DOES ZINKE CARE ABOUT CLOSING THE LARGEST COAL PLANT IN THE WEST? Groups who sued Tuesday to keep the giant Navajo Generating Station coal plant in Arizona from closing say Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has grown timid since his early support.

Part of the reason for the lawsuit is to coax the Interior Department, which owns a 25 percent stake in the plant, to come to its defense and keep it open.

• No place for coal: The Hopi, the United Mineworkers, and coal firm Peabody sued the Central Arizona Water Conservation District for its plans to no longer buy power from the coal plant in favor of natural gas and renewable energy.

• Zinke has authority: Plaintiffs believe Zinke has become lax in defending the plant, when he has clear legal authority to do so.

John Shadegg, former congressman and a lawyer for the mineworkers, wants Zinke to understand that the government has huge authority on who uses the power, so the coal plant’s customer base is not completely eroded.

• Coaxing Zinke: The plaintiffs hope Zinke will read the lawsuit, see the role he plays, and act to save the plant, advisers say.

• Closer look at the law: “I believe the secretary of Interior needs to look very close at this issue, and I believe he has much greater legal authority to protect the Hopi and Navajo people, whose economy is linked to the plant, than he realizes,” Shadegg told John.

• Early support: Zinke had facilitated the plant’s owners to negotiate a way to keep the plant open last year. Most of its owners had wanted to close the plant by the end of next year. Zinke managed to keep that ball from dropping, but he has been quiet about the campaign by the plant’s customers to shutter it.

The Interior Department had not replied to a request for comment.

• Keeping Trump’s promise to coal: The coal plant, which was created by an act of Congress to pump water into Arizona, had been considered a symbol of President Trump’s pledge to keep coal workers employed. Zinke’s early involvement was a testament to that. But now the administration’s commitment to NGS may be failing, according to the plaintiffs in the case.   

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PRUITT FACES FIRST LAWSUIT OVER ETHANOL WAIVERS: Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt was sued by a renewable fuel trade group on Tuesday for exempting dozens of oil refineries outside the public eye from having to abide by the Renewable Fuel Standard’s ethanol mandate.

• Who went to court? The Advanced Biofuel Association is the first biofuel group to sue Pruitt in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals over the exemption process after weeks of warnings by the ethanol industry, other biofuel groups, and both Republican and Democratic members of Congress who say what Pruitt is doing is illegal.

• Behind closed doors: Mike McAdams, the president and CEO of the group, said his members are “concerned that Administrator Pruitt is granting these exemptions in an arbitrary and capricious manner to undisclosed parties behind closed doors with no accountability for its decision-making process.”

REFINERS SAY BIOFUEL CLAIMS ARE BOGUS: Denying the waivers is what would be illegal, according to a coalition of refiners.

“The Small Refiners Coalition supports EPA Administrator Pruitt’s defense of small refinery hardship waivers and concurs with his opinion that denying hardship relief would violate the Clean Air Act,” the group said.

• ‘Fundamental misunderstanding’: “Based on a review of the petitioner’s statement in the case appears to reflect a fundamental misunderstanding of the hardship exemption,” said Scott Segal, a lawyer that works with the refining industry.

• Pruitt grounded in the law: “EPA’s current actions are fully consistent with the Clean Air Act,” he said, citing a ruling in the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals that “explicitly rejected that the hardship waiver is a limited exemption only available to refineries that would likely be forced to close if they had to comply with the RFS program.” That ruling is the basis for Pruitt’s actions and will stand up in court, according to the refiners.

• Teasing out the 10th Circuit: “Language in the opinion says that EPA must compare a small refinery’s cost of compliance to the industry average, and if the small refinery’s cost is significantly higher, it faces a disproportionate economic hardship,” Siegel said.  

CALIFORNIA, 17 OTHER STATES, SUE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION FOR REJECTING AUTO RULES: California and 17 other states sued the Trump administration Tuesday for rejecting President Barack Obama’s tough fuel-efficiency rules and taking steps to weaken them.

• Statement made: Joining the lawsuit, filed in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, are all other states that follow California’s tough fuel-efficiency rules adopted by one-third of the U.S. auto market.

But states that do not use the stricter rules also are suing the Trump administration. Collectively, the states involved in the suit represent about 40 percent of the U.S. population.

• Rule writing: Pruitt announced this month that he is scrapping Obama’s new fuel-efficiency and greenhouse gas rules for cars and light trucks, saying the rules that set a 54-mile per gallon standard by 2025, up from the current average of 38.3 mpg, were “not appropriate” and should be revised.

• Legal argument: Legal experts have questioned whether California and other states can sue the Trump administration before it actually sets new standards.

Becerra and other California officials say the states can sue based on the EPA rejecting the Obama standards, which were agreed upon in 2011 by the federal government, California and automakers.

