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TRUMP TWEETS COULD HELP PROMPT OPEC TO BOOST OIL PRODUCTION: Industry experts and even the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries are acknowledging that President Trump’s tweets calling for more oil production may be having an effect.

Trump warned OPEC last month that “oil prices are artificially Very High! No good and will not be accepted!” On Friday, it became clear that OPEC listened.

‘Friends of the U.S.’: Saudi Arabia, the largest member of OPEC, and Russia, the leader of non-OPEC countries that are cooperating with the oil group to restrict supply to boost prices, said they are prepared to change course and increase production to calm consumer fears.

OPEC Secretary General Mohammed Barkindo said Trump’s prodding had inspired the idea of upping oil production.

“We pride ourselves as friends of the United States,” Barkindo said during a panel with the Saudi and Russian energy ministers.

‘Truth to power: One expert said Trump’s direct message helped spur action.

“The president’s tweet was speaking truth to power to the oil producing countries,” Amy Myers Jaffe, an expert on global energy policy at the Council on Foreign Relations, told Josh. “When private negotiations don’t work, there is a place in diplomacy for public statements, and the president’s tweet was extremely well timed. It got people’s attention, and there has obviously been subsequent dialogue with our allies. You are seeing the response now.”

Production boost: The countries are discussing raising oil production by about 1 million barrels per day, Reuters reported, after 17 months of supply curbs.

The move would be a dramatic about-face for Saudi Arabia and Russia, which had been discussing extending by 10 to 20 years its agreement to cut oil supplies.

Price rally: Prices have rallied in recent months, as some OPEC countries restricted production more than the amount targeted under the agreement, and other supply disruptions have occurred. One disruption was an unintended reduction from Venezuela, which is suffering from a political and financial crisis. Energy experts also warn of future price increases caused by impending U.S. oil sanctions on Iran after Trump abandoned the nuclear agreement with Tehran.

‘Not happy’: While higher oil prices benefit U.S. producers and help advance the president’s “energy dominance agenda,” Trump has noticed the corresponding spike in gasoline prices. The price of crude oil is the largest component of gasoline prices.

“OPEC, and all producers, benefit from higher prices, but too high too quickly can have an adverse impact on economic growth and energy demand, so OPEC needs to be careful as they try to manage the market here,” Frank Verrastro, senior vice president of the energy and national security program at Center for Strategic and International Studies, told Josh.

“For the U.S., Memorial Day kicks off the summer driving season and consumers are seeing gasoline pump prices this year up 50-65 cents per gallon from last summer, and not happy about it,” he said.

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ENVIRONMENTALISTS TARGET SHELL FOR NOT MEETING PARIS DEMANDS: Environmentalists are preparing to take global oil giant Shell to court for not agreeing to phase out its emissions to zero to meet the goals of the Paris climate change agreement.

Demands: The group Friends of the Earth sent a list of demands to Shell’s headquarters in the Netherlands last month, asking it to reduce oil and natural gas investments, with the ultimate goal of cutting greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2050.

Shell says, no: On Sunday, Shell rejected the environmental group’s proposal. Friends of the Earth had prepared for the rejection by sending the oil company a formal notice of its intent to sue last month.   

Intent to sue: Friends of the Earth Netherlands sent Shell a notice of intent to sue over climate change and the Paris agreement, giving it eight weeks to prevent litigation by meeting its demands.

Piling on the plaintiffs: “Since then almost 15,000 people from 70 countries have joined the climate case as honorary co-claimants and more than 11,000 people have joined the case as co-plaintiffs,” the groups said in a statement Tuesday.

MARYLAND FLOOD SPURS ‘CLIMATE CHANGE IS REAL’ TWEETSTORM: Maryland’s former Democratic Gov. Martin O’Malley has been leading a Twitter campaign to link Sunday’s second major disastrous flood in Ellicott City in under two years to climate change.

Democrat says it’s time: O’Malley, who is leading a national effort on the issue, tweeted Monday that it is “Time to act.”

What O’Malley wants: O’Malley’s climate campaign calls for the end of all fossil fuel use by 2050.

‘Climate change is real’: “Solidarity and support to our flooded neighbors in Ellicott City. Climate change is real. 1,000-year floods are now every other year events,” he tweeted.

Joining in: Others on Twitter appeared to follow the former governor’s lead by reiterating “climate change is real” in commenting about the latest flood to wreck the town’s historic center in less than two years.

Republican Gov. Larry Hogan declared a state of emergency on Sunday. Most of the business had recently finished repairs after the July 2016 flood.

The face of global warming: Alice Hill, a research fellow with the Washington-based Hoover Institute, tweeted “Maybe it’s time we drop the historical references? More frequent extremes is what  #climate change really looks like.”

She was re-tweeting a Washington Post story that pointed out the city’s flood-prone geography and climate change resulted in the horrific flood over the weekend.

