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ZINKE MAKES HIS GOODBYES, FOLLOWING IN PRUITT’S FOOTSTEPS: President Trump sits down with Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke on Monday afternoon to discuss one of the top newsmakers over the weekend — the Interior chief’s Saturday morning resignation.

The meeting is slated for just before Trump and Melania participate in the White House Christmas reception, which in a roundabout way resembles how former Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt resigned, which followed his attending the Fourth of July celebration.

Pruitt was last seen at the White House before resigning, or being forced to resign.

Both Pruitt’s and Zinke’s time serving in the administration were marked by scandals surrounding attempts to use their positions in government for personal gain.

In Zinke’s case, his behavior led the Interior Department’s inspector general to recommend that the Justice Department open an investigation into his activities. It was unclear if Pruitt’s infractions, like using federal employees to fetch him his favorite lotion from the Ritz Carlton, ever made it to the halls of the Justice Department, although the Democrats had asked.

Zinke tried to forestall the Justice Department probe, tweeting out a statement on Saturday that part of the reason for his leaving is the attorneys’ fees he would incur in defending against what he called false accusations.

“I love working for the President and am incredibly proud of all the good work we’ve accomplished together,” Zinke said. “However, after 30 years of public service, I cannot justify spending thousands of dollars defending myself and my family against false allegations.”

One of the top allegations against him involves his ties to a real estate deal involving David Lesar, the chairman of oil services giant Halliburton. A foundation Zinke founded is at the center of negotiating part of the deal in the part of Montana where Zinke is from, and Lesar had met with Zinke while he was secretary.

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.  

WITH ZINKE GONE, GREENS BRACE FOR HIS REPLACEMENT: The national environmental group Natural Resources Defense Council is using Zinke’s departure to gin up donor support for pushing back against the administration’s rollback of environmental rules.

The group told supporters in a message on Sunday that Trump’s replacement will be as bad as Zinke.

“Make no mistake — Zinke’s resignation won’t stop these attacks,” Ana Unruh Cohen, the group’s managing director of government affairs, said in message to supporters. “Trump will appoint a new Interior chief who will likely be just as committed to Trump’s slash-and-burn agenda as Zinke was.”

She noted the group’s fight to protect national monuments and public lands “must and will continue, in and out of court.”

However, the message refrained from mentioning David Bernhardt, the Interior Department deputy that will fill Zinke’s shoes as acting secretary at the end of the month.

Critics are quick to point out Bernhardt’s past as former oil lobbyist. Bernhardt has been leading the charge at the agency to roll back Endangered Species protections, and has been seen as doing much of the heavy-lifting on the regulatory side.

Bernhardt has much more experience as a Washington insider than Zinke, and in many ways resembles EPA acting administrator Andrew Wheeler, who took over when Pruitt resigned in July.

UN CLIMATE CONFERENCE ENDS WITH MIXED REVIEWS: The U.N. climate conference in Poland reached consensus over the weekend on the checks-and-balances piece of meeting the Paris accord, but fell short in gaining support from countries to up their commitments under the deal.

Although there were many who applauded the U.N.’s ability to find consensus on the Paris “rulebook,” there were also groups who thought the conference failed to raise the bar for emissions reductions.

“COP24 is ending without delivering what the world needs,” said Patti Lynn, executive director of Corporate Accountability, a global climate justice campaign to hold energy companies accountable. “Governments fell far short of crafting a just and equitable roadmap to Paris’ implementation,” she added, blaming the fossil fuel industry’s interference that has been evident at these meetings over the past quarter century.

“The countries did commit to raising their commitments in two years, around the time of the U.S. presidential elections,” said Carol Werner, executive director of the nonpartisan Environmental and Energy Study Institute. “But that doesn’t mean action couldn’t have come this year.” She said the Saturday decision does not get the world on the right path to reducing emissions in line with the October U.N. climate study that calls for massive cuts in emissions by 2050 to keep the world’s average temperature from rising 1.5 degrees.

A GREEN NEW DEAL WOULD NECESSITATE A HUGE INCREASE IN MINING: Moving the world to 100-percent renewable energy under a Green New Deal, or the Paris climate accord, will require at least a twelvefold increase in the not-so-green practice of hardrock mining, according to a new study backed by prominent environmental consultants.

“The current global supply of several critical metals is insufficient to transition to a renewable energy system,” a new study released Thursday by Leiden University in the Netherlands and environmental consulting firms Metabolic and Copper8 concludes,

Specifically, the demand for so-called “rare earth metals” such as neodymium, terbium, dysprosium, and praseodymium stands out as a potential problem for moving to a global energy system dominated by renewables. The metals are needed for manufacturing solar panels and wind turbines, among other uses. And that estimate does not include increasing demand for other electronic goods like electric cars and iPhones, which also require the same metals, the study said.

EPA’S WHEELER TO ANNOUNCE NEW LEAD INITIATIVE: The Trump administration is planning to release a multi-agency plan on Wednesday to fight lead exposure among children.

Wheeler said Friday that the plan will be rolled out with Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson.

“This is going to be, I think, a very welcomed report that we have to show what the federal government is going to be doing on lead,” he said in an interview with The Hill.

EPA has been working to crack down on lead drinking-water pipes, as well as dust that is generated from old lead paint in homes and schools.  

