a competitive disadvantage in China when compared to LNG from elsewhere that seeks to sell to the growing market,” Edward Chow, a a senior fellow in the Energy and National Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told Josh.

Industry officials, meanwhile, warn that Trump’s trade war with China is threatening to discourage the world’s fastest growing LNG market from signing long-term contracts with American developers.

“These tariffs have the power to price U.S. LNG out of the Chinese market,” said Charlie Riedl, the executive director of the Center for Liquified Natural Gas, a nonprofit trade group. “Pricing U.S. LNG out of a key market undermines its competitiveness and ability to reduce the U.S. trade deficit while providing good jobs at home and growing the economy.”

Yet the pain won’t be felt immediately: The short-term impact of the tariff is likely to be muted, experts say. As the U.S-China trade dispute escalated, Chinese buyers have been gradually reducing purchases of American LNG. China has already completed the majority of its procurement of gas for the winter, noted Giles Farrer, a research director at Wood Mackenzie.

There’s a bigger trade threat: Chow says Trump’s broader trade agenda represents a bigger threat, however. His steel tariffs increase the cost of building new LNG terminals. The U.S. has only two operating LNG export terminals, but many more are planned, and in the process of seeking regulatory approval. Investors may hesitate to participate in these planned projects.

“The most important damage the trade war does to the U.S. LNG industry is not in short term sales,” Chow said. “U.S. is earning a reputation as an unreliable trading partner, not only with China.”

TRUMP MAKES RUSSIAN ENERGY PROJECTS INTO NEW SECURITY THREAT: Russia’s Nord Stream II natural gas pipeline project poses a security threat to both the U.S. and Poland, Trump and Polish President Andrzej Duda said in a joint statement signed after meeting at the White House on Tuesday.

A mutual threat: The two leaders pledged to counter the pipeline, or any other Russian energy projects, that “threaten our mutual security,” read the statement released by the White House.

A pledge to work together: They also pledged to work on increasing the amount of liquefied natural gas imports that Poland receives to enhance energy security, while also working on nuclear energy development.

The two countries also committed to establish the “U.S.-Poland Strategic Dialogue on Energy,” which Trump said earlier Tuesday will be a high-level collaboration focused on energy security.

“Our two nations will continue to support governmental exchanges on energy issues to advance bilateral cooperation and reach a common view on matters of vital interest to both countries,” according to the statement.

‘The biggest threat’: Earlier on Tuesday, Duda said he and Trump discussed the Russian threat in detail. “Without any doubt, the biggest threat right now is posed by the construction of Nord Stream II gas pipeline,” the Polish leader said.

MORE RUSSIAN PIPELINES ON THE WAY, SAYS DUDA: Poland says the threat of “Russian energy domination” is a very real threat, especially “when Russia mentions that it’s going to build more pipelines — Nord Stream III, Nord Stream IV,” Duda said after meeting with Trump.

The Russian investment, “without any doubt, threatens energy stability of Europe,” he said. “And without any doubt, it also threatens Polish energy security, because it is a threat.”

The Nord Stream II project is already underway, and will make its ways through Germany to feed the largest economy in Europe and Central Europe.

The Trump administration opposes the pipeline’s construction and wants the European Union to diversify its energy supplies toward U.S. shale natural gas.

Trump touted Duda’s plan to begin moving large quantities of U.S. natural gas into Central Europe via its own energy pipeline network and a new state-of-the-art liquefied natural gas import terminal.

“All across Europe, no nation should be dependent on a single foreign supplier of energy,” Trump said during a joint press conference with Duda, who is in Washington as part of his first official state visit to the White House.

TRUMP MOVES TO WEAKEN MORE OBAMA REGULATIONS OF METHANE POLLUTION: The Trump administration proposed Tuesday to weaken a 2016 Obama-era regulation targeting venting and flaring, or burning, of methane from oil and gas operations on federal lands.

The Interior Department’s water-downed final replacement proposal is the second move in two weeks by the Trump administration to soften oversight of methane leaks from oil and gas operations, after industry groups had complained about the cost of complying.

Last week, the Environmental Protection Agency proposed relaxing a similar 2016 rule by allowing companies to reduce how often they have to inspect and fix wells and pipelines that leak methane.

