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EPA KEEPS ETHANOL MANDATE INTACT: The Environmental Protection Agency will keep next year’s Renewable Fuel Standard intact with only minor changes, the agency announced Thursday.
Keeping Iowa’s promise: Thursday’s final RFS targets for 2018 underscore a promise that Pruitt and President Trump made to lawmakers who opposed an earlier EPA proposal that sought to cut the biofuel program by 2.5 percent. Although Pruitt said that the agency was only contemplating potential cuts, the ire of biofuel supporters from Iowa was felt at the White House and led to Pruitt sending a letter assuring Iowa Republican Sens. Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst that he would follow the law and not seek reductions in the annual goals.
The requirements: The RFS requires refiners to blend ethanol and other renewable fuels in the nation’s gasoline and diesel supplies by ever-increasing amounts through 2022. The 2018 total renewable fuel blending requirement will be 19.29 billion gallons, which includes both the conventional and more advanced blending standards. That’s a slight bump from the original proposal of 19.24 gallons. The bulk of the standard is met by corn ethanol.
Rest of RFS kept low: The biomass-based diesel standard will be kept at the same level of 2.1 billion gallons for 2018 and 2019, which the cellulosic requirement is set at 288 million gallons for next year.
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EPA REJECTS CARL ICAHN’S CHANGES TO RFS: The EPA on Thursday officially denied oil refiners’ request to change the Renewable Fuel Standard so they don’t have to blend ethanol and other biofuels to comply with the national fuel mandate.
The EPA published the formal notice of denial in Thursday’s edition of the Federal Register.
Missing the ‘point of obligation’: “In evaluating this matter, EPA’s primary consideration was whether or not a change in the point of obligation would improve the effectiveness of the program to achieve Congress’s goals,” a pre-publication copy of the notice read. “EPA does not believe the petitioners or commenters on the matter have demonstrated that this would be the case.”
Refiners remain beholden to RIN market: The change would have freed the refiners from having to buy expensive renewable identification number (RIN) credits because most independent refiners do not have the ability to blend ethanol and other biofuels in the country’s gasoline and diesel supplies to meet the RFS goals.
Unnecessary complexity: “EPA believes that a change in the point of obligation would unnecessarily increase the complexity of the program and undermine the success of the RFS program, especially in the short term, as a result of increasing instability and uncertainty in programmatic obligations,” the notice said.
FORMER COAL CEO TARGETS OBAMA IN FIRST CAMPAIGN AD: Disgraced coal executive Don Blankenship released his first Senate campaign ad Wednesday night that looks to frame his 2014 conviction related to the deaths of 29 miners as a result of Washington corruption under former President Barack Obama.
The ad calls the safety review of Massey Energy’s Upper Big Branch Mine in West Virginia “Obama’s deadliest coverup.”
The ad also implicates Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., in the mine disaster. A grand jury found Blankenship guilty of evading federal safety standards that resulted in more than two dozen deaths, for which he served a year in jail.
He filed to run for the Republican Senate spot in West Virginia Wednesday.
OPEC TO EXTEND PRODUCTION CUTS: OPEC will extend its production cuts through all of 2018, members said during their meeting in Vienna Thursday. The cuts are intended to limit global supply to drive up crude oil prices.
All eyes on Russia: Any deal must be supported by key non-member countries including Russia.
But with oil prices poised to top $60 a barrel, a level not seen since June 2015, Russia is concerned OPEC could overstimulate the oil market, pushing prices high enough for more companies to restart shale drilling in the U.S., which would flood the market and take business away from Moscow.
REPUBLICANS HIT SNAG WITH EFFORT TO DRILL IN ARCTIC WILDLIFE REFUGE: Senate Republicans are running into procedural problems as they try to advance their long-held goal to allow oil and gas drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge by attaching it to tax legislation.
Republicans, blocked by Democrats for years from permitting energy exploration in a portion of the Alaska refuge, are aiming to overcome those hurdles by considering the provision with the tax reform measure under budget reconciliation rules that allow it to avoid a filibuster and pass with a simple majority vote.
Here’s the rub: The source said the ANWR legislation directs the Interior Department to lease in a 1.5 million-acre section of the 19.5-million-acre refuge, known as the “1002 area,” using regulations and procedures the agency uses to lease in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska.
