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EPA’S WHEELER PROMISES ‘50-STATE SOLUTION’ FOR NEW AUTO RULES: Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler confirmed to senators Wednesday that the Trump administration this week will release a proposal to weaken Obama-era fuel efficiency standards. Wheeler, in his first testimony before Congress since replacing Scott Pruitt, said he hopes to come up with a “50-state solution” to car pollution rules without taking away the authority of California to set its own standards.

Proposal likely coming Thursday: “It’s my goal to come up with a 50-state solution that does not necessitate pre-empting California,” Wheeler told the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.

The EPA with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, is expected as soon as Thursday to propose freezing fuel-efficiency and greenhouse gas emissions targets at 2020 levels through 2026, instead of raising them each year.

No California pre-emption? Several reports have said the Trump administration also plans to propose revoking the exception that allows California to set its own, tougher fuel emissions standards, which more than a dozen other states follow.

Wheeler emphasized that the proposal is just that, and said he isn’t ruling out maintaining tougher Obama administration standards, as EPA conducts a public comment process.

The Obama administration’s fuel-efficiency and greenhouse gas rules for cars and light trucks had set a 54-mile per gallon standard by 2025, up from the current average of 38.3 mpg.

Just a proposal: “The proposal coming out this week is a proposal,” Wheeler said. “[It’s] a range of proposals from a flat-line approach [a freeze], to numbers Obama had, and a number of steps in between. We welcome comments and proposals from any impacted group.”

Wheeler said the new proposal will emphasize highway safety, and vowed its preferred approach could save 1,000 fatalities from crashes annually. The Trump administration will claim that higher fuel standards would make newer cars unaffordable, forcing drivers to use older, less-safe vehicles.

Important goals: It will also resort to an argument frequently used over the last 40 years that less fuel-efficient cars can reduce traffic fatalities because they are heavier. “There are important goals on highway safety so we have to make sure those are met,” Wheeler said.

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DEMOCRATS ‘PLEASED’ WITH WHEELER’S NOD TO TRANSPARENCY: Senate Democrats said Wednesday they appreciate Wheeler’s efforts to be more transparent with the public, and Congress, and his ability in his first 25 days to avoid ethics scandals that felled Pruitt.

“I gotta be honest with you: I am pleased the person sitting before us is the acting administrator, and not his predecessor,” said Sen. Tom Carper of Delaware, the top Democrat of the committee. “The damage Scott Pruitt has done to this agency cannot be easily undone. It is my hope and expectation you will carefully study the lessons of the past and you chart the agency’s future.”

An olive branch: Carper later offered Wheeler an olive branch, lightheartedly providing him a coca-cola can that he found in the Senate cafeteria that happened to have Wheeler’s name last name printed on it.

He credited Wheeler for publishing his calendar of daily events, opening EPA events to media, and working to “make sure EPA’s beleaguered career staff feel valued and included.”

Wheeler, however, made clear he would pursue Trump administration policies to rollback environmental regulations, an agenda Democrats continue to oppose.

“We haven’t slowed down and we haven’t missed a step,” Wheeler said. “We’re continuing the president’s agenda.”

WHEELER FIGHTS CRITICISM OF HIS TIES TO ENERGY INDUSTRY: Wheeler also responded to concerns about his prior work lobbying for various companies in the energy industry, and whether he is following ethics pledges as acting EPA administrator.

“I have committed under both the Trump ethics pledge and ethics regulations to follow all the guidelines, and work with career ethics officials at the EPA,” Wheeler said. “I have not met with any of my clients who I represented two years prior [to working at EPA].”

MISMANAGED FORESTS PROVIDE FUEL TO HISTORIC CALIFORNIA WILDFIRES: Neglect and mismanagement have left western U.S. forests overcrowded, firefighting experts say, leaving them more susceptible to the kinds of major wildfires that are currently ravaging California.

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 burns.

‘Terrible fire threat’: In addition to effects climate change has had on making the weather hotter and drier in the region, an excess of flammable material due to bad foresting policy has also made the fires more intense. The Department of Agriculture reported in December that about 27 million trees had died statewide on federal, state, and private lands since November 2016.