JERRY BROWN DENOUNCES ‘OUTLAW’ PRUITT: California Gov. Jerry Brown rebuked Pruitt on Tuesday, dubbing the embattled Trump administration official “outlaw Pruitt.”

Brown made the remark as he and other California officials announced the fuel-efficiency lawsuit.

• ‘Second rate’: Brown, California’s long-time Democratic leader who is retiring, criticized Pruitt in personal terms for “attacking science.”

“This character in Washington, with his expensive travel tastes and funny redecorating plans, is running roughshod over the health of our people,” Brown said. “This move by Pruitt won’t make America great. It will make America second rate, and will jeopardize America’s auto industry.”

ENVIRONMENTAL GROUP MARKS 68TH LAWSUIT AGAINST TRUMP: The first group to sue Trump over his proposed border wall reached a record high this week of 68 lawsuits filed against the administration’s environmental policies.

That’s a little more than one lawsuit per week from the time Trump was sworn in, according to the Center for Biological Diversity.

EPA TARGETS CALIFORNIA FOR BREAKING OBAMA’S OZONE RULES: The EPA on Tuesday designated much of California and many downwind states on the Atlantic coast as regions not able to meet the Obama administration’s strict rules for smog-forming ozone.

• What EPA did: The EPA identified 51 areas in 22 states and the District of Columbia that do not meet the 2015 ozone standards established under former President Barack Obama, which is the first step to implementing the standards under the Clean Air Act.

• Court ordered: Pruitt had tried to delay implementing the standards, but was admonished by the courts, which forced the EPA to move forward in implementing the ozone regulations.

• Targeting the Golden State: A big chunk of California, which has been rocked by wildfires, was designated a nonattainment area, making its environmental remedies in coping with high levels of ozone subject to EPA approval.

• Downwind: A big chunk of the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states, with the sizable exception of Massachusetts, was included, too. D.C., most of Maryland, Delaware, New York City, New Jersey, and Connecticut were placed in nonattainment.

• Carper says it’s political: Sen. Tom Carper of Delaware, the top Democrat on the Senate Environmental and Public Works Committee, called out the designations as political.

“Worse still, rather than use the best available scientific and public health data to protect American citizens, it appears that EPA let politics dictate some of its nonattainment designations.”

PRUITT SETS UP LEGAL DEFENSE FUND: Pruitt is setting up a legal defense fund as he faces 11 federal investigations by his agency’s own inspector general, Congress, and others.

• Four on the floor: The New York Times first reported Pruitt’s plans Tuesday, citing four people familiar with the fund.

• A private affair: The four individuals involved in setting up the legal fund said Pruitt will operate it privately, meaning the EPA will not be directly involved.

PRICE TAG FOR HIS TRIP TO MOROCCO TOPS $100K: Pruitt’s trip to Morocco in December may have cost more than double the amount originally reported.

• What the documents say: The EPA spent more than $100,000 on Pruitt’s trip, compared to the originally reported $40,000, according to documents obtained by the Washington Post.

• Lobbyist involved: The trip itself was arranged by former Comcast lobbyist Richard Smotkin, who has known Pruitt for years, the newspaper reported.

• Sweet gig after Pruitt trip: Since the visit, Smotkin won a $40,000-a-month contract last month with the Moroccan government to promote the country’s cultural and economic interests.

CONSERVATIVE JUDICIAL GROUP HEAD HELPED PLAN PRUITT’S TRIP TO ITALY: Also on Tuesday, the Times reported that Leonard Leo, who leads the conservative Federalist Society judicial group, helped plan Pruitt’s trip to Italy in June.

Leo accompanied Pruitt to a private Mass at the Vatican that Leo helped arrange, the newspaper said.

• Dine and drive: He dined with Pruitt and his top aides at a restaurant in Rome, where the bill for the meal totaled several hundred dollars per person.

The Times said Leo traveled with Pruitt in his motorcade to the Vatican and to the restaurant despite the objections of Pruitt’s aides.

• Ties to Trump: Leo has been instrumental in helping recommend conservative judicial nominees to the Trump administration, including Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch.

LOBBYIST LINKED TO CONDO AIMED TO SWAY PRUITT ON ADVISORY BOARD STAFFING: Finally, more details are out about the lobbying activities of J. Steven Hart, the energy lobbyist husband of the landlord for the $50-a-night condo that Pruitt rented on Capitol Hill.

An email provided to congressional staff shows that Hart asked Pruitt to appoint three individuals to the EPA’s Science Advisory Board, the Times reported.

They were recommended for the board by Smithfield Foods, a company that was a client of Hart’s lobbying firm.

• Memory lane: Last year, Pruitt banned scientists who receive EPA grants from serving on advisory boards, a move that critics view as sidelining science in favor of industry representatives.