What the Obama rule did: The Interior Department proposal, by contrast, is focused on oil and gas operations on federal land.

The Obama administration’s “venting and flaring rule” required oil and gas companies to use a host of new technologies to cut methane flaring, and forced them to replace old equipment and maintain a robust inspection regime for methane leaks.

The Obama version of the rule, which was never implemented because it was challenged in court, also put in place a new royalty program to collect fees from drillers, by encouraging companies to capture and sell excess gas that they would otherwise burn, a process that can produce methane emissions.

Measuring, or not, the emissions impact: Obama’s regulation would have prevented the release of nearly 180,000 tons of methane into the atmosphere each year, experts said. Interior officials did not provide an estimate Tuesday for how Trump’s replacement rule will impact methane emissions.

Methane, the main component in natural gas, is more potent than carbon dioxide because it traps more heat, although its greenhouse gas emissions are relatively short-lived in the atmosphere. Methane represents about 9 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.

Democrats have already sued: California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, a Democrat, quickly sued the Interior Department in federal court on Tuesday for rolling back the methane rule.

New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas, also a Democrat, joined California in filing the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

JAMIE DIMON FOR PRESIDENT TOPS OIL AND GAS NEWS: JPMorgan Chase & Co. CEO Jamie Dimon being endorsed by a former Trump adviser for president topped the Louisiana Oil and Gas Association’s daily newsletter on Tuesday.

“I think Jamie would make a phenomenal president, I think Jamie would be a spectacular president,” said Gary Cohn, Trump’s former economic adviser who resigned earlier this year, said Monday at an event hosted by Reuters.

Cohn said being president is “very similar to running a complex, multinational, global firm.”

Point of interest: The news item topping the oil and gas association’s feed provides a little flavor of what the oil and gas community at the state level sees as news beyond the normal oil price blurbs.

A long history in oil and gas: Dimon’s company has a long history of investing in the oil and natural gas industry, especially in Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas.

“Our industry involvement is measured in centuries,” the banking giant’s energy website reads. “We’ve been serving Louisiana businesses for 180 years, Texas clients for 150 years and the Oklahoma market for 120 years.”

Dimon backs down: Nevertheless, Dimon said he is not considering a presidential bid, after mocking the president at a banking event last week.

“I’m as tough as he is, I’m smarter than he is,” said Dimon. “This wealthy New Yorker actually earned his money. It wasn’t a gift from daddy.”

However, he soon apologized for the remarks, saying he wouldn’t run anyway.

DOE ANNOUNCES PROGRAM TO FUND ENERGY STORAGE PROJECTS: The Energy Department announced a program Tuesday to fund research of “long-duration” energy storage projects that can provide up to 100 hours of power.

Energy storage, usually in the form of a battery, is important for the expansion of wind and solar power, by carrying excess energy that can be used when the sun sets or wind is not blowing, and demand peaks later in the day. The Energy Department will provide $120 million over five years for a battery innovation hub known as the Joint Center for Energy Storage Research.

“Improvements in battery performance are paramount to the future of both transportation and the electric grid,” said DOE Under Secretary for Science Paul Dabbar.

EPA INSPECTOR GENERAL LEADING PRUITT PROBES RETIRES: Arthur Elkins, the EPA’s inspector general, announced he is retiring Tuesday, as his office is in the middle of conducting a number of probes of former Administrator Scott Pruitt’s ethics and spending woes.

Elkins, who is taking a job in the private sector, has been inspector general of the EPA since 2010. Trump now has an opportunity to appoint a new EPA inspector general, who would have to be confirmed by the Senate.

The EPA watchdog’s office continues to investigate Pruitt. It recently released the first of many reports expected soon that faulted the EPA for failing to justify the high level of security provided to Pruitt.

RUNDOWN

Politico Trump’s environmental policies rule only part of America

New York Times Trump hit Iran with oil sanctions. So far they’re working

Reuters The hunt for better climate science

Bloomberg Why higher pollution costs haven’t dented coal demand in Europe

The Guardian Shell and Exxon’s secret 1980s climate change warnings

SPONSOR MESSAGE: Interested in learning more about pipelines and the important role they play in the energy industry? Check out this clip on the pipeline permitting process and regulatory oversight.

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