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FEMA HAS ‘SIGNIFICANT CONCERNS’ PUERTO RICO’S WHITEFISH DEAL: The Federal Emergency Management Administration said Friday morning that it had no role in Puerto Rico awarding a $300 million deal to the small Montana energy firm Whitefish to restore 100 miles of the island’s electric grid, but it has major concerns about it.
It said it is not reimbursing the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority in making the deal, nor was FEMA money given for such a contract to be approved, it said in a statement.
It said it is, however, making sure that proper regulations were followed in awarding the contract, and has “significant concerns with how PREPA procured this contract.”
SOME CONTRACT LEAKS: A leaked copy of the Whitefish contract circulated online Thursday night, and one excerpt caught immediate attention.
The contract also specifies that Puerto Rico cannot make a claim against Whitefish for work delays or completion.
The contract was signed by PREPA Executive Director Ricardo Rodriguez and Whitefish Energy Holding CEO Andy Techmanski.
TOP REPUBLICANS DEMAND INFORMATION ABOUT CONTRACT: Two prominent Republican committee chairmen are asking for information from Whitefish Energy and PREPA about the contract.
Separately, Rep. Rob Bishop of Utah, chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, on Thursday requested that Ricardo Ramos, PREPA’s executive director, provide documents to explain how Whitefish landed the contract.
Joining Walden on that request are Rep. Frank Pallone of New Jersey, the top Democrat on the Energy and Commerce Committee; Energy Subcommittee Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich.; Energy Subcommittee ranking member Bobby Rush, D-Ill.; and Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee ranking member Diana DeGette, D-Colo.
The lawmakers also asked for a copy of contract.
How was the contract secured? Bishop, who is visiting Puerto Rico Thursday, demands that Ramos provide documents to “show under what circumstances PREPA has authority to deviate from normal contracting and procurement processes.”
Instead of activating “mutual aid” arrangements with other utilities, PREPA decided to hire Whitefish, even though other mutual aid agreements in Florida, Texas, and many other states have helped U.S. utilities rebuild following natural disasters.
If you missed it: House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi has already demanded an investigation by appropriate inspectors general into how Whitefish, which is from the same small town as Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, earned the power contract.
Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington, the top Democrat on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, has asked the Government Accountability Office to investigate.
On Wednesday, Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, the chairwoman of that committee, called for an investigation and promised to examine efforts in Puerto Rico to rebuild the grid at an upcoming hearing.
Nothing fishy here: Whitefish and PREPA say doubts about the contract are unfounded.
TRUMP MEETING WITH ZINKE FRIDAY: The White House is not revealing the topic of a meeting late this morning between President Trump and Zinke.
Another monumental topic: Another potential subject: Zinke’s recommendation for Trump to reduce the size of certain national monuments.
The White House has not acted on Zinke’s proposal for Trump to shrink or change the boundaries of six national monuments and impose management changes to four others that could reopen areas to logging, cattle grazing and commercial fishing.
Flightgate: Zinke’s inspector general is also probing his use of private, non-commercial flights to speak at events hosted by former donors.
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NATIONS STRUGGLE TO MIND THE ‘TRUMP GAP’ AT CLIMATE MEETING: The big question going into next month’s U.N. climate meeting in Bonn, Germany, is monitoring the effects of what is being called the “Trump Gap” from the U.S. pulling out of the Paris climate deal.
Leonardo Martinez-Diaz, global director for finance at the World Resources Institute, told reporters Friday morning that one of the key challenges will be meeting the funding goals in the Paris Agreement now that President Trump has decided to withdraw from the deal.
The World Resources Institute is a global environmental think tank that will be at the meeting in Bonn as countries come together to discuss moving forward on Nov. 11
Countries not backtracking: Andrew Steer, president and CEO of the World Resources Institute, said Friday that in the two years after Paris was signed, proponents of the climate deal were optimistic that nations are “not backtracking that we may have seen when the U.S. pulled out.” The focus of the meeting will be on increasing the funding obligations, especially with the U.S. out of the picture.
New report next week: A new report being released before the meeting will address the effort by U.S. states in filling the gap left by Trump. WRI officials said Trump’s exit “makes the task more difficult.”