TRUMP SCRAPS PLAN TO SELL OFF FEDERAL ELECTRICITY ASSETS: Trump has scrapped plans to sell off the assets of many of the nation’s federally owned electric utilities from Tennessee to the Pacific Northwest.

A group of Republican lawmakers announced late Thursday that they reached a deal with the Trump administration to kill off the proposal that was included in the president’s fiscal 2019 budget.

GOP pressure play: “It was the right move for the Administration to abandon its plan to sell off Bonneville Power Administration’s assets,” tweeted Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Wash. “This decision came after I joined w/ several other [Northwest] members of Congress to express our strong opposition to this harmful proposal.”

Trump plan: The proposed sell-off of the power authorities’ assets had spurred alarm among the rural and public utility industry for months, as well as among both Republicans and Democrats who have pushed the White House to scrap the idea.

Top Democrats hail turnaround: “Glad that Donald Trump has finally recognized what history & common sense could have told him months ago before he launched this misguided BPA privatization scheme that would’ve hurt … ratepayers,” said Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, the top Democrat on the Finance Committee, in a tweet Friday.

Energy Department confirms: The Department of Energy later clarified that the administration “will not pursue the sale of any PMA transmission assets unless directed by Congress,” Energy Department spokeswoman Shaylyn Hynes said in a statement to the Washington Examiner.

No go without Congress: She explained that Energy Secretary Rick Perry “acknowledged this in recent Congressional testimony, and DOE staff affirmed it to Members of Congress representing the Northwest” on Thursday.

INDIA WON’T COMPLY WITH TRUMP’S IRAN SANCTIONS: India, a major importer of oil from Iran, will continue to buy crude from that country even after Trump’s reimposition of sanctions on Tehran.

“India will comply with UN sanctions and not any country-specific sanctions,” said foreign minister Sushma Swaraj at a press conference in New Delhi on Monday.

Trump’s threat: When Trump left the Iran nuclear deal earlier this month, he gave countries 180 days to reduce oil imports from Tehran or face restricted access to U.S. financial institutions.

Little bite: Previous sanctions on Iran reduced its oil flow to the market by 1 million barrels a day, but there’s likely to be less international cooperation now, analysts have said.

India is the world’s fastest-growing oil consumer, and a leading importer of Iranian crude.

AUTOMAKERS SIDE WITH EPA ON SUITS OVER ROLLBACK OF FUEL EFFICIENCY RULES: Two trade groups representing automakers filed briefs Friday in a federal court siding with the Environmental Protection Agency in lawsuits challenging the agency’s move to revise strict fuel-efficiency standards.

The Association of Global Automakers and the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers argue that the EPA’s decision last month to reject the Obama administration’s fuel rules do not represent a final agency action, so they can’t be challenged in court.

State standing: California and 17 other states sued the EPA in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, arguing the states can sue based on the EPA rejecting the Obama administration standards, which were agreed upon in 2011 by the federal government, the state of California, and automakers.

Environmental groups also filed their own lawsuit.

‘Not appropriate’: EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt announced last month that he is scrapping Obama’s new fuel-efficiency and greenhouse gas rules for cars and light trucks, saying the rules that set a 54-mile per gallon standard by 2025, up from the current average of 38.3 mpg, were “not appropriate” and should be revised.

He did not say what the new standards should be, but argued the Obama targets are “too high.” Automakers support more flexibility with the standards, but support rules that increase in strictness over time.

The EPA is expected to announce its proposed revised standards in the coming weeks.

FINANCER OF ALASKA GOLD MINE PULLS OUT OF PROJECT: The main investor in a controversial proposed gold mine in Alaska’s Bristol Bay has pulled out of the project, leaving its fate in doubt.

Northern Dynasty Minerals said Friday that it failed to finalize a financing agreement with First Quantum Minerals. Together the two companies were developing the Pebble Mine project as a collective known as the Pebble Limited Partnership.

What’s the deal: The two companies had reached a tentative agreement in December in which First Quantum Minerals would provide $37.5 million upfront and $150 million over the next three years in exchange for half the mine’s stake.

The mine, which contains significant metal deposits, including gold and copper, is going through a permitting process with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Pruitt reversal: But its ability to secure the permit is precarious after Pruitt in January issued a surprise announcement that the proposed mine would harm the area’s natural resources. Pruitt’s decision reversed a prior determination he made, where he had begun a process of undoing the Obama administration’s attempt to block the mine.

Risky business: Pruitt’s new decision did not cancel the mine outright, but it left in place the Obama administration’s block of the project until the EPA could solicit further comments. But Pruitt said the “permit application must clear a high bar, because EPA believes the risk to Bristol Bay may be unacceptable.”

ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER SAYS PRUITT IS THE WORST EPA HEAD IN HISTORY: Actor and former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger sees Pruitt as the worst administrator the EPA has ever had.

