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PERRY JETTING OFF TO ARGENTINA FOR G20 MEETING: Energy Secretary Rick Perry is heading to Argentina Friday for a major gathering of the Group of 20 nations.

It is not clear what Perry’s message will be while in Bariloche, especially after the flareup when President Trump attended the much smaller G-7 meeting in Canada last week.

• Remember Paris: The Paris climate agreement will likely come up during the summit, as Trump announced just over a year ago that the U.S. will withdraw from the accord.

The G7 communique, which Trump did not sign, appeared optimistic about the U.S. role in the agreement, despite Trump’s decision. While the rest of the G7 nations will pursue Paris, it said the U.S. will focus on energy security and helping countries produce energy from fossil fuels more cleanly while assisting in renewable energy development.

• Perry on board; Perry’s Energy Department appears OK with what the G7 spelled out, based on conversations John has had with both Perry and other Energy Department officials.

Perry has often said that the U.S. wants to promote clean coal technologies with other countries, such as carbon capture utilization and storage technologies, while also helping to boost wind and solar, and other more innovative technologies.

But he is also promoting the president’s energy dominance agenda that looks to export more natural gas and oil.

• On the agenda: The G20 meeting will try to form consensus on “strengthening renewable energy systems and energy efficiency,” while cutting “inefficient subsidies to fossil fuels,” according to the G20 website. Increasing transparency of energy data and the digitalization of energy markets also will be on the agenda.

A joint communique will be signed at the end of the meeting on Friday, with a press conference following. Watch it here.

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CAN SAUDIS, RUSSIANS KEEP OIL PRICES LOW? The Energy Information Administration says it doesn’t know if their production will be enough to offset Iran’s cuts after U.S. sanctions kick in.

The Energy Department’s statistics arm said Wednesday it assumes “some supply increases” from major producers next year, but a lot is resting on the June 22 meeting of OPEC and non-OPEC countries such as Russia.

• Election cuts: Iran is expected to begin curtailing production around the time of the U.S. midterm elections.

“EIA expects a decline in Iranian crude oil production and exports starting in November 2018, when many of the sanctions lifted in January 2016 are slated to be re-imposed,” the agency said.

• What will OPEC do? U.S. oil production is expected to also increase in that period. But where the crude oil supply goes will depend a lot on what the OPEC and non-OPEC countries decide next week.

Saudi Arabia said Wednesday that production increases could be considered at the meeting. U.S. crude oil future contracts dropped to $66 per barrel Wednesday from $73 last month.

The EIA “expects” OPEC oil production to remain lower than last year as supply cuts are slated to continue through the end of 2018.

That may be the reason President Trump tweeted Wednesday that oil prices are “too high,” griping that “OPEC is at it again,” which is “No good!” He didn’t explain what he was responding to, specifically.

INHOFE FLOATS PRUITT RESIGNATION: Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt may have no choice but to resign, said Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., one of Pruitt’s staunchest allies, in a Wednesday interview on “The Laura Ingraham Show.”

“I see these things, they upset me just as much as they upset you, and I think something needs to happen to change that,” the Republican senator said. “One of the alternatives would be for him to leave that job.”

Inhofe’s statement follows Democrats’ request to the Justice Department to investigate whether Pruitt is guilty of criminal charges. They argue that reports of Pruitt’s use of EPA employees for his own personal enrichment constitute a criminal offense.

Pruitt used EPA senior aides and staff to do everything from personal errands, to setting up meetings to buy a Chick-fil-A franchise, to finding his wife a jobby talking to Republican donors. Pruitt, also, has used public funds for lavish travel and vacation expenses.

• Ingraham also says he should go:  Ingraham, a Fox News host and prominent supporter of President Trump, said Pruitt should be ousted from the administration, following the Washington Post’s report that he used government resources for personal gain, again.

“PRUITT BAD JUDGMENT HURTING [Trump], GOTTA GO,” Ingraham said Wednesday on Twitter.

• National Review Online piles on: The conservative website on Wednesday also said he should go, although its editors praised Pruitt’s roll back of former President Barack Obama’s regulations.

“We are now at a point where a good week for Pruitt sees only one report of behavior that is bizarre or venal,” it wrote.

After listing all of the accusations against Pruitt, it said: “This is no way for any public official to treat taxpayers. It also makes it practically impossible for Pruitt to make the case for the Trump administration’s environmental policies.”

PRUITT INCLUDES CLIMATE TALK IN ETHANOL TOUR: Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt has been touring the country this week to meet with farmers who produce ethanol, as criticism of his handling of the nation’s ethanol program has intensified.

• From ethanol to climate rules: “It’s important to hear directly from the community that EPA regulates, and today we heard from farmers and utility workers about the impact of the agency’s work,” Pruitt said Wednesday in South Dakota. “From the Renewable Fuel Standard to the so-called ‘Clean Power Plan,’ we are working hard to fulfill the agency’s true mission while providing certainty to stakeholders in South Dakota and across the country.”

