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TRUMP TARGETS KEY NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL LAW…AND BUTTERFLIES: Conservationists are fretting as the White House mulls changes to the National Environmental Policy Act, the key law that underpins all environmental regulation and permitting — and butterfly enthusiasts are particularly exercised.

“Leave NEPA alone! It is a landmark piece of legislation that protects all Americans and our natural resources,” Marianna Wright, executive director of the National Butterfly Center, wrote in a comment on the White House proposal filed ahead of Monday’s deadline.

What the proposal does: The administration is seeking input on a potential overhaul of  NEPA permitting requirements. The White House says it wants to make the process more efficient, a goal that meshes with Trump’s infrastructure plan to reduce the time it takes to conduct and approve environmental reviews, including for the proposed border wall.

Why butterflies should care: The butterfly center is under direct threat from Trump’s proposed border wall, which is planned to run directly through Wright’s monarch Monarch butterfly refuge in Texas. Wright launched a campaign to pushback against the border wall’s planned construction last month.

“There is so much more that can be said in regard to the conservation of species, clean air and water, etc. but this administration doesn’t give a damn about Science,” Wright continued in her brief comments on the proposed NEPA action. “Our only hope is that Congress grows a conscience and a back bone in order to stop the traitor in the White House!”

Wright comment is just one of thousands asking the White House to back off when it comes to NEPA.

What does industry say? Even water utilities that welcome the major investment expected under Trump’s infrastructure agenda are hesitant when it comes to the White House rushing through changes to the environment law. They’ve succeeded in getting the White House Council on Environmental Quality to extend the comment deadline to Monday.

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.  

TRUMP PREPARES TO GUT OBAMA’S SIGNATURE CLIMATE RULE TARGETING COAL: The Trump administration is expected as soon as this week to unveil a proposal to replace the Clean Power Plan, former President Barack Obama’s signature initiative to combat climate change, with a narrower rule more friendly to industry.

Multiple news outlets report President Trump may announce the new plan at a rally in coal-friendly West Virginia Tuesday.

What’s being replaced: The 2015 Clean Power Plan, which was never implemented because of a Supreme Court stay, required states to reduce carbon dioxide emissions 32 percent below 2005 levels by 2030, by shifting away from coal plants.

It was the pledge that underpinned the U.S.’ commitment to the Paris climate change agreement before Trump rejected the deal.

Why replace it? In choosing to replace the Clean Power Plan, rather than repeal it outright, the Environmental Protection Agency is acknowledging the federal government is legally obligated to regulate emissions of carbon and other greenhouse gases that cause global warming.

“If they don’t do anything about it, the next administration might adopt a worse regulation, so this is checking the box for the coal fleet on carbon regulation in the near-term,” Paul Bailey, president emeritus and former CEO of the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, told Josh.

‘Checking the box’ = limited impact: Trump administration opponents say the EPA is only acting out of legal desperation, and that its proposal would not significantly cut carbon emissions because it would help keep alive coal plants that would otherwise retire. The proposal would cut carbon dioxide emissions from 2005 levels by between 0.7 percent and 1.5 percent by 2030, compared with a business-as-usual approach, the Washington Post reported this past weekend. It does not set a specific target for emission reductions.

By comparison, the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan aimed to reduce carbon emissions by about 19 percent during that same time.

“We don’t think they should limit themselves in the way they are expected to,” David Doniger, director of the Natural Resources Defense Council’s climate and clean energy program, told Josh. “It shows a lack of seriousness. The purpose of this plan is not to do nothing. It’s to prop up the coal industry.”

How the plan works: Experts and industry officials expect the rewritten rule to regulate power plants individually.

The EPA would mandate heat rate improvements in power plants, enabling them to run more efficiently by burning less coal to produce the same amount of electricity.

The Trump administration is expected to pair that component with reforms to a process known as New Source Review, a program that forces power plants to undergo new pollution reviews when they upgrade facilities, which operators say is expensive and time-consuming, discouraging utilities from making efficiency improvements. Under changes sought by the EPA, power plants could make upgrades without triggering those extra reviews.

EPA is also likely to give more discretion to states to write their own regulations.

EUROPEANS LOOK TO CUT THE ‘RED TAPE’ FROM TRUMP’S NATURAL GAS DEAL:

European Union representatives return to Washington on Monday to hash out the fine details of Trump’s July deal with Europe to buy more U.S. natural gas.

The swap, which would be a step toward normalizing trade relations, would involve the E.U. importing more U.S. liquefied natural gas and, in return, the U.S. cutting “red tape” that makes it more difficult for natural gas to flow to European shores.

What red tape? The red tape that European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker hopes to cut is the legal obligation of the federal government to approve individual shipments of natural gas to countries, according to a European Commission statement issued ahead of the Monday meeting in Washington.

