TRUMP, MACRON START FIRST STATE VISIT BY PLANTING A TREE: President Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron will mark Earth Day