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AUTOMAKERS, TRUMP SEEK PEACE ON FUEL EFFICIENCY RULES: President Trump and other administration officials are meeting later Friday morning with top U.S. automakers to try to reach an understanding on how to change strict fuel-efficiency rules established by former President Barack Obama.

• Careful what you wish for: Automakers had urged Trump to ease Obama’s standards, arguing they are too tough to meet with drivers favoring bigger, less fuel-efficient cars as gasoline prices have fallen. But now they worry his administration is going too far.

The Trump administration is considering a proposal to freeze fuel-efficiency and greenhouse gas emissions targets at 2020 levels through 2025.

Obama’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.

“We are not asking the administration for a rollback,” Ford Chairman Bill Ford said Thursday during the automaker’s annual meeting.

• Love, not war: The Environmental Protection Agency also is weighing challenging California over a waiver it has under the Clean Air Act that allows it to set its own, stricter air pollution rules. California is leading a coalition of states suing the Trump administration for rejecting the Obama standards.

Automakers want the Trump administration and California to reach an agreement to maintain a single national program. They worry they otherwise would face a patchwork of regulations preventing them from selling the same cars in every state.

• Who’s who: Auto industry officials scheduled to attend Friday’s meeting at the White House are the CEOs of General Motors, Ford, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Fiat Chrysler, and more, as well as the leaders of two auto trade groups.

Joining Trump from the administration will be EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, and Larry Kudlow, director of the National Economic Council.

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TRUMP’S TRANSITION CHIEFS URGE HIM TO STAY THE COURSE ON AUTO ROLLBACK: Trump’s former transition team leaders urged him Thursday to stay the course freezing the efficiency rules.

• Flip floppers: “We understand that some in the automaker community have expressed concerns about your current plans to reform the program,” the transition heads said in a letter to the president.

They point out that it’s “worth noting that early in your presidency, these same automakers urged your administration to ‘reconsider imposing such a far-reaching mandate on an entire industry’ and were greatly concerned that the existing mandate, which you are attempting to reform, ‘could cause up to 1.1 million Americans to lose jobs due to lost vehicle sales.’”

• The right to choose: They argue that Trump’s proposal to ease the Obama-era auto rules would better accommodate consumer choice, rather than proceed under a mandate to make cars that people do not want.

CALIFORNIA DOMINATES ENERGY DEPARTMENT WIND COMPETITION: Energy Secretary Rick Perry announced Friday morning California’s dominance in a national Energy Department competition for wind research.

• Cali dominates: The California State University Maritime Academy beat out 11 other teams to claim top honors at the third biennial Department of Energy Collegiate Wind Competition, the agency announced from the major week-long wind industry conference.

Welcome to the real world: The competition was created to provide undergraduates with real-world skills needed to enter the renewable energy workforce.

TRUMP DISMANTLES NASA CLIMATE CHANGE PROGRAM: The Trump administration has cut off funding for a major NASA satellite-based climate change research program, according to the latest issue of Science magazine.

• Sneak attack: The magazine reported that even though Congress has successfully fended off much of the White House’s “broad attack on climate science,” a spending deal signed in March made no mention of NASA’s $10-million-a-year Carbon Monitoring System.

• Why it matters: Many of the 65 research programs that the system supports are focused on tracking how global carbon dioxide is stored naturally in forests, rivers, and other natural formations.

SCHUMER DECLARES YUCCA MOUNTAIN BILL ‘DEAD ON ARRIVAL’: Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer predicted an early death for a bill the House passed Thursday taht would advance the long-stalled plan to store the nation’s nuclear waste in Nevada’s Yucca Mountain.

“The House bill to revive Yucca Mountain is dead on arrival,” the New York Democrat said in a joint statement with Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev.

• Back to life: The House legislation, which passed 340-72 with plenty of votes from both parties, would require the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to decide within 30 months whether to license the Yucca Mountain repository.

It would authorize land transfers and licensing decisions related to the project, and in the meantime, it would direct the Energy Department to start an interim storage program before the Yucca Mountain project is approved by regulators.

• Not in my state: Nevada lawmakers say they resent their state being a “dumping ground” for the nation’s nuclear waste.

“This bill which is a complete and total waste of taxpayer dollars is dead on arrival in the Senate,” said Sen. Dean Heller, a Republican facing a tough re-election race this year. “Not only will I place a hold on the bill now that has passed the House, I will also object to motion to proceed to bill.”

The Senate, which holds a one-seat GOP majority, may never vote on the bill.

WHITE HOUSE SAYS PRUITT MUST ‘ANSWER’ FOR ETHICS AND SPENDING CONCERNS: In what has become a near-daily ritual, the White House found another way Thursday night to declare Pruitt safe in his job for now, but express concern about his behavior.

“The president is pleased with the job that he’s doing as the administrator,” White House spokesman Raj Shah told reporters aboard Air Force One. “However, the issues that have been raised that I think you guys are all familiar with — they have raised some concerns. We’re hopeful and expecting that Administrator Pruitt will be able to answer those.”

Pruitt is the subject of 11 federal investigations over his spending and ethics practices. The White House is conducting its own probe but has not announced the results.

PENCE ‘GRATEFUL’ FOR PRUITT’S WORK AT EPA: Vice President Mike Pence, meanwhile, continued the company line of hailing Pruitt for his degregulatory moves at EPA.