• Capitol Hill critique: Pruitt was making his rounds as Democrats and Republicans were slamming his use of waivers for oil refiners as compromising President Trump’s plan to support the ethanol industry. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-iowa, was the loudest at Wednesday’s Farm Bill markup.

Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Grassley agreed to keep the bill’s energy  funding high as a response to Pruitt’s overture to the oil industry.

• Utility workers: Pruitt met with NorthWestern Energy utility employees while in South Dakota, hence the reference to Obama-era climate rules, and attended a roundtable with sorghum farmers at Schindler Farms in Reliance where he discussed the Renewable Fuel Standard.

The utility company serves more than 700,000 customers in South Dakota, Nebraska, and Montana.

• Promises for new fuels: The EPA said Pruitt discussed approving a regulation to allow sorghum to be used as a qualifying feedstock for fuels under the RFS. He said the agency is working diligently on it.

• Criticism from industry: Ahead of his tour, biofuel trade groups had criticized the EPA for slow-walking numerous applications for allowing new feedstocks under the fuel program.

ETHANOL COULD BE USED IN JETS SOON: The Energy Department’s Pacific Northwest National Lab took to Twitter Wednesday to tout that alcohol fuels, such as ethanol, are now certified for use in jet aircraft.

Not sure if it qualifies under the Renewable Fuel Standard, but scientists at the lab and the global standards board ASTM say it’s a go.

• Alcohol-to-jet: They pointed out that ASTM International recently revised its certification standard “to add ethanol as an approved feedstock for producing alcohol-to-jet synthetic paraffinic kerosene.”

• Not necessarily about corn ethanol: “The revision of ASTM D7566 Annex A5 clears the way for increased adoption of sustainable aviation fuels because ethanol feedstocks can be made from so many different low-cost sources,” the lab writes.

• DOE’s baby: “Behind this significant advancement is the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory technology — eight years in the making — and its industrial partner, LanzaTech,” the lab said.

GOP CLEAN ENERGY ENDORSEMENTS: The group Citizens for Responsible Energy Solutions on Thursday announced its first slate of endorsements for Republicans running for re-election in the House this year.

• The list: The group is endorsing Reps. Mark Amodei of Nevada, Carlos Curbelo of Florida, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington, and Tom Reed and Elise Stefanik of New York.  

• Spending: The organization says it has spent nearly $418,000 supporting GOP candidates “who are focused on advancing clean energy solutions.”

• Victories: The endorsements came on the heels of Tuesday’s victories for the group’s picks in South Carolina: gubernatorial candidate Henry McMaster and William Timmons for South Carolina’s 4th District.  

LIONS, TIGERS, AND TRUCK GLIDER CONSPIRACY, OH MY: In case you were wondering what former Trump transition official and self-acclaimed science debunker Steve Milloy has been up to, look no further. His latest project is the truck glider rule.

• It’s all about the emails: Just like many journalists these days — by the way, he is not one — who are relying on the Freedom of Information Act to find out what the administration is up to, Milloy is using his latest FOIA returns to move his latest project forward.

• What’s a truck glider? Pruitt is looking to repeal the “glider” rule, which covers the emissions of older tractor trucks that have rebuilt engines.

• Going rogue: Milloy argues that emails he has received show collaboration between “rogue” EPA scientists in Michigan and truck maker Volvo to continue testing gliders in an effort to undermine the U.S. glider market.

• China too? “Emails obtained via the Freedom of Information Act confirm that China-owned Volvo Trucks conspired with Obama-holdover EPA career staff to destroy the glider truck industry,” Milloy’s website reads.

• Entertaining: Milloy posted the emails on his site this week with explanatory notes that are entertaining, if not informative.

• Liz Bowman makes an appearance: Former EPA spokeswoman Liz Bowman makes an appearance in the emails when she asks the office of transportation about a question from a Washington Post reporter about the glider testing.

“Do you know about ‘EPA staff conducting their own tests of glider kits at an EPA facility?’” Bowman wrote to others at the EPA back in October. “This is the first I have heard about it, but the Washington Post is asking, so hoping to provide more information here.”

• Campy: Here’s Milloy’s preface to Bowman’s email: “Uh-oh. Trouble in Scoundrel City.”

Meanwhile, some Republican senators this year signed a letter urging Pruitt not to move forward with his plan to repeal the regulation, saying it would kill off the investments businesses have already made in remanufacturing trucks.

RUNDOWN

Wall Street Journal Frackers get Indigestion

Detroit News Utility announces coal phaseout

Bloomberg Judge orders EPA to cut ozone in court defeat

Reuters Venezuela starts refining other countries’ oil

Washington Post Anacostia River passes health checkup after years of failing