SIGN UP! If you’d like to continue receiving Washington Examiner’s Daily on Energy newsletter, SUBSCRIBE HERE: http://newsletters.washingtonexaminer.com/newsletter/daily-on-energy/

TRUMP’S PLAN TO BOOST ETHANOL COULD QUICKLY GET SIDELINED: President Trump’s plan to boost the amount of ethanol in the nation’s gasoline supply is quickly passing its window of opportunity to be of any benefit to farmers or consumers this year.

The debate: On top of that, a senior Senate aide close to the pro-ethanol camp led by Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said “there is debate” over whether it will take legislation to enact the changes Trump seeks.

EPA can make the fix: “We view it as a technical correction,” the aide said, meaning that the Environmental Protection Agency and the White House have the authority to make the change administratively without legislation to allow 15-percent ethanol fuels to be sold year round.

No substitute: But others in the House of Representatives say there is no substitute for legislation when it comes to the EPA waiver Trump wants, entailing that it will take more time and be more complex to make Trump’s plan a reality.

Legislation needed: “Executive actions aren’t a substitute for legislation,” said Jordan Haverly, spokesman for Rep. John Shimkus, R-Illinois.

Shimkus, chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee’s environment panel, is in the middle of drafting a comprehensive bill to reform the EPA’s Renewable Fuel Standard program, which requires oil refiners to blend ethanol and other biofuels into the nation’s fuel supply.

Legislation, or got to court: “Congressman Shimkus has said all along in this debate that the only path to an enduring and equitable deal for farmers, refiners, ethanol producers, automakers, and consumers — especially one that won’t spend more time in court than on the books — is through Congress,” said Haverly.

Read more in the Washington Examiner magazine.

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.  

WHEELER KEEPS ETHANOL PLANS CLOSE TO THE VEST: EPA acting administrator Andrew Wheeler did not mention Trump’s E15 plan during a trip to Iowa on Monday.

Meeting: Wheeler sat down with farmers and lawmakers to discuss the future of the Renewable Fuel Standard late Monday on the sidelines of Iowa State Fair. Although he said the ethanol and biofuel program is a priority, his comments suggested other things besides Trump’s plan are on his mind.

Sorghum over E15? Wheeler emphasized the agency’s recent approval of sorghum as a renewable fuel feedstock under the RFS, EPA said in a readout of the meeting. “This action lays the groundwork for more homegrown fuels and more diversity in the nation’s biofuel mix,” the agency said.

WOTUS: Wheeler also emphasized other actions by the agency, besides the fuel program, that would help farmers and are core to the Trump agenda, such as repealing the Waters of the United States rule. Wheeler also addressed a recent rule action under the Fair Agricultural Reporting Methods (FARM) Act, which eliminates burdensome reporting requirements on American animal producers.

‘Regulatory certainty’: “Today’s productive dialogue will enhance our efforts to provide hardworking Iowans the regulatory certainty they need to continue fueling and feeding America,” Wheeler said in a statement.

MORE IMPORTANT THAT PRUITT IS GONE: Rep. David Young, R-Iowa, said that Wheeler reassured farmers that, outside of specific policy concerns, he would be less like his predecessor, Scott Pruitt, who prioritized oil refiners over farmers.

‘WIlling to listen’: Wheeler is “willing to listen to everyone, be transparent, and … is committed to making sure policy is done with stakeholder input,” Young said in a statement late Monday night.

In contrast, Pruitt granted an unprecedented number of small refinery hardship waivers outside of the public disclosure process, Young said.

Refinery favoritism: The over two dozen waivers that Pruitt oversaw allowed refiners to escape federal requirements to blend ethanol in gasoline. There is currently no plan to make up for the billions of gallons in lost fuel, which ethanol producers argue is eroding their market.

Continue to urge: “As we continue to address issues with the RFS, I will urge the EPA to allow the sale of E15 year round,” Young said after the round table discussion in Iowa.

The discussion was hosted by Young and Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds of Iowa.

ETHANOL INDUSTRY LAUNCHES AD CAMPAIGN TO PRESSURE EPA TO MAKE GOOD ON TRUMP’S PROMISES: The ethanol industry launched an ad campaign in Iowa on Monday that uses Trump’s own words to up the pressure on the EPA to make good on Trump’s promises to farm country.

“If Administrator Wheeler is truly interested in reaching out to farmers harmed by Scott Pruitt’s small refiner waiver fire sale, he’s got to do more than come to the Midwest and talk,” said Bob Dinneen, president of the Renewable Fuels Association, which funded the ads. “If he wants to uphold the president’s commitment to farmers, he’s got to take action.”

TRUMP SIGNS DEFENSE BILL PROTECTING MILITARY BASES FROM CLIMATE CHANGE: Trump signed a military funding bill on Monday that mandates the armed forces to protect bases from floods, storms, and rising sea levels caused by climate change.