• ‘Special favors’: Rep. Frank Pallone of New Jersey, the top Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, ​called the email “further proof that Administrator Pruitt has consistently misled Congress and the public about the extent to which the special interests providing him with gifts have sought specific favors from EPA in return.”

MOST POWER OUTAGES DURING STORMS START AT THE DISTRIBUTION LEVEL, STUDY FINDS: Most power outages during bad weather are caused by problems at the distribution level to customers rather than because of generation and fuel shortages, a report released Wednesday says.

The report by Grid Strategies and Alison Silverstein, an energy consultant and former FERC staffer who helped write a Energy Department study last year on the health of the power grid, undercuts the argument by coal and nuclear supporters that losing those energy sources would threaten the reliability and resilience of power system.

• Grid strong: “There is little current basis for finding that generation supply — as a generic issue — is a serious threat to power system resilience,” the report said. “Generation and fuel supply shortages rarely cause customer outages, and when they do it is almost always due to an extreme weather event or operational failure that may also affect [transmission and distribution] assets.”

The report sites research by the Rhodium Group, which recently found that “of all the major power disruptions nationwide over the past five years, only 0.00007 percent were due to fuel supply problems. The vast majority were the result of severe weather knocking down power lines.”

• Decision due: The Energy Department is expected soon to decide whether to grant a petition by Ohio utility FirstEnergy asking for the agency to declare a grid emergency because of lost power from uneconomic coal and nuclear plants.

PERRY ON TOP OF THE WORLD: It’s been hard to pin down Energy Secretary Rick Perry since his trip to India late last month.

• Big surprise: It was a surprise Tuesday to see him pop up on Twitter with Sen. Lisa Murkowski, the GOP chairwoman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, in her home state of Alaska.

• Energy realism tour: “Excited to tour Alaska’s energy infrastructure with Sen. @LisaMurkowski,” Perry tweeted. “Can’t wait to see #NewEnergyRealism at work.”

One might have guessed that he would be checking out oil fields and the North Slope or to see where drilling would take place in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

But those were nowhere near the first item on the agenda.

Perry’s first glimpse at “Energy Realism” in Alaska was a wind farm near Kodiak island.

“Six wind turbines produce 9 [megawatts], about 20 percent of Kodiak’s annual energy needs,” he tweeted, with a picture of him and Murkowski under one of the giant windmills..

• Quick stop: Local media reported it was a one-day trip.

Darron Scott, CEO of Kodiak Electric Association said the island’s utility has been running on 98 percent renewable energy  since 2014.

• Energy storage: Scott said Perry had a keen interest in checking out the battery and flywheel energy storage devices, as well as how the island utility deals with cybersecurity threats. He also got to see the island’s electric shipping crane.

QUANTUM LEAP: Perry took time out to announce the Department of Energy’s plans to spend up to $30 million over the next three years on Quantum Information Science.

• What is it? Perry says it’s a “new, wide-ranging area of research that is expected to lay the groundwork for the next generation of computing and information processing, as well as an array of other innovative technologies.”

• The world of tomorrow: “Quantum Information Science represents the future in a wide range of fields from computing to physics to materials science, and it will play a major role in shaping the technologies of tomorrow,” Perry said. “It’s vital that American science and American scientists lead the way into this new era, and these planned investments in our DOE Nanoscale Science Research Centers are an important first step.”

ZINKE SHOWS REPORTERS LINCOLN’S BASEMENT: Zinke, meanwhile, spent early Tuesday evening giving reporters and tourists a tour of the Lincoln Memorial’s basement.

Zinke, as Interior secretary, is the only person authorized to access the underground — and freezing cold — space, his spokeswoman said, and he gives tours to people a few times per week.

Check out photos from Josh, here, and the Washington Examiner’s Paul Bedard, here, who joined the tour.

ROB BISHOP SPOTTED HIKING IN ZION NATIONAL PARK: Rep. Rob Bishop, the chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, was spotted Tuesday by a group of third graders hiking at Zion National Park in his home state of Utah.

Here’s the photo proof.

• Policy plug: The Republican is trying to advance Zinke-backed legislation to use energy revenue raised on federal lands to pay for billions of dollars of repairs and maintenance in national parks.

The National Park Service has a $11.6 billion maintenance backlog for the nation’s 417 national park sites.

RUNDOWN

Bloomberg The war on coal is making the world’s top mine owners a lot richer

Reuters Clean energy sector swings Republican with U.S. campaign donations

Houston Chronicle It’s Houston vs. Houston, as offshore drillers compete with onshore shale oil

Chron.com The numbers behind the Permian spotlight

Wall Street Journal Banks expect oil prices to remain high

Bloomberg EPA tweets on science that might not pass Pruitt’s litmus test