PRUITT’S SOUNDPROOF PHONE BOOTH VIOLATES FEDERAL LAW, GAO SAYS: Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt violated federal law by spending more than $43,000 to build a private soundproof phone booth in his office, the Government Accountability Office found Monday morning.

• Far beyond the legal limit: The GAO showed Pruitt’s booth went beyond spending limits defined by the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act by spending more than $5,000 on the phone booth without notifying Congress.

• Never told Congress: The EPA “was required to notify the appropriations committees of its proposed obligation,” the report found. “By failing to provide such advance notice, EPA violated section 710” of the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act.

EPA CHIEF OF STAFF SIGNED OFF ON PAY RAISES, INSPECTOR GENERAL SAYS: The EPA’s chief of staff signed off on enormous pay raises for two close aides to Pruitt, a report from the agency’s inspector general will say Monday afternoon.

The report shows that chief of staff Ryan Jackson approved the pay increases using a little-known provision under a law meant to protect drinking water, Bloomberg reported on Monday. Jackson admitted to approving the pay increases last week.

The inspector general’s report does not discuss Pruitt’s role in the pay raises, according to Bloomberg, which obtained a draft summary of the report.

Pruitt is under intense scrutiny by both Democrats and Republicans, some of whom have called for his resignation amid a number of incidents involving his condo arrangement linked to an energy lobbyist, the pay raises for his aides, and expensive travel and security arrangements.

TRUMP IN FLORIDA: WILL OFFSHORE DRILLING COME UP? President Trump is in Florida Monday to talk tax cuts at a Small Businesses Roundtable.

The Florida delegation and Gov. Rick Scott, a Republican, had protested Trump’s plans to expand offshore drilling off the state’s coasts. Scott and Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke had a meeting of the minds on the issue, and now Zinke is reconsidering his aggressive stance on drilling.

The big reason for blocking drilling is tourism and revenue it provides the state and its business community. So, it could come up in these roundtable discussions. Some reports suggest Trump is disappointed with Zinke caving to Scott’s demands. At the same time, some Democrats are calling for an investigation in whether the Zinke-Scott negotiations were all planned as a way to boost Scott’s chances in running for Senate.

FLORIDA SUED OVER CLIMATE CHANGE: A group of eight youths sued the Sunshine State over climate change on Monday.

• Constitutional claims: The lawsuit argues that in causing climate change, “the state of Florida has violated the youngest generation’s constitutional rights to life, liberty, property, and the pursuit of happiness, and has caused harm to Florida’s essential public trust resources, such as beaches and marine life.”

• Scott has something in common with Trump: The youth are supported by the nonprofit organization Our Children’s Trust, which is backing children’s lawsuit in Oregon court against Trump over the government’s role in climate change.

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CLOSING OHIO, PENNSYLVANIA NUCLEAR PLANTS MAKES CARBON POLLUTION WORSE, STUDY SAYS. The expected closure of four nuclear plants in Ohio and Pennsylvania would dramatically harm efforts to reduce carbon emissions that most climate scientists say contribute to climate change, and would significantly raise electricity prices for consumers in those states and beyond, according to a report released Monday morning.

• Double whammy: The report, by economists at the Brattle Group, found that keeping the Ohio and Pennsylvania nuclear plants running would avoid more than 21 million metric tons of carbon emissions annually, compared to replacing them with natural gas and coal.

If the nuclear plants remained open, customers’ annual gross electricity costs could be as much as $400 million lower in Ohio and $285 million in Pennsylvania, the Brattle Group said.

About 72 percent of the electricity that replaces the nuclear plants would come from natural gas and 28 percent from coal, two power sources that produce carbon emissions, the report found.

• Emergency ruling coming: The report’s release comes as the Energy Department is expected soon to decide whether to grant FirstEnergy’s petition to grant an emergency order under section 202(c) of the Federal Power Act to save coal and nuclear plants in the Midwest.

GOWDY DEMANDS INTERVIEW WITH PRUITT AIDES, EXPANDING PROBE: House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., on Friday demanded interviews with five top aides to Pruitt, escalating a probe his committee is conducting over Pruitt’s spending and ethics.

Gowdy wrote a letter to Pruitt asking him to make available five aides for transcribed interviews: Pasquale “Nino” Perrotta, the head of Pruitt’s security detail; chief of staff Ryan Jackson; Millan Hupp and Sarah Greenwalt, long-time advisers to Pruitt who were approved for large raises; and Kevin Chmielewski, a former deputy chief of staff.

• Body man: Perrotta is under scrutiny for approving waivers from federal rules for Pruitt to travel first class for security reasons. The EPA inspector general is investigating him for directing an EPA contract to a business partner who conducted a search for surveillance devices in Pruitt’s office, according to the New York Times.