Climate ‘resilience’: The massive $717 billion National Defense Authorization Act directs the military to include in every installation’s master plan an examination of “energy and climate resilience.”

It defines climate resilience as “anticipation, preparation for, and adaptation to utility disruptions and changing environmental conditions and the ability to withstand, respond to, and recover rapidly from utility disruptions while ensuring the sustainment of mission-critical operations.”

Congress forces action: The bill, a bipartisan compromise by the House and Senate, also orders the Defense Department to consider flood risk when building new bases.

The language on climate change is a sign that Republicans in Congress are moving toward more acceptance of climate change being a serious security issue, and that the military will continue efforts to assess and plan for the risks even if Trump does not take the problem seriously.

A trend: Last year’s NDAA bill ordered a Pentagon report on the top 10 at-risk bases and what should be done to protect them.

It said climate change is a “direct threat” to U.S. national security, endangering 128 military bases with sea rise and global destabilization that could fuel terror groups.

EPA’S ‘SECRET SCIENCE’ RULE DEADLINE APPROACHES: One of EPA’s hot dockets this week is for its contentious “secret science” rulemaking, in which the deadline for public comment closes on Thursday.

The rulemaking’s actual name is “Strengthening Transparency in Regulatory Science,” which EPA says seeks to ensure that everyone gets a say on the science it uses in developing its rulemakings. Environmental groups say the rule will undermine the EPA’s science-based decision making and fundamentally harm the agency and public health.

Response to critics: The rulemaking, launched by former EPA chief Pruitt, was in response to critics that say the agency is not transparent when it comes to scientific studies that inform its regulations.

Flooded docket: With the stakes being high on this rulemaking, the docket is being flooded with comments of both support and opposition. However, tens of thousands of comments are not substantive, offering one-sentence messages of support for the rule’s goals, like “cut the crap epa — show your work — no secrets!”  

Other comments were used to discuss the benefits of veganism, which has nothing to do with the rulemaking. The comments posted to the EPA docket reached nearly 240,000 on Monday.

Serious comments: Then there are the serious comments from the big industry trade groups. So far, the American Petroleum Institute has submitted a list of areas it wants to work with the agency on to make its science more transparent.

Green opponents: Likewise, the environmental group Clean Air Task Force submitted comments expressing it concerns about EPA’s “current attitude towards science.” The group’s senior scientist, David McCabe, says it has “become obvious” in EPA’s recent proposals that it has a “disregard for objective information and the scientific process.”

Outcomes over science: McCabe said EPA is moving “to rely on analysis that supports particular outcomes,” which should be of “great concern for all Americans, whose health and welfare depend upon effective environmental regulation.”

GREENS OUTRAGED AS ZINKE SAYS WILDFIRES NOT CAUSED BY CLIMATE CHANGE: Environmentalists criticized Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke on Monday for blaming the wildfires raging through California on forest management and claiming that climate change has not played a role in the blazes.

Zinke, on a two-day tour of areas devastated by the Carr Fire in Redding, Calif., downplayed the importance of managing global warming in addressing the fires on Sunday.

“I’ve heard the climate change argument back and forth,” Zinke said in an interview with a local television station, KCRA 3. “This has nothing to do with climate change. This has to do with active forest management.”

‘Political agenda’: Conservation groups said that Zinke and the Trump administration are purposely ignoring climate change for political reasons.

“Secretary Zinke is either being willfully ignorant or purposely deceptive,” said Greg Zimmerman, deputy director of the Center for Western Priorities. “Any politician ignoring the role a warming climate plays in record-setting wildfire seasons loses all credibility as an honest broker. Instead, Zinke is in California using an ongoing natural disaster to push an unpopular political agenda.”

Record fires: California state and federal officials have responded to about 4,500 fires this year that have burned nearly 400,000 acres of land, easily outpacing last year’s record.

In California, 14 of the 20 largest wildfires on record have occurred over the past 15 years, coinciding with some of the warmest years documented in the U.S.

It can be both: Federal officials who specialize in firefighting response say hotter and drier weather is contributing to more destructive wildfires, along with the fact that fires are increasingly burning close to homes and people as the West becomes more populated.

Overcrowding in forests due to poor management has also made fires more intense.

FIREFIGHTER KILLED BATTLING CALIFORNIA’S LARGEST WILDFIRE: A firefighter died Monday battling the largest wildfire in California’s history.

The unidentified firefighter from Utah was killed responding to the Ranch Fire, one of two fires making up the Mendocino Complex, Reuters reported.

Multi-state response: California has deployed the most firefighters in the state’s history — more than 13,000 — to help battle more than a dozen blazes, and firefighters from more than a dozen states are helping.