The National Petroleum Reserve is a separate 23.5-million acres of federal land in northwest Alaska already set aside for energy development.
Those rules must follow the National Environmental Policy Act, which is under the jurisdiction of the Environment and Public Works Committee, not the Energy and Natural Resources panel that considered the ANWR bill.
Rulemaker: If that is true, the Democratic source said, the Interior Department must write its own rules for oil and gas leases in ANWR.
The Byrd Rule requires that any bill approved by the Senate by a majority vote using the budget reconciliation process must not increase the deficit after 10 years. If the Interior Department has to write unique rules for ANWR, it could be time consuming and imperil the ability to raise $1 trillion in revenue within that 10-year budget window, as the Republican budget requires.
Quick fix?: The Senate voted Wednesday night to begin debate on the tax bill. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, the chairwoman of the Environment and Natural Resources Committee, told reporters she was not worried about fixing the ANWR provision so it could move forward with the tax bill.
EFFICIENCY ADVOCATES CALL OUT TRUMP ON $2 TRILLION MISTAKE: Consumer advocates are submitting a report this week to the Trump administration that calls out Trump’s decisions to roll back vehicle and appliance energy efficiency standards as a “$2 trillion mistake” that will cost consumers.
300 pages: Cooper’s 300-page report, called “Trump’s $2 Trillion Dollar Mistake: The ‘War’ on Energy Efficiency” details the administration’s march “to abandon or weaken policies” that have been shown to reduce the costs of operating and owning light- and heavy-duty vehicles, in addition to home appliances.
Pushback against Trump’s 2-for-1 rule: The report is being submitted in response to Trump’s executive order that seeks to rescind two existing regulations for each new regulation. The Department of Transportation was prompted by the order to issue a review of its existing regulations that include a number of vehicle efficiency rules. The report is being submitted in time for the agency’s Dec. 1 deadline for commenting on the review.
HOUSE PANEL ADVANCES BILLS ON COAL MORATORIUM, SOCIAL COST OF CARBON: The House Natural Resources Committee approved by a vote of 17-12 a measure that would prevent the Interior Department from freezing coal leasing on federal lands without congressional approval.
The Trump administration in March lifted the Obama administration’s January 2016 moratorium on new federal coal leasing.
Limiting carbon cost: The committee also advanced another bill, sponsored by Rep. Evan Jenkins, R-W.Va., that would block the EPA and Interior and Energy departments from using the social cost of carbon in policymaking.
The vote was 18-15 in favor of the bill.
The social cost of carbon underpins climate change regulations in the U.S. It aims to add up all the quantifiable costs of climate change caused by emitting carbon dioxide, in monetary terms.
‘Significant cost’: Democrats spoke out against the legislation.
“There is significant cost associated with carbon pollution and we should make fiscally responsible decisions based on all the costs and benefits of projects using tools such as the social cost of carbon,” said Rep. Alan Lowenthal, D-Calif.
Moving on: Both bills are moving to the full House for a vote.
PRUITT SPEAKS BEFORE CONSERVATIVE ALLIES AT HERITAGE FOUNDATION: Pruitt questioned the term “environmentalism” in front of a friendly crowd Thursday morning at the Heritage Foundation, where he was a “very special” surprise guest at an event hosted with the Texas Public Policy Foundation.
“We need to ask ourselves what is true environmentalism? The last administration said it’s prohibition, keep fossil fuel in the ground,” Pruitt said.
The EPA administrator also jabbed the New York Times, the Hill reported.
Better left unsaid: Pruitt did not mention his decision to maintain the Renewable Fuel Standard as it is, the big EPA news of the day. Heritage opposes the RFS.
PERRY TO VISIT MIDDLE EAST BEGINNING THURSDAY: Energy Secretary Rick Perry on Thursday is leaving for his first trip to the Middle East, with planned stops in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and United Arab Emirates, where he will meet with energy leaders.
Perry is also expected to speak Wednesday at the Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum in Abu Dhabi, Axios reports.
FERC ADDS FOURTH MEMBER AHEAD OF CRUCIAL VOTE ON COAL PLANTS: Richard Glick was sworn in Wednesday as the newest Democratic member of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, nearly restoring the key energy watchdog agency to its full complement of five members.
Glick’s appointment gives the commission a two-two split between Republicans and Democrats as it awaits former energy consultant Kevin McIntyre to be sworn in as the new Republican chairman of the commission.