“Our forests are dramatically overcrowded,” said Krystal Beckham of the Little Hoover Commission, an independent California oversight agency that has called for major changes in the state’s forest management practices.

“There are some places where there may be four times as many trees as there should be,” Beckham told Josh. “When you have trees that close together, they can’t get the water they need, so they are more susceptible to drought, insects, and disease. And when they start dying, they become a terrible fire threat.”

Preventing fires: There are two major ways to prevent fires from starting, experts say. The first is for officials to intentionally set fires to take away ignitable material like brush off the forest floor and give trees more space to breathe.

The other method, called forest thinning, involves crews removing small trees to reduce the amount of fuel in dry forests.

Losing the big picture: But these activities are expensive. And the U.S. currently faces a backlog of needed forest management projects, as federal and state agencies have used more of their budgets responding to wildfires, rather than preventing them.

“Since both the state and federal agencies have been devoting greater and greater resources to suppression to fight the immediate problem, the trickle down of that is less money for strategies on how to get in front of the fire problem,” John Barnell, the acting CEO and director of the Society of American Foresters, told Josh.

SENATE COMMITTEE APPROVES TRUMP’S NOMINEE FOR TOP ENVIRONMENTAL JOB: The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on Wednesday morning narrowly advanced the nomination of Mary Neumayr to be the top environmental official in the White House.

Second chance: Neumayr, approved by an 11-10 vote, is Trump’s second pick for the job. His first nominee to lead the White House Council on Environmental Quality, Kathleen Hartnett White, removed herself from consideration for the post after Democrats objected to her climate change views, and few Republicans came to her defense.

Her focus: Neumayr is currently chief of staff for the environmental council and previously served in the Bush administration’s Energy and Justice Departments and as a counsel for the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

She has vowed to focus her attention on speeding environmental permitting reviews for infrastructure projects.

More business: The committee also advanced the nominations of Peter Wright to be assistant EPA administrator for the Office of Land and Emergency Management; Charles McIntosh for assistant EPA administrator for the Office of International and Tribal Affairs; and former Louisiana Rep. John Fleming to serve as assistant secretary of Commerce for economic development. Each nominee will get a vote before the full Senate.

Superfund focus: Democrats especially expressed concern about Wright, who would run the EPA’s Superfund program, leading the agency’s focus on cleaning up hazardous waste sites faster.

Democrats attacked him for his former work as a longtime attorney for Dow Chemical, a company that could have responsibility in almost 14 percent of sites on the EPA’s list of priority Superfund cleanups, or 171 locations nationwide, the New York Times reported this week.

“It would be a clear violation of the public trust [to approve Wright],” said Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass. “At the EPA he would face dozens of conflicts of interests. He is the classic fox guarding the hen house.”

TRUMP NOMINATES EXTREME WEATHER EXPERT AS FIRST SCIENCE DIRECTOR: President Trump on Tuesday nominated Kelvin Droegemeier, an expert in extreme weather from the University of Oklahoma, as his first science and technology adviser. Trump had left the job vacant for 19 months.

Job description: Droegemeier has bipartisan credentials to take the helm of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, a White House agency that helps set policy on issues involving innovations in medical research, self-driving cars, artificial intelligence — and climate change.

He served two six-year terms on the National Science Board, under presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. A trained meteorologist, Droegemeier has also served as Oklahoma’s secretary of science and technology.

‘Very good pick’: John Holdren, who served as science adviser under Obama, applauded Droegemeier’s nomination.

“He’s a very good pick.…He has experience speaking science to power,” Holdren told Science Magazine. “I expect he’ll be energetic in defending the R&D budget and climate change research in particular.”

What’s next: Droegemeier must be approved by the Senate to be confirmed.

EMISSIONS OF POLLUTANTS DRAMATICALLY FALL SINCE 1970, EPA SAYS: Emissions of six key pollutants have declined by more than 70 percent since 1970, the EPA said in a report Tuesday, even as the economy grew and Americans used more energy.

The report shows the air is has become cleaner by several measures.

Measuring stick: Since 1990, pollution in several categories have fallen: Sulfur dioxide has dropped by 88 percent; lead by 80 percent; carbon monoxide is down 77 percent; nitrogen dioxide has fallen 56 percent; and ozone pollution is 22 percent lower.