• Whistleblower: Chmielewski is a former Trump campaign aide and deputy chief of staff to Pruitt who told Democratic lawmakers last week that he was pushed out of the agency after he refused to approve first-class travel retroactively for another EPA aide.

• Cooperation sought: Gowdy’s committee is also investigating Pruitt for signing a $50-per-night lease agreement last year to live in the bedroom of a condo owned by the wife of energy lobbyist J. Steven Hart.

GOWDY MOCKS PRUITT FOR SECURITY FEARS: Gowdy suggested Sunday that Pruitt should consider becoming a monk if he is so concerned about flak he faces as head of the EPA.

• Career coach: “The notion that I’ve got to fly first class because I don’t want people to be mean to me? You need to go into another line of work if you don’t want people to be mean to you,” Gowdy said during an interview with “Fox News Sunday.”

“Like maybe a monk, where you don’t come into contact with anyone,” he continued, adding that instead of first class Pruitt should have sat at the back of airplanes as most passengers walk through first class as they board and find their seats.

• Oversight promise: Gowdy declined to say whether Pruitt should be fired.

“I’m not the one contemplating promoting him, or demoting him, or getting rid of him. That’s all for President Trump ” Gowdy said Sunday. “But Congress does has a responsibility to provide oversight.”

PERRY BEGINS NEW DELHI TALKS BY UPPING NUCLEAR SCIENCE COOPERATION WITH INDIA: Energy Secretary Rick Perry started his meetings in New Delhi by signing an agreement with Indian Atomic Energy Secretary Sekhar Basu to expand the countries’ collaboration on nuclear particle accelerators.

“It opens the way for jointly advancing cutting-edge neutrino science projects underway in both countries,” the energy agency said. The projects include Long-Baseline Neutrino Facility with the international Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment hosted at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Fermilab and the India-based Neutrino Observatory.

ENERGY DEPARTMENT ANNOUNCES FUNDING FOR CYBER SECURITY TECHNOLOGIES: The Energy Department announced Monday that it will offer $25 million for private-sector innovations that boost the nation’s cybersecurity.

“Energy cybersecurity is a national priority that demands the next wave of advanced technologies to create more secure and resilient systems needed for America’s future prosperity, vitality, and energy independence,” Perry said.

The focus on cyber technologies comes after Perry announced in February his intent to create the Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security and Emergency Response, which would establish the Energy Department as the lead agency in responding to cyberattacks.

EPA ADDS THREE SITES TO EMERGENCY SUPERFUND CLEANUP LIST: The EPA Monday morning said it added two sites to its list of of Superfund sites needing immediate cleanup attention.

The sides added are Casmalia Resources in California, Delaware Sand and Gravel Landfill in Delaware, and St. Regis Paper Company in Minnesota.

• Progress made: In addition, the agency removed two sites from the  list, meaning the agency made progress in cleaning them up. These are the Anaconda Copper Mine in Nevada and San Jacinto River Waste Pits in Texas.

• Clean-up duty: Pruitt has made cleaning up Superfund sites quickly a priority. Early in his EPA tenure, he appointed a task force to study the Superfund program, adopting 42 recommendations and saying he wanted to create a list of the most dangerous sites.

In December, the EPA released a list of 21 Superfund sites that it said the agency will target “for immediate and intense attention.”

The EPA updates the list quarterly.

CANADA’S TRUDEAU PROMISES TO ENSURE CONSTRUCTION OF DISPUTED PIPELINE: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has instructed his finance minister to begin talks with Kinder Morgan to “remove the uncertainty” of the controversial Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, according to the Associated Press.

Trudeau, who is a global leader in fighting climate change, is preparing legislation that says the federal government can approve the project over the protests of leaders in British Columbia.

• Uncertain future: Texas-based company Kinder Morgan threatened this month to halt its proposed $7.4 billion expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline because of opposition from the provincial government of British Columbia, which fears potential spills along a coastline that attracts tourists.

The company said British Columbia must drop its opposition to the project by the end of May or it will pull out from the project.

The Trans Mountain expansion would nearly triple the amount of crude flowing from Alberta’s oil sands to a port near Vancouver.

RUNDOWN

Politico GOP launches secret group to attack West Virginia coal baron

CQ Roll Call Dragging an energy bill from the ashes

Reuters Oil recoup some Syria-related losses; focus switches to Iran

Los Angeles Times Blowing in the wind: Plutonium at former nuclear weapons site

New York Times New Zealand cites climate change in banning new offshore drilling

Bloomberg Want the gas? Buy the company! A new way to finance LNG exports