The Mendocino Complex fire, spanning about 349,000 acres, is the largest on record in the state, with firefighters expect the fires to keep burning for at least the rest of the month.

Status update: Cal Fire said crews have contained about 68 percent of the Mendocino Complex fire, which has destroyed 146 homes since starting July 27.

GREENS THREATEN TO SUE FERC OVER PIPELINE PERMIT: A coalition of environmental attorneys plan to sue the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for denying repeated pleas by citizens to reconsider the approval of the PennEast natural gas pipeline.

‘Flawed practices:’ The attorneys and conservation groups called FERC’s repeated denial for rehearing on the pipeline’s permit “a perfect example of FERC’s fundamentally flawed practices.”

On Monday, attorneys with the Eastern Environmental Law Center, Columbia Environmental Law Clinic, the New Jersey Conservation Foundation, and The Watershed Institute, said they will soon seek to appeal the FERC ruling on the pipeline.

‘Against the public interest’: “FERC’s action is one more in a string of bad decisions against the public interest,” said Tom Gilbert with NJ Conservation. “FERC is blatantly ignoring the facts that show no public need for the project and the serious threats it would pose to our environment and communities.”

Coming court action: Gilbert said the coalition will take “all necessary legal action to challenge the serious flaws in FERC’s review of this unneeded, damaging pipeline.”

Powelson’s final action: FERC’s final decision to move ahead on the pipeline and deny rehearing on its permit came on Friday in a split 3-2 vote. It was the last action that Republican Commissioner Robert Powelson took before stepping down.

FERC ‘potentially divided’: The groups pointed out in a statement that the commission is left “potentially divided” on some critical climate change issues.

RICK PERRY PROMOTES ‘RELIABILITY’ OF COAL AS HE TOURS NORTH DAKOTA MINE: Energy Secretary Rick Perry on Monday toured the Falkirk coal mine in North Dakota.

“Great River Energy’s Coal Creek Station provides more than 700,000 homes with reliable baseload power and employs more than 230 North Dakotans. #energy #coal #NewEnergyRealism,” Perry said in a tweet.

The intinary: He participated in a roundtable with local energy leaders, along with the Republican members of the state’s congressional delegation, Sen. John Hoeven and Rep. Kevin Cramer.

Perry also toured two “cutting-edge” carbon capture and storage projects that can capture emissions from power plants and store them underground.

Next up: Perry is visiting Colorado today to tour the Energy Systems Integration Facility and the Science and Technology Facility at the Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory. He will observe research and development being conducted at the lab, from high-performance computing to solar materials research.

AL GORE SAYS TRUMP ENVIRONMENTAL ROLLBACK HAS DONE ‘LESS DAMAGE’ THAN FEARED: The Trump administration’s efforts to unravel environmental policies has not caused as much “damage” as former Vice President Al Gore once feared.

Cutting coal slack: But Gore, a vocal environmental activist, remains wary for a number of reasons, including increased leeway on regulations for coal ash dumps, where toxic metals can be held.

“There are hundreds of other environmental procedures and regulations that Trump’s group has begun to undo,” he told the Associated Press. “So he’s doing some damage, but overall I would say less than I had feared.”

Checks and balances: Gore conceded that the nature of the U.S. government poses challenges for the executive branch to totally overhaul regulations and that Congress has acted in some cases regarding environmental protections.

“The U.S. system has a lot of inherent resilience,” Gore said. “It’s hard for one person, even the president, to change things very quickly if the majority of American people don’t want them changed.”

TOP GOP SENATOR URGES FULL FUNDING OF LAND AND WATER CONSERVATION PROGRAM: Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., pushed Monday for Congress to fully fund the threatened Land and Water Conservation Fund, a decades-old program that Trump aims to severely weaken.

‘Get this done’: “LWCF is so important to Montana, and the benefits extend from coast to coast, all across our nation. It costs the taxpayers nothing,” Daines said in a statement. “We have the bipartisan support in Congress to save this critical program. Let’s get this done.”

Public perk: The Land and Water Conservation Fund gets its money from offshore oil and gas leases — rather than taxpayer money — and pays for public lands projects. It provides money to federal, state and local governments for buying land and waters to improve parks, forests, wildlife refuges and other public areas. The fund is slated to expire at the end of September unless Congress takes action.

Depleted fund: Congress has routinely diverted money from the fund to pay for unrelated expenses. Trump’s 2019 budget proposes reducing the fund by about 90 percent.

RUNDOWN

Wall Street Journal Larger Tesla stake sought by giant Saudi fund raises hurdles

New York Times Tesla board surprised by Elon Musk’s tweet on taking carmaker private

Bloomberg Electric cars could be a job killer for Japan’s no. 1 industry

Greentech Media Inside Arizona’s clash over renewable energy targets