‘Remarkable achievement’: The EPA celebrated the findings of its annual report on air quality, as the Trump administration weakens Obama-era regulations that targeted pollution from power plants, vehicles and trucks, and oil and gas wells.

“Through federal and state implementation of the Clean Air Act and technological advances in the private sector, America has achieved one of the great public-private successes of our time – dramatically improving air quality and public health while simultaneously growing the nation’s population and economy,” Wheeler said. “This report details a remarkable achievement that should be recognized, celebrated, and replicated around the world.”

EPA ISSUES MASSES RECALL OF TRUCKS FOR FAULTY POLLUTION CONTROLS: The EPA ordered the recall of 500,000 big-rig trucks because of faulty pollution controls.

The global engine maker Cummins will voluntarily recall roughly 500,000 medium- and heavy-duty trucks for model years 2010-2015, the agency said.

The problem: The problem with the trucks stems from a failed component of the catalytic converter emission control system. The engine-maker is taking action to fix the problem.

EPA made clear that the recall was not the result of “defeat device,” which in the past had be used by companies like Volkswagen to intentionally thwart pollution regulations.

“The problem Cummins is acting to correct is the result of a defective part and does not involve a defeat device,” the agency said.

No other penalty: The EPA did not announce any punitive actions against the company, such as fines for not meeting pollution standards.

SENATE PASSES 11TH-HOUR FLOOD INSURANCE EXTENSION: The Senate passed a short-term extension of the flood insurance program just hours before it was supposed to expire on Tuesday.

The upper chamber voted 86-12 on a bill to extend the National Flood Insurance Program through November. The bill now goes to the president’s desk. The House passed its version last week.

Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky forced the vote through by canceling a procedural vote on the House bill on Monday night.

Mixed reviews: Moving forward with that cloture vote, instead of taking a final vote, would have delayed passage of the extension until much later in the week, allowing the program to expire as flooding has hit many areas of country this summer.

Although bankers, realtors, and other interests praised the Senate action, some congressional conservatives want the program reformed.

MARCO RUBIO AIMS TO GET GOVERNMENT FUNDING TO COMBAT ALGAL BLOOMS: Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., was successful Tuesday in adding an amendment to a “minibus” government spending bill.

The amendment, if passed along with the funding bill, would provide money to support research of algal blooms, which are killing wildlife and harming beaches in Florida, Rubio’s home state.

Funding push: “We are very close to getting funding in appropriations bill for research on health impacts of algae blooms,” Rubio said in a Twitter post. “5m for @EPA to investigate algal bloom toxin & to develop new methods to monitor, characterize & predict blooms. And 200K for @USGS to find ways to diminish toxicity levels.”

The toll: An outbreak of toxic algal blooms, known as red tide, has lasted for nine months in waters off Florida’s southwestern coast. Almost 300 sea turtles have been found dead since January, the New York Times reported, and dead fish have washed ashore on beaches.

State of play: The minibus, expected to be voted on Wednesday, joins together four bills, including the fiscal 2019 EPA-Interior budget bill, a Financial Services and General Government appropriations package, Agriculture and the Transportation-Housing and Urban Development appropriations bills.

SENATE REPUBLICANS INTRODUCE BILL TO COMBAT ‘ABUSES’ OF CLEAN WATER ACT TO STOP PIPELINES: Senate Republicans introduced a bill on Tuesday that they say would combat states from “abuses” of a provision of the Clean Water Act to stop the construction of pipeline projects.

The bill amends section 401 of the Clean Water Act by limiting the scope of reviews for projects to get a water quality certification.

Political ‘obstruction’: “The water quality certification process is being abused by a few states in order to delay important projects,” said Sen. John Barrasso, chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, who co-authored the bill with Sens. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma, and Steve Daines of Montana. “This kind of obstruction is about politics, not water quality.”

States act: In recent months, the state of Washington has blocked a coal export terminal, and New York has taken similar steps to slow the construction of natural gas pipelines.

Water quality first: The new legislation would require states to make final decisions in writing on whether to grant or deny a project request, and base it only on water quality reasons.

It would also clarify that states, when evaluating water quality, can only consider discharges that would result from the federally permitted or licensed activity itself, not from other sources.