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ENERGY EXPORTS EXPECTED TO TOP TRUMP’S AGENDA IN MEETING WITH POLISH PRESIDENT: Poland has made importing more natural gas from the U.S. a key part of its plan to further economic ties with America under the Trump administration. That priority is expected to top the agenda as President Trump meets with Polish President Andrzej Duda at the White House later on Tuesday.

Poland wants better energy ties with U.S.: The Duda government was one of the first countries to demonstrate its willingness to cooperate on energy with Trump soon after taking office. The Polish foreign ministry had communicated its priorities last year in trying to boost “economic cooperation” with the U.S. through importing more liquefied natural gas.

Poland could be the key to unlocking European energy market: Poland communicated to the Trump administration last year that it had recently finished building a specialized terminal required to receive natural gas shipments from the U.S., and is expanding its natural gas distribution network to be able to move the fuel to other adjacent European countries.

The link to Central Europe: “We are interested in diversifying sources of gas supply and not only in our Polish market, but also in the Ukrainian and Central European markets,” said Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski in an interview with state media ahead of meeting with the Trump administration last year.

Russian reliance: Poland also agrees with Trump that Europe’s reliance on Russia for energy makes it a captive.

“There is no shortage of gas from Russia, but it is uncertain because it can always be subject to political pressure and used as an instrument of blackmail,” said Waszczykowski in the interview. “We want other sources of imports that have not been subjected to this political game.” Trump wants Europe to import more natural gas from the U.S. as a condition of a deal he is working out with the European Union to normalize trade relations, and eventual pullback on tariffs.

European energy security: Duda met last week with leaders from a block of Baltic and Central European countries, and “stressed the need for European solidarity in energy matters, observing that this meant states should not pursue particular interests at the community’s cost,” Duda aide Krzysztof Szczerski told the Polish Press Agency after the meeting. The talk of not pursuing certain interests could be a reference to some European countries’ pursuit of the Nordstream II pipeline from Russia, which the U.S. opposes. “Duda also advocated the continuation of Euro-Atlantic ties in military matters,” said Krzysztof.

Trump’s ambassador makes it official: Also last week, President Duda accepted credentials from Georgette Mosbacher, the new U.S. ambassador to Poland, according to country’s news service. “Ms Mosbacher is the first woman in the history of Polish-U.S. relations to serve as the ambassador in Warsaw,” the Polish Press Agency reported.

MEANWHILE…OIL INDUSTRY SLAMS TRUMP’S NEW TARIFFS ON CHINA: The oil industry’s largest trade group lashed out at Trump’s Monday night announcement imposing a 10 percent tariff on an additional $200 billion worth of Chinese goods.

A ‘new tax’ on the economy: “We understand the need to address discriminatory trade practices, but this policy will essentially impose a new tax on $200 billion worth of products on which American families and businesses rely,” said Kyle Isakower, economic policy vice president for the American Petroleum Institute.

The impact on the oil boom: He explained that the oil and natural gas boom the country is experiencing has supplied U.S. consumers and businesses with low cost energy, which strengthens the U.S. economy. The tariffs will not only harm drillers, but they will also harm the success of Trump’s pro-growth agenda, which relies on oil and natural gas production and exports, said Isakower.

What it means for Trump’s agenda: The escalation of the trade war with China “works against” the American energy industry to “counter to the Administration’s stated goal of ‘energy dominance,’” Isakower added.

The U.S. became the largest oil producer in the world last week, pushing out Russia and Saudi Arabia from the top spots, according to the Energy Information Administration. A substantial chunk of U.S. oil production is going to China in the form of exports.

The oil industry has criticized the Trump trade agenda for ramping up tariffs on steel and other products, which limits the industry’s ability to build pipelines and related infrastructure, which makes the nation less competitive.

CHINA ANNOUNCES $60 BILLION IN RETALIATORY TARIFFS, INCLUDING AMERICAN GAS: China’s government announced $60 billion in new tariffs on U.S. goods Tuesday in response to the Trump administration’s latest round of tariffs on Chinese imports.

China’s Finance Ministry said that it is moving forward with its plans to increase in tariffs of 10 percent and 5 percent on over 5,000 U.S. goods. That includes a 10 percent tariff on American liquified natural gas starting next month, a big blow to the U.S energy industry. China is the largest growth market for LNG imports, and the U.S. is seeking to be a major exporter.