“Scott Pruitt has done an outstanding job lifting the burden of regulations that were stifling American businesses across this country,” Pence said in an interview on MSNBC. “We really do believe that much of the economic growth that we’ve seen over the last 15 months has been as much a result of deregulation as its been with the tax reforms that are just now beginning to have an impact on the economy. So we’re very grateful for Scott Pruitt’s leadership.”

CARPER DECRIES PRUITT’S PLAN TO REFORM AIR QUALITY STANDARDS: Pruitt’s memo Thursday to fulfill a presidential directive on reforming national air quality standards has Democrats fuming.

• New review: The Pruitt memo commits the EPA to begin the next review of the air quality standards for smog-forming ozone emissions to finalize any revisions by the Clean Air Act deadline of October 2020. It also requires that the agency complete its review of the particulate matter NAAQS by December 2020.

The memo was issued in response to the “reforms” and initiatives that Trump set out in his April 12 job promotion memo that directed changes to the national air quality standards, which is one of most far-reaching programs under EPA.   

• Undermining: “Today’s decision by EPA undermines the science-based review process for the [National Ambient Air Quality Standards] and it is just one more attempt by Mr. Pruitt to avoid performing EPA’s basic duty to ensure clean air for every American,” Sen. Tom Carper of Delaware, the top Democrat on the Environment and Public Works Committee, said Thursday.

• Slow-moving Pruitt: Carper added that Pruitt is still struggling to implement the Obama-era changes to the standards, even after the court said he could not delay the rules.

• Praise from the GOP: Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming, the chairman of the environment committee, praised Pruitt for giving “certainty to states and businesses.”

• Just plain ‘good government’: He said the changes also will “make sure the Environmental Protection Agency considers all relevant data and information when it makes decisions. That is just good government.”  

PENTAGON NOT A FAN OF OFFSHORE DRILLING PLAN: The Pentagon said Thursday that offshore drilling in the eastern Gulf of Mexico would pose problems for military exercises it conducts there.

• No alternative: That part of the Gulf is an “irreplaceable national asset” used by the Department of Defense “to develop and maintain the readiness of our combat forces, and is critical to achieving the objectives contained in the National Defense Strategy,” said Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering Michael Griffin in a report sent to Congress.

• Drilling would harm military readiness: If oil and natural gas development were to extend east of the military training zone, without sufficient restrictions on drilling, “military flexibility in the region would be lost and test and training activities would be severely affected,” it stated.

ZINKE TELLS OFFSHORE DRILLING SKEPTICS THEY’LL BE ‘VERY HAPPY’ WITH PLAN: Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said skeptics will be “very happy” with the next draft of his offshore drilling plan, which the agency expects to release in the fall.

Zinke drew bipartisan criticism when he proposed opening nearly all federal waters to offshore drilling. He has since suggested Interior will scale back the plan after massive state and local opposition.

• Happy face: “The president made it very clear in guidance to me that local and state voices will be heard,” Zinke said in testimony before a subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee. “I think you will be very happy with our planning process.”

• ‘Hyperspeed’: Democratic Sens. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland and Jeff Merkley of Oregon complained about plans to drill in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, and said it was unfair that Zinke prematurely granted an exemption from drilling off the coast of Florida after Republican Gov. Rick Scott asked for one.

• ‘Same’ treatment: “You will be treated the same as Florida under the process,” Zinke replied. “I understand offshore oil and gas is a greater risk. Nobody wants a spill.”

IRANIAN OIL MINISTER DECRIES TRUMP’S ‘SHENANIGANS’ TO RAISE OIL PRICES: Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said Thursday that Trump’s motives to leave the Iran nuclear deal are just “shenanigans” intended to raise oil prices for U.S. shale producers.

Speaking on state television, Zanganeh said Iran will continue producing oil as usual despite the U.S. renewing sanctions in the country.

• Never change: “Nothing noteworthy will happen to our export of crude and condensate by the U.S. withdrawal,” he said.

Iran is the third-largest oil producer in OPEC. Its exports of crude oil and condensates from have surged since sanctions were lifted in 2016. More than 60 percent of Iran’s oil exports go to Asia, with China, India, Turkey, and South Korea being the largest purchasers. The U.S. imports no Iranian crude.

EPA WON’T REDO OBAMA’S REPORT ON RISKS FROM DEADLY PAINT STRIPPER: The EPA announced Thursday that it would not seek to redo an Obama administration report that listed the numerous health risks from exposure to the paint stripper chemical methylene chloride.

• No change in risks: The EPA is “not re-evaluating the paint stripping uses of methylene chloride and is relying on its previous risk assessments,” the agency announced.

• Dozen of deaths: The paint stripping chemical has caused dozens of deaths, and environmentalists have called on Pruitt to ban the substance as a public health concern.

BISHOP INTRODUCES BILL TO CELEBRATE FIRST TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILROAD: House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, introduced the Golden Spike 150th Anniversary Act on Thursday to create a new historical park recognizing the site of the first transcontinental railroad that was completed in his home state.

Check out this tweet of Bishop celebrating the bill’s introduction.  

RUNDOWN

Wall Street Journal Iranian oil squeeze could upset OPEC agreement on production cuts

Bloomberg Senator eyes oil tax to punish Canada over Alaska drilling clash

Reuters Plastics mines? Europe struggles as pollution piles up

Wall Street Journal Heart of America’s oil boom can’t fetch good prices for its crude