The report will clarify “who is doing what” with what ambition, while highlighting that the U.S. government “can’t just wash its hands,” Steer said. It would be “profoundly wrong” for the federal government to back out by saying it can rely on the private sector and sub-national efforts to address climate goals.
HURRICANE WEEK ON THE HILL: The Senate and House will hold back-to-back hearings next week on the impact of this year’s hurricane season, which is expected to be a driving force at the U.N. climate meeting next month to get nations to increase their obligations to reduce emissions after the U.S. backed out of the Paris Agreement.
The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee will begin the discussion Wednesday at a hearing called “2017 Hurricane Season: Oversight of the Federal Response.” Democrats are expected to raise the issue of climate change as a factor and the need for the White House to support adaptation strategies that confront the threat of more severe storms as a side effect of a warmer planet.
On Thursday, the House Energy and Commerce Committee is scheduled to hold its hearing on the hurricane season and the federal response.
The issue of Puerto Rico, especially the emerging scandal over the $300 million Whitefish deal, is also likely to come up.
Environmental groups are holding rallies Saturday to mark the five-year anniversary of Hurricane Sandy.
MURKOWSKI SCHEDULES ANWR HEARING: Murkowski has scheduled a hearing for next Thursday about the potential of opening the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge to oil and natural gas drilling.
The House adopted the Senate’s budget resolution, which the upper chamber passed last week, rather than go to conference committee, so that Republicans can move quicker to tax reform.
What the budget does: The Senate plan specifically included language calling on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee to recommend policies to add another $1 billion in federal revenue over the next decade through drilling in the refuge.
Hearing next step in process: Murkowski’s hearing is the first sign of progress toward writing and introducing legislation that accomplishes that goal.
FORMER FERC OFFICIALS TACKLE PERRY’S PLAN NEXT WEEK: On Tuesday, a group of former Federal Energy Regulatory commissioners will huddle in downtown Washington to hack apart Energy Secretary Rick Perry’s grid plan to compensate coal and nuclear plants.
The former FERC commissioners had already raised their concerns with the plan in recent weeks as the commission took comments on Perry’s plan through an expedited federal rulemaking process.
They fear it would erode the energy markets that Congress and FERC helped create over the last 20 years, leaving the grid in worse shape and less reliable.
The meeting will be held by the Bipartisan Policy Center, which is a think tank focused on finding common ground between the parties on major policy issues.
Some of the former FERC officials participating will include: Nora Mead Brownell, former FERC commissioner, James J. Hoecker, former FERC chairman, Pat Wood III, another former FERC chair, and Elizabeth Anne (Betsy) Moler, yet another former chairwoman.
NINE SENATORS ASK TRUMP TO WORK OUT A DEAL ON BIOFUEL MANDATE: The Republican senators urged Trump to hold a meeting with them to discuss the future of ethanol, the refinery industry and the Renewable Fuel Standard.
The nine lawmakers want the president to assure them that he supports the independent refiners that say they are being harmed by the RFS program from the high cost of compliance.
They also want Trump to sit down with a group of bipartisan senators who oppose, for the most part, what the refiners want.
In three weeks: “…We request that within the next three weeks you convene a meeting regarding the RFS and pro-jobs policies with us, our colleagues who previously lobbied you on the behalf of the ethanol industry, the relevant members of your administration, to discuss a pathway forward on a mutually agreeable solution that will also save refining jobs.”
Ethanol dealmaking: Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt had sent a letter to a separate group of senators lobbying for the ethanol industry, assuring them that he would not roll back the RFS as the agency proposed to do.
EPA CHIEF: FAMILY GETTING DEATH THREATS, TOO: Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt says the death threats against him have extended to his family.
Threats hit home: “The quantity and the volume — as well as the type — of threats are different. What’s really disappointing to me as it’s not just me — it’s family.”
Pruitt has an 18-member security team that is charged to guard him around the clock. It was reported earlier this week that EPA is looking to add as many as 12 new guards to the 18-member squad.
None of Pruitt’s predecessors have required such a large security force or around-the-clock protection. The estimated cost of the beefed-up squad would be about $2 million per year.
An administration official told Bloomberg that Pruitt has received threats in nearly every form of media, from Twitter posts to letters in the mail.