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.  

CARLOS CURBELO, THE REPUBLICAN WHO’S ALL IN ON CLIMATE CHANGE: Rep. Carlos Curbelo, facing re-election in the bluest of Republican-incumbent districts — Florida’s 26th — is staking his political future on addressing climate change.

The centrist Republican is aggressively tackling the challenge forced upon him, introducing a carbon tax bill months before his election at the risk of inflaming critics in his own party — which has long denied climate change, and is skeptical of government intervention to address it.

“At the beginning it was tough on the Republican side,” Curbelo told Josh recently in his Miami-based district office. “There was a lot of cynicism. I fought that with humor. When people dismiss me, I say OK, when my district is under water, I am going to go run against you.”

He is not exaggerating.

The sea level threat is real: The Union of Concerned Scientists conducted a study this month that found 12,100 homes in Curbelo’s district, stretching from south Miami down to the Florida Keys, are at risk of chronic flooding by 2045. Those homes are worth a collective $5.5 billion.

The Florida Keys are especially vulnerable to climate change because they are so low-lying and are made of porous limestone that is difficult to protect.

Rhonda Haag, the sustainability director for Monroe County, which covers the Florida Keys, says that by 2060, 36 percent of the county’s population could be displaced by rising seas.

His climate change action is playing well with voters: Curbelo is succeeding so far with his plans to survive a potential Democratic wave this year in a district in which Democrat Hillary Clinton’s 16-point margin of victory in 2016 was larger than that in any other district in which an incumbent Republican is running for re-election.

Last month, Curbelo trounced a right-wing primary challenger. Around that same time, the Cook Political Report moved his general election race versus Democrat Debbie Mucarsel-Powell from “toss-up” to “lean Republican.”

Local political experts say Curbelo’s legislative efforts to address climate change have helped his standing with voters.

“His Democratic opponent certainly cannot say Curbelo is a climate denier,” Kathryn DePalo, a political science professor at Florida International University, told Josh. “On that issue, he is front and center. So that is not something that would work as an attack, that he doesn’t care or understand, because he does.”

A new political reality: Florida Republican colleagues say Curbelo’s leadership demonstrates the political realities that lawmakers in coastal states will increasingly face.

“He is ahead of it,” Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., told Josh. “If you represent South Florida or live in South Florida, it’s really not something you can ignore. He is doing what he should be doing.”

Read Josh’s full profile of Curbelo in this week’s Washington Examiner magazine.

EXPLOSIONS IN MASSACHUSETTS RAISE SAFETY QUESTIONS ABOUT NATURAL GAS: The natural gas explosions in Massachusetts last week have prompted questions about the age and vulnerability of the nation’s gas distribution system that delivers America’s most consumed fuel source.

Some environmental experts and advocates say the deadly gas explosions demonstrate the risks of fossil fuel infrastructure accidents, which are rare but high impact, and the need to transition faster to renewable energy sources.

“This is certainly a system level vulnerability that appears to have happened,” Nathan Phillips, a Boston University professor and environmental activist who studies gas leaks in pipelines, told Josh. “This is a major, major extended disruption of a very key energy source: it’s your hot water and it’s what you use to cook, for most people in Massachusetts.”

Wind and solar can’t explode: Gas is inherently risky, Phillips noted, because it is combustible. Wind and solar power, by contrast, are naturally not explosive.

Others say the explosions in Massachusetts are unique and human-caused, highlighting the risk of old, leak-prone local gas distribution systems.

Gas accidents happen, but are rare: “Events like Massachusetts are extremely rare,” John Hughes, president and CEO of the Electricity Consumers Resource Council, a trade group representing large industrial consumers of energy, told Josh. “It is not clear that it is an infrastructure issue or a lack of resiliency. It was probably some type of neglect or human error. All energy sources have vulnerabilities.”

Some pipelines in Massachusetts are a century old, built way before the advent of natural gas that became America’s dominant fuel source from the shale boom.

Nationally, roughly half of the 2.4 million miles of pipelines in the U.S. were installed before 1970. Read the rest of Josh’s report here.