OIL AND GAS GIANT CONOCOPHILLIPS JOINS CARBON TAX PUSH: Houston-based ConocoPhillips has committed $2 million over two years to a group promoting a carbon tax.

ConocoPhillips, after Exxon Mobil, is the second oil and gas giant to give money to Americans for Carbon Dividends, an advocacy organization that lobbies Congress to support a carbon tax-and-dividend plan proposed by the Climate Leadership Council, a group led by two former Republican secretaries of state, James Baker III and George Shultz.

ConocoPhillips is also formally joining the Climate Leadership Council, Josh has confirmed, after being a holdout. Other members include Exxon Mobil, BP, and Shell. Axios first reported the news.

What the plan would do: The Climate Leadership Council proposal would impose a carbon tax beginning at $40 per ton, and give the proceeds to the public through rebates, while scrapping carbon regulations imposed by the EPA.

It would also protect oil and gas companies from lawsuits by states and cities blaming them for climate change. The plan would raise the cost of natural gas and coal, and likely, gasoline prices and energy rates, although backers claim that it would allow for rebate checks to consumers to more than offset the financial hit.

The big question: A coalition of House members recently introduced the first bipartisan carbon tax legislation in nearly a decade, with a plan that is broadly similar to the proposal that ConocoPhillips is now backing. Will oil and gas companies formally lobby for the bill?

ANGER AT SAUDIS GIVES FRESH LIFE TO LEGISLATION FOR SUING OPEC: Long mothballed, the idea of arming the U.S. with power to sue OPEC for price-fixing may now be in play as Congress is looking for ways to punish Saudi Arabia for killing journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

“One of the most important U.S. relationships — with Saudi Arabia — is as strained as it’s been in a very long time,” Jason Bordoff, a former energy adviser to former President Barack Obama, and the director of Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy, told Josh. “And as Congress looks for ways to continue to condemn what took place, there are a lot of options on the table.”

One big reason for Saudi critics to turn up the aggression is that Saudi-led OPEC, with non-member Russia, collaborated this month on a deal to cut oil production by 1.2 million barrels per day in a bid to raise prices, despite protests from Trump.

“Never have the stars aligned so well for this to move forward,” Michael Cohen, director of energy markets at Barclays, told Josh.

Some lawmakers, led by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., are calling on Congress to vote before the holiday recess on legislation, called the No Oil Producing and Exporting Cartels or NOPEC Act. A version of the bill has been introduced in every Congress over the past 20 years, but never signed into law.

The timing may not be right: But Congress has few legislative days left this session, and still needs to fund the government. Key backers don’t expect the legislation to be brought up. Oil and gas prices are relatively low.

And sources close to the White House say Trump is not convinced of NOPEC’s merits, fearing upsetting the U.S. relationship with Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries.

Read more of Josh’s report here.

SAUDI ARAMCO AND US DEFENSE GIANT STRIKE MAJOR CYBERDEFENSE DEAL: Saudi Aramco announced a deal on Friday with U.S. defense giant Raytheon to form a jointly-owned company to boost cybersecurity in the kingdom.

An official Saudi government news bulletin announced the deal a day after the U.S. Senate voted to block U.S. military cooperation with Saudi Arabia in waging the war in Yemen. The defense deal also comes in the wake of the murder of Khashoggi, allegedly at the direction of the crown prince, which has placed increased pressure on Trump to hit pause on several U.S. arms deals with Saudi Arabia.

In addition to selling its services, one of the company’s principal tasks will be to protect the giant Saudi oil company from cyberattacks.

GOP LAWMAKERS URGE TRUMP TO TAKE ‘IMMEDIATE ACTION’ TO BUILD KEYSTONE XL PIPELINE: A group of 42 Republican members of Congress urged Trump Friday to take “immediate action” to push for construction of the long-contested Keystone XL oil pipeline.

A federal judge blocked the construction of the $8 billion Keystone XL pipeline last month, which Trump had approved in one of his first actions as president. U.S. District Court Judge Brian Morris, an Obama appointee to the District Court of Montana, ruled that the administration’s environmental analysis fell short, and ordered the pipeline to be halted until the federal government completes further reviews.

Republican senators and House members appear to be asking Trump to ignore the court ruling.

“We urge you to take any appropriate action necessary to move construction forward,” the lawmakers, led by Sen. Steve Daines and Rep. Greg Gianforte of Montana, wrote in a letter to Trump.

CALIFORNIA BECOMES FIRST STATE TO MANDATE ZERO-EMISSION BUSES: California on Friday approved a requirement for all of its transit bus fleet to be free of carbon emissions. It is the first state in the nation to have such a mandate.

The California Air Resources Board voted unanimously to require all new bus purchases to be carbon-free by 2029. Public transit agencies must use only electric or fuel cell buses by 2040.

The board expects the resulting greenhouse gas emissions reductions to be the equivalent of taking 4 million cars off the road.

California already is the most aggressive state combating climate change, enacting a law this year mandating 100 percent of its electricity to come from carbon-free sources by 2045.

But transportation emissions are harder to address. The sector accounts for 40 percent of California’s greenhouse gases.

RUNDOWN

Wall Street Journal Lawmakers want a greater say as US seeks a Saudi nuclear deal

New York Times Zinke’s legal troubles are far from over

Bloomberg Green groups are set to crash into global populists over pollution cuts

BBC News The massive CO2 emitter you may not know about

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