Be more of an insider. Get the Washington Examiner Magazine, Digital Edition now.

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/

PRUITT VOWS TO CURB FIRST-CLASS TRAVEL IF RISK CAN BE MANAGED: Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt is vowing to curtail his frequent first-class travel, saying he will fly coach if threats to his security can be managed.

Pruitt has deflected criticism of his expensive travel habits by saying he faces “unprecedented” security threats from taunting travelers, which has prompted EPA career security staff to grant him waivers to fly first class.

• ‘Change’ gonna come: “What I’ve told them going forward is this: There is a change occurring, you’re going to accommodate the security threats as they exist, you’re going to accommodate those in all ways, alternate ways, up to and including flying coach, and that is what’s going to happen on my very next flight,” Pruitt told CBS News, in excerpts of an interview published  Thursday. “So those things are happening right away.”

• Flights under the radar: Pruitt’s travel has been heavily scrutinized in recent weeks after the Washington Post reported the EPA administrator and his top aides spent more than $90,000 on travel in just the first few weeks of June.

Democrats, and even Republican House Oversight Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy of South Carolina, have questioned Pruitt and the EPA over how he has obtained waivers to fly first class.

TRUMP’S MEETING WITH ETHANOL COMPANIES PUSHED OFF: Although Iowa Sens. Joni Ernst and Chuck Grassley were optimistic about the president meeting with ethanol companies Thursday, it doesn’t look like that is happening.

If it’s not on the White House schedule, it ain’t happening. That’s typically how the Trump administration works. It looks like school safety is topping the agenda again, followed by a lunch with Vice President Mike Pence and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis.

There is a closed meeting with senators at 2 p.m., but not the anticipated sitdown between Trump and renewable fuel makers that Ernst and Grassley said the president was eager to have.

The meeting would have been a followup to one Tuesday among the president, Ernst, Grassley, and Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, to discuss placing a cap on the price of ethanol credits, or RINs, which are being blamed for driving up costs for oil refiners.

• Study shows Cruz’s plan is a bad deal: The Renewable Fuels Association, the top ethanol lobbying group, flagged a study issued Thursday by Illinois University on Cruz’s proposed 10-cent cap on the price of RINs. Economist Scott Irwin “finds that the impact of a 10-cent cap on RIN prices, as proposed by Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, would be ‘catastrophic’ for the Renewable Fuel Standard and ‘would have large impacts on biofuels in the U.S.,’” the group said Thursday.

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.

GRASSLEY SCOLDS PRUITT FOR BEING UNRESPONSIVE: Grassley, in the wake of Tuesday’s meeting at the White House, said Pruitt is not answering his questions about Cruz’s RIN proposal.

In a letter sent to Pruitt in January, Grassley asked for “clarification from the Environmental Protection Agency on a number of topics to better understand the issues being discussed.” But the deadline for answers has passed, and Grassley is not pleased.

• No response: “Several of my colleagues and I asked EPA about this in light of calls to make changes to the RFS, but we’ve yet to receive a response,” Grassley said in a statement Thursday morning.

• Same page: “I’m always willing to engage in good-faith discussions on any issue, but the facts need to be on the table. Changing the RFS based on misinformation and baseless arguments isn’t fair to the thousands of farmers and workers throughout rural America whose livelihoods would be harmed if the RFS were undermined.”

BIOFUEL INDUSTRY INVITES TRUMP TO NEARBY SUMMIT: A renewable fuel industry rep tells John that he has not heard anything about a meeting, but said the president, the senators, and whoever else is welcome to join the industry at the nearby Mayflower Hotel.

It’s opening day at a biofuel summit in Washington, and the entire industry is there, Paul Winters, spokesman for the Biotechnology Industry Organization, told John in an email.

“All the biofuel stakeholders are attending,” Winters said. “President Trump, his staff, Senators Cruz, Toomey and Cornyn would be welcome there.” BIO is part of a biofuel coalition called Fuels America set up to defend the RFS.

Steve Chalk, with the Energy Department’s renewable energy office, is the only person from the administration listed on the agenda to address the summit Thursday, after Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota gives the keynote. “A stable RFS reduces our nation’s reliance on foreign oil and provides the certainty needed to drive innovation and progress towards advanced biofuels,” Klobuchar said in a letter to EPA’s Pruitt she led with other senators on Thursday.