OPEC IS IN THE MONEY, SAYS ENERGY DEPARTMENT: OPEC members saw revenues soar 29 percent in 2017, according to the Energy Information Administration.

Total revenues for the cartel countries were about $567 billion in net oil export revenues in 2017, which marked a 29 percent jump in revenues from 2016, the agency said in a brief it posted on Tuesday.

High and getting higher: “Increases in both crude oil prices and in net OPEC oil exports drove revenues higher in 2017, and EIA expects that revenues will continue to increase in 2018, based on EIA’s August Short-Term Energy Outlook,” the agency said.

Last week, the EIA said it is raising its per-barrel price of oil projections because of a global oil supply crunch due to U.S. sanctions on Iran. Over the weekend, Iran accused Saudi Arabia, the largest producer in OPEC, and Russia of profiting from sanctions.  

DELAWARE AND MARYLAND LEFT OUT IN THE COLD WHEN IT COME TO EPA REGULATING COAL PLANTS: The Environmental Protection Agency shot down requests by Delaware and Maryland on Monday to take greater steps to rein in pollution from Midwest coal plants, raising the ire of a top Democrat who called the decision an “abject failure” of EPA to do its job.

Carper confronts EPA: The EPA’s decision “fails to protect Delaware families from the harmful pollution emitted from power plants in upwind states,” said Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., top Democrat on the Environment and Public Works Committee.

“This decision does not ensure that all states are being good neighbors. It does not make sure that all states play by the same rules,” he said.

Coal states already taking actions: The EPA said the states in question — Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, and West Virginia — were already taking actions to limit the effects of burning coal in downwind states.

It’s all about pollution controls: Delaware had requested that EPA take several steps to ensure power plants were running pollution controls. Maryland did the same. All petitions were rejected by EPA on Monday.   

NO SAFETY CONCERN AT NORTH CAROLINA NUCLEAR PLANT, SAYS NRC: The Brunswick nuclear power plant in North Carolina is completely surrounded by water thanks to Hurricane Florence, with no way in or out of the facility, but there is no safety concern, the nation’s nuclear watchdog said Monday.

“There is limited access to and from the site … but the [Nuclear Regulatory Commission] has no current concerns about plant conditions, staffing or flooding in the area affecting the plant’s safety functions,” Roger Hannah, spokesman for the nuclear regulator, told the Washington Examiner from the commission’s emergency response center in Atlanta, Ga.

The two reactors at the Brunswick nuclear power plant issued an emergency alert on Saturday, called an “unusual event” notice, which Hannah described as the “lowest” emergency alert that the power plant is required to issue and said was based just on the lack of vehicle access to the plant.

ABOUT A HALF MILLION WITHOUT POWER IN CAROLINAS: The Energy Department said Monday that Florence has left about half a million people without power in the Carolinas and Virginia.

COUNTRY’S OLDEST NUCLEAR PLANT CLOSES A YEAR AHEAD OF SCHEDULE: The oldest nuclear power plant in the country shut down Monday over a year ahead of schedule.

New Jersey’s Oyster Creek Generating Station went offline at noon after 49 years of operation. In February, the plant was scheduled to close in October, which was already one year ahead of schedule.

It was too costly to operate: Exelon Generation, parent company of the nuclear plant, said in a February that high maintenance costs contributed to the decision to close the plant.

A growing trend: There are only 60 nuclear power plants operating in the U.S. currently as more affordable natural gas production, and rising renewable energy, compete with coal and nuclear energy production.

EPA’S WHEELER MEETS WITH JAPANESE COUNTERPART: EPA Acting Administrator Andrew Wheeler met with his Japanese counterpart Monday at the G7 Environment Ministers Meeting in Halifax.

Wheeler, in a Twitter post, said the two environmental leaders discussed ways the U.S. and Japan can work together to improve air quality, address mercury management, promote innovation, and reduce marine litter. He did not mention a shared interest in combating climate change.

RUNDOWN

New York Times Jerry Brown made climate change his issue. The result: attacks from all sides.

Wall Street Journal Florence pushes some North Carolina dams to the brink

Houston Chronicle How ethane molecules freed from Texas shale end up in Asia as plastic packaging

Bloomberg In big win for Trump, U.S. sanctions cripple Iranian oil exports

Reuters Audi launches electric SUV in Tesla’s backyard, with assist from Amazon

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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