HOUSE LEADERSHIP TO BRING VOTE ON REPUBLICAN WILDFIRE FIGHTING PLAN: House leadership has committed to allow a vote next week on legislation intended to reduce the risk of wildfires, as the government struggles to respond to the most expensive year ever for the natural disasters.
Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, and Rep. Bruce Westerman, R-Ark., announced Thursday that the House will vote on their bill next week, dubbed the “Resilient Federal Forests Act.”
Bishop and Westerman’s bill passed the Natural Resources Committee in June, and a previous version of it passed the full House with the support of 20 Democrats before dying in the Senate.
What Bishop’s plan would do: The Bishop and Westerman plan would allow the Forest Service to thin trees in forests that are 10,000 acres or less using a shorter environmental review process under the National Environmental Policy Act.
The Forest Service then could more quickly pursue what are known as “forest management projects,” in which the agency removes dead or dying timber and sells it to mills, and then can use the proceeds to care for the forests and make them more resilient to wildfires.
Senate Democrats Wary: Some Democrats and environmentalists say that approach weakens environmental reviews too much and encourages litigation against the Forest Service.
Bishop last week had said he might be willing to support a more narrow bill, meant as a compromise, proposed by a bipartisan group of senators.
Pressure from McCarthy: House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., pressured senators to support the Bishop-Westerman bill.
“With the House acting on this bill next week, the Senate – including California’s senators – should follow suit in short order to prepare our communities against future wildfire threats,” McCarthy said Thursday.
Best bet: Despite the heated rhetoric, the House and Senate will likely look to work something out between the two chambers in conference.
REPUBLICANS HELP WRITE BILL TO TRACK EMISSIONS ON PUBLIC LANDS: Republican Reps. Carlos Curbelo and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida introduced a bill with Democrats Thursday directing the Interior Department to track and house an online database of greenhouse gas emissions emitted from energy development on public lands.
Bipartisan bill: Curbelo and Ros-Lehtinen co-sponsored the legislation with Reps. Alan Lowenthal, D-Calif., Ted Deutch D-Fla.. and Niki Tsongas, D-Mass.
Climate Republicans: Curbelo and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen are Republican members of the growing Climate Solutions Caucus. The caucus has 60 members, including 30 Republicans. Curbelo co-founded it with Deutch.
RUNDOWN
Reuters Energy, not tech or finance, in CEO line-up for Trump’s China visit
New York Times In Antarctica, two crucial glaciers are losing increasing amounts of ice
Bloomberg China’s Elon Musk is ready for his star turn
CNN These ocean drones are trawling for climate change data
The Economist It is now practical to refuel electric vehicles through thin air
Bloomberg Connecticut is the latest state to offer nuclear energy a lifeline
Calendar
FRIDAY, OCT. 27
1:30 p.m., NASA holds a meeting by teleconference of the Earth Science Advisory Committee on the Earth Science Program annual performance review according to the Government Performance and Results Act Modernization Act. Note: Dial-in at, 888-790-3444; passcode, 6793991.
MONDAY, OCT. 30
9 a.m., Arizona. The 2017 American Council on an Energy Efficient Economy holds its National Conference on Energy Efficiency as a Resource Wigwam Arizona in Litchfield Park, Ariz. Oct. 30-Nov. 1.
aceee.org/sites/default/files/pdf/conferences/ssi/2017/Draft%20Schedule%208-29.pdf
TUESDAY, OCT. 31
Halloween
10 a.m., 366 Dirksen. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing on “Efficiency in Building Management.”
2:30 p.m., 253 RusselL. Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee’s Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries, and Coast Guard Subcommittee hearing on “Exploring Native American Subsistence Rights and International Treaties.”
2:30 p.m., 430 Dirksen. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee committee hearing on “Implementation of the 21st Century Cures Act: Achieving the Promise of Health Information Technology.”
10 a.m., 342 Dirksen. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing on “2017 Hurricane Season: Oversight of the Federal Response.”
THURSDAY, NOV. 2
10 a.m., 2123 Rayburn. House Energy and Commerce Committee
Energy Subcommittee hearing on “The 2017 Hurricane Season: A Review of Emergency Response and Energy Infrastructure Recovery Efforts.”