Glick’s formal swearing-in comes ahead of a major vote by the commission on Energy Secretary Rick Perry’s plan to provide market incentives to prop up coal and nuclear power plants.
There has been some speculation among critics that the commission was purposefully being kept at three members, two Republicans and one Democrat, to give the incentive plan a better chance of being approved. The commission will vote on the proposal by Dec. 11.
But that is something that FERC’s temporary Republican chairman, Neil Chatterjee, adamantly denied.
NEARLY ALL UTAH NAVAJOS OPPOSE TRUMP’S PLAN TO SHRINK BEARS EARS, POLL SAYS: A poll conducted by a local Native American-led Utah nonprofit found that 98 percent of Navajos in the state oppose Trump’s pending action to shrink the Bears Ears National Monument.
The Utah Dine Bikeyah reports all seven chapters of the Utah Navajo Nation voted on resolutions opposing Trump’s expected decision.
Sacred place for Native Americans: Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke recommended that Trump shrink the contentious Bears Ears, a 1.35 million-acre monument covering mesas and canyons in Utah’s poorest county, San Juan. Navajos comprise roughly half of San Juan County’s population of nearly 16,000.
Obama created Bears Ears just before he left office. It is an area in the southeastern part of the state that five Native American tribes, including the Navajos, consider sacred. The president is expected to reduce Bears Ears by more than 1 million acres.
RUNDOWN
Wall Street Journal Electricity prices plummet as gas, wind gain traction and demand stalls
Washington Post One of the country’s biggest oil fields just turned to an unexpected power source: Solar
Reuters Automakers pledge ethical minerals sourcing for electric cars
CNBC U.S. energy companies are the biggest losers from sanctions, Iran’s energy minister says
Bloomberg Cutting down on cow burps to ease climate change
Calendar
THURSDAY, NOV. 30
8:30 a.m., 620 Perry Parkway, Gaithersburg, Md. The Energy Department holds a meeting of the DOE/NSF High Energy Physics Advisory Panel on scientific priorities within the field of high energy physics research., Nov. 30-Dec. 1.
science.energy.gov/hep/hepap/meetings
8 a.m., 1616 Rhode Island Ave. NW. The Center for Strategic and International Studies holds a discussion on “Hydrogen and Green Shipping: Zero Emission Fuel in the Maritime Sector,” focusing on U.S.-Norwegian cooperation.
csis.org/events/hydrogen-and-green-shipping-zero-emission-fuel-maritime-sector
8 a.m., 214 Massachusetts Ave. NE. The Heritage Foundation and the Texas Public Policy Summit hold a discussion on “At the Crossroads IV: Energy and Climate Policy Summit” at the Allison Auditorium.
heritage.org/energy-economics/event/the-crossroads-iv-energy-climate-policy-summit
9 a.m., One Potomac Yard South Building, Arlington, Va., The EPA holds a meeting of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act Scientific Advisory Panel to consider and review the “Continuing Development of Alternative High-Throughput Screens to Determine Endocrine Disruption, Focusing on Androgen Receptor, Steroidogenesis, and Thyroid Pathways.”
Noon, 214 Massachusetts Ave. NE. The Heritage Foundation holds a discussion on “The Department of Energy’s Grid Resilience Proposal: Examining Impacts on Consumers and Energy Markets.”
12:30 p.m., 1135 16th St. NW. The American Gas Association holds a discussion with Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chairman Neil Chatterjee.
aga.org/natgasroundtable/event-month
12:45 p.m., 1616 P St. NW. The Resources for the Future holds a seminar on “New Realities for U.S. Energy Security.”
rff.org/events/event/2017-11/new-realities-us-energy-security
FRIDAY, DEC. 1
9 a.m.-4 p.m., 1526 New Hampshire Ave. NW. The Policy Studies Organization hosts the day-long Dupont Summit held at the Whittemore House to promote interdisciplinary dialogue about pressing issues related to science, technology and the environment.
eventbrite.com/e/dupont-summit-2017-tickets-38009243671
TUESDAY, DEC. 5
All day, Las Vegas. Powergen International holds its annual convention at the Las Vegas Convention Center.
THURSDAY, DEC. 7
TBA, 2125 Rayburn. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt testifies before House Energy and Commerce Committee Environment Subcommittee.