The White House expects to build momentum on Trump’s July 25 trade deal: “At these meetings, the U.S. hopes to make progress in keeping forward momentum between the U.S. and E.U.,” White House spokeswoman Lindsay Walters told John. The administration believes liquefied natural gas exports “can help diversify Europe’s energy supply” while strengthening the strategic cooperation between America and Europe, she added.

ZINKE NIXES PLAN TO SELL PUBLIC LAND THAT WAS PART OF NATIONAL MONUMENT: Following criticism from environmentalists, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke canceled a proposal to sell public land that was part of a natural monument in Utah that Trump shrunk. Zinke had vowed during his Senate confirmation hearing to never sell public land.

Deputy Secretary David Bernhardt takes the blame: “The failure to capture this inconsistency stops with me,” Bernhardt said in a statement Friday to media outlets, including the Washington Post.  “As the secretary has made clear throughout his tenure, the Department of Interior is opposed to the wholesale sale or transfer of public lands to states or private interests.”

What was planned: Interior Bureau of Land Management last week released a draft management plan for the redrawn Grand Staircase-Escalante monument, in which the agency said it would sell 1,600 acres of land that was previously part of the monument. Trump in December issued a proclamation slashing the 1.9-million-acre Grand Staircase-Escalante monument, designated by President Bill Clinton in 1996, nearly in half.

Bernhardt did not say why his agency issued the proposal to sell land that was part of the monument if Zinke opposed it.

GOP SENATOR PRESSES EPA’S WHEELER ON 2019 ETHANOL PROGRAM: Iowa’s Joni Ernst did her part to protect the Hawkeye state’s status as the nation’s number one ethanol producer on Friday.

The Republican senator filed comments on the 2019 Renewable Fuel Standard program, pressing Environmental Protection Agency acting administrator Andrew Wheeler to increase the corn ethanol mandate next year to make up for the billions of gallons lost under former EPA chief Scott Pruitt. Deadline for filing comments on the new annual requirements for refiners closed Friday night.

“The proposed increase to the amount of renewable fuel blended into transportation fuel is encouraging, but does not account for demand destruction,” Ernst said in her comments. “I respectfully ask EPA to reallocate waived gallons and establish a clear procedure to ensure obligated parties demonstrate ‘disproportionate economic hardship’ before an exemption is granted.”

EPA had granted waivers to oil refiners: The waivers permitted refiners to forgo blending ethanol in gasoline, as the Renewable Fuel Standard requires them to do under the law. Ernst and the ethanol industry want Wheeler to require refineries to make up for the waived amounts under next year’s requirements.

Refiners and unions are pushing back against the suggestion that the ethanol gallons should be reallocated. The ethanol industry has already sued EPA over the refinery exemptions.  

FRANCE’S TOTAL OFFICIALLY CANCELS IRAN PROJECT DUE TO SANCTIONS THREAT: French energy giant Total officially canceled its multi-billion dollar natural gas project in Iran because of Trump’s reimposition of sanctions after he rejected the nuclear deal with the country.

“Total has officially left the agreement for the development of phase 11 of South Pars (gas field),” Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said Monday, in comments reported by the government’s news agency ICANA.

A total risk: Total in May cited the sanctions concern in announcing it was halting work with the Iranian national oil company subsidiary PetroPars to develop the South Pars natural gas field.

At risk, Total said, is financing from U.S. banks, the loss of U.S. shareholders and the inability to continue U.S. operations. The company said it has spent less than 40 million euros, or $47 million, on the project so far.

The Trump administration has said it expects countries to stop importing Iranian oil by November or risk being sanctioned.

CHINA MAKES MOVES TO KEEP IMPORTING IRANIAN OIL: China is signaling that it won’t listen to Trump and stop its purchase of Iranian oil.

Chinese buyers of Iranian crude have recently begun shifting the cargoes that it uses to carry oil from Tehran to tankers owned by Iran, Reuters reported Monday.

Insurance policy: By using the shipping services of vessels owned National Iranian Tanker Co., China is protecting itself, because U.S. and European-based insurers have stopped doing business in Iran due to the sanctions threat. In July, all 17 tankers chartered to carry oil from Iran to China were operated by National Iranian Tanker Co. China is the largest buyer of Iranian oil.

RUNDOWN

New York Times As Trump dismantles clean air rules, an industry lawyer delivers for ex-clients

Bloomberg Emerging markets turmoil revives a dreaded old OPEC ghost

Washington Post The Baptists and the yogis join to fight a pipeline

Axios A push for a battery leap to eliminate ‘blood cobalt’

Politico The doomed island that loves Trump