While speaking at his R20 Austrian World Summit, an annual climate conference, the “Terminator” star and moderate Republican said that he can’t take Pruitt seriously.

“I pay no attention to what he says. He can not be taken seriously. He’s the worst Environmental secretary that we have ever had.” Schwarzenegger said, according to Vice News, while also accusing Pruitt of “doing the bidding for oil companies and the coal companies” with his policies.

In February, Schwarzenegger said Pruitt should be “removed immediately” as EPA head.

EPA SHOWS PRUITT SPENT $3.5 MILLION ON SECURITY, EMBOLDENS DEMOCRATS: The EPA said Friday that Pruitt spent $3.5 million on security over the last year, which Senate Democrats are running with as proof that Pruitt’s defense for the spending is an attempt to “muddy the waters.”

Who’s fooling who? “Mr. Pruitt wants to muddy the waters after racking up massive travel bills, but he’s not fooling anyone,” said Democrats in a joint statement led by Sen. Tom Carper of Delaware, the top Democrat on the Environment and Public Works Committee. “Parents and families across the country are watching his administration brazenly misuse their tax dollars — dollars they expect will be spent protecting their children and communities from toxic chemicals and pollution, not on premium travel for him, his staff and his private security entourage.”

What the numbers say: The EPA spreadsheet released Friday showed that in the first and second quarter of 2018, Pruitt spent $603,832 and $742,205, respectively, on security. The amounts are more than double that spent by the EPA in the last year of the Obama administration for Administrator Gina McCarthy.

TRUMP’S KEYSTONE XL APPROVAL HAS ITS DAY IN COURT: The Trump administration on Thursday defended in court the president’s decision to allow the Keystone XL pipeline to be built, as environmental groups and tribes argued Trump’s decision violated numerous laws.

Justice Department lawyers argued before Montana district court Judge Brian Morris, who rejected the administration’s previous bid to dismiss the lawsuit on the basis of national security and the constitutional authority of the president.

Change up: Former President Barack Obama rejected the nearly 1,200-mile pipeline because of its potential to exacerbate climate change. One of Trump’s first executive actions was to order the project to move forward.

Green’s cry: Opponents of the project argued that the court violated a number of environmental laws, while posing threats to animal species and driving up the risk of oil spills contaminating drinking water supplies.

The Natural Resources Defense Council, one of the plaintiffs, argued that the Trump administration blatantly disregarded the National Environmental Policy Act, the Endangered Species Act, and the Administrative Procedure Act.

CANADA MAY BUY DISPUTED PIPELINE TO SAVE IT: Canada is likely to buy Kinder Morgan’s controversial Trans Mountain pipeline to ensure it gets built, Bloomberg reported Tuesday.

Guarantee: The deal to effectively nationalize the pipeline may be announced as soon as Tuesday, after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau cabinet meets in Ottawa.

“We are going to get that pipeline built,” Trudeau said Tuesday morning heading in to the meeting.

Local opposition: Texas-based company Kinder Morgan threatened last month to halt its proposed $7.4 billion expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline because of opposition from the provincial government of British Columbia, which fears potential spills along a coastline that attracts tourists.

The company said British Columbia must drop its opposition to the project by the end of May or it will pull out from the project.

Oil flow: The Trans Mountain expansion would nearly triple the amount of crude flowing from Alberta’s oil sands to a port near Vancouver.

The Canadian government plans to sell the pipeline after it buys it, including the existing line and its expansion, once it’s guaranteed that it will be built, Bloomberg said.

SENATE CONFIRMS THREE NOMINEES TO NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION: The Senate Thursday confirmed three nominees to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission after a long delay that had threatened to break the quorum of the five-member panel.

Republicans Annie Caputo and David Wright join the commission as new members, while Democrat Jeff Baran was renominated to the panel.

Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., had placed a hold on the nominations of Caputo and Wright, blocking a vote on them, over concerns about the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste project planned in his state. It’s unclear what prompted Heller to lift the hold.

5 US ‘HOSTAGES’ STILL HELD BY VENEZUELA: Five former oil executives with the company Citgo, who are U.S. citizens, remain detained in Venezuela following the surprise Saturday release of former Mormon missionary Joshua Holt.

More than six months: Two sources aware of efforts to free the men tell the Washington Examiner they have not been released after more than six months in captivity.

Dungeon-like conditions: A source said one detainee suffers from health issues and lost 50 pounds in dungeon-like conditions. They said recent family requests for Citgo to intervene went unanswered.

RUNDOWN

Associated Press New swamp: Lobbyist tied to Perry seeks energy firm bailout

New York Times Think the big banks abandoned coal? Think again

Bloomberg EPA’s own science advisers to rebuke agency over auto rollback

Washington Post Why New Jersey is leading the resistance to Trump’s offshore drilling plan

Wall Street Journal US sanctions start to pinch shipping in Iran

Reuters How the world’s biggest private equity oil and gas industry bid collapsed