The summit goes through Friday.

CHAO SAYS PERMITTING REFORM WILL SPUR ‘READY PROJECTS:’ Elaine Chao, the secretary of the Department of Transportation, on Thursday morning said Trump’s plan to speed up environmental permitting reviews is a key piece of the administration’s infrastructure proposal.

• Business deterred: Chao, in testimony before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, said the private sector is frequently deterred in investing in public infrastructure projects because of slow permitting.

“While there is a great deal of enthusiasm from the private sector to participate, one of the hurdles they face is the lack of ready projects,” Chao said. “If the permitting process can be sped up, it will allow more projects to be available for the private sector to invest.”

• Environmental concerns: Democrats have expressed alarm over Trump’s proposal to “streamline” environmental reviews, arguing that doing so would harm protections for natural habitat and endangered species.

The infrastructure plan says environmental reviews must be conducted in no more than 21 months. It calls for changes in how the government conducts environmental reviews, including streamlining the National Environmental Policy Act’s requirements and potential changes to the Clean Water and Clean Air acts.

Sen. Tom Carper of Delaware, the top Democrat on the committee, said there are some “good ideas” in Trump’s proposed permitting reform, but he argues the administration is going too far.

“I am disappointed on the degree [the plan] is focused on sweeping away bedrock environmental protection laws,” Carper said. “Doing so potentially puts communities at risk. There are a number of ways to speed the process.

“One of best ways to speed up projects is provide long-term funding and program certainty,” Carper added, questioning why the Trump administration in its fiscal 2019 budget has proposed cutting funding for the Transportation Department’s permitting office.

CHAO CLAIMS REGULAR MEETINGS WITH EPA ON EMISSIONS RULES: Carper also expressed concern that the Transportation Department has not engaged closely with the EPA to review vehicle emissions rules for cars and trucks.

The EPA is considering weakening the Obama-era emissions standards.

Chao said Carper is mistaken, and is actively meeting with the EPA and officials from California, who are fighting for tougher standards.

“Let me disabuse you of the idea we are not working on this together,” Chao said. “We are having almost daily meetings at the White House with EPA and DOT.”

RUSSIAN SANCTIONS PLACING TRUMP’S ENERGY DOMINANCE IN JEOPARDY: U.S. sanctions on Russia could backfire for President Trump’s energy dominance agenda by placing constraints on U.S. shale gas exports to Europe, according to a think tank’s report released Thursday.

The new report from the Washington-based Atlantic Council concludes that sanctions against Russia “have not necessarily met their mark” in slowing Russian oil and natural gas production.

Specifically, the sanctions could backfire on Trump’s push to ship more U.S. liquefied natural gas to European ports by making it harder for American energy shipments to use regional gas pipelines that are dominated by Russian companies.

EXXON CANCELING RUSSIAN ENERGY PROJECTS BECAUSE OF SANCTIONS: Exxon Mobil said in a regulatory filing Wednesday that it is canceling projects with Russian state oil giant Rosneft because of risk from U.S. and European Union sanctions on Moscow.

Exxon said it decided late last year to abandon the ventures, but will formally start the process to withdraw this year. Exxon said it would suffer an after-tax loss of $200 million over the failed effort.

• Opposing sanctions: The company, when it was led by now-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, had opposed the U.S. sanctions imposed in 2014 for Russia’s invasion of the Crimean peninsula. The company argued U.S. companies would be blocked from operating in Russia, the world’s largest oil producer.

• Lost hope: Exxon had hoped to drill in Russia’s Arctic ocean oil fields, considered one of the world’s largest untapped energy resources.

CANTWELL CRITICIZES PERRY FOR DELAYING CLEAN ENERGY PROJECTS: Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington, the top Democrat on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, criticized Energy Secretary Rick Perry late Wednesday after a government watchdog report found the agency delayed clean energy projects.

• Strict review process: A Government Accountability Office report said the Energy Department installed a policy to review and approve funding on a rolling basis for money it provides through the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, or ARPA-E.

• Energy innovation hub: ARPA-E funds innovative energy projects such as batteries for electric cars and energy storage for wind and solar power. Trump’s fiscal 2019 budget calls for terminating ARPA-E, which has enjoyed bipartisan support.

• ‘Political games’: The GAO said the slowed-down fund approval process led to clean energy development projects suffering from uncertainty and reduced investment by private actors.

“This Government Accountability Office report confirms that by arbitrarily withholding funding, the Department of Energy created uncertainty for small business, risking millions of dollars of investments and needlessly threatened the jobs of hardworking Americans,” Cantwell said. “Secretary Perry should stop playing political games when funding science and research. I will be closely watching to ensure that he does just that.”

• No wrongdoing: The GAO report determined “the department did not illegally withhold any funding” and that the Energy Department eventually fulfilled all ARPA-E commitments.

INDUSTRY LAUNCHES CLEAN CAR GROUP TO LOBBY TRUMP AMID TARIFF PUSH: The multibillion dollar aluminum industry helped start a new group Thursday with a coalition of automotive technology companies to press the Trump administration to support consistent clean vehicle standards as an important investment for the economy.

“The U.S. aluminum industry has committed or invested more than $2.6 billion in U.S. manufacturing facilities over the past five years to help support growing demand for aluminum in the auto market,” said Heidi Brock, president of the Aluminum Association, the metal manufacturing industry’s lead trade group.

• Need for certainty: Brock said the Trump administration needs to support strong fuel efficiency standards for cars and trucks to undergird that investment, since the rules are projected to cause a transition from steel to lighter aluminum use in vehicle chassis to make cars and pickup trucks lighter to meet the standards.

• The tariff question: Brock’s group is also supporting Trump’s push for placing tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from China.

Trump tweeted Thursday morning that “[o]ur Steel and Aluminum industries (and many others) have been decimated by decades of unfair trade and bad policy with countries from around the world.

“We must not let our country, companies and workers be taken advantage of any longer. We want free, fair and SMART TRADE!”

• Next steps: The International Trade Commission takes up later this month whether the trade protections that the Commerce Department has proposed for steel and aluminum are justified.

INTERIOR DEPARTMENT PANEL BACKS CUT IN CHARGES FOR OFFSHORE DRILLING: An Interior Department advisory committee voted unanimously Wednesday to cut the royalty rate that oil and gas companies pay for offshore drilling in federal waters.

The Interior Department’s Royalty Policy Committee held a meeting in Houston to evaluate a proposal to lower the royalty rate companies pay on offshore drilling from 18.75 percent to 12.5 percent to promote more offshore production.

• How low can you go? The proposed amount is the lowest rate the government can charge for offshore leases.

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke will have the final say on whether to approve the lower rate. An Interior Department spokeswoman told Josh a decision is not imminent.

ENERGY DEPARTMENT OFFICE TRUMP WANTS TO CUT COULD FUND INFRASTRUCTURE: An Energy Department loan office that Trump seeks to cut in his fiscal 2019 budget could be used to fund as much as $100 billion in energy infrastructure improvements, according to a report released Thursday.

The Energy Futures Initiative, a nonprofit led by former Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, said the Loan Programs Office has nearly $40 billion in loan authority that could be spent to prompt as much as $100 billion in energy infrastructure projects.

• ‘Track record of success’: “Assuming a similar track record of success going forward, the LPO’s estimated $39 billion remaining loan and loan guarantee authority could leverage as much as $100 billion of investments in innovative approaches to modernizing energy infrastructures across all energy sectors,” the report said.

RUNDOWN

Wall Street Journal Russian meddling on social media targeted U.S. energy industry, report says

Washington Post For many Republicans, Trump’s offshore drilling plan and beaches don’t mix

San Francisco Chronicle California cities suing oil firms over climate change lose key ruling

Reuters U.S. mulls oil sanctions on Venezuela to put pressure on Maduro

CNN Microsoft is buying solar energy from Singapore rooftops

Time Here’s what the EPA’s website looks like after a year of climate change censorship

Bloomberg Why is California rebuilding in fire country? Because you’re paying for it

CBS News Geothermal energy is slowing gaining steam in homes

New York Times Is Bitcoin a waste of electricity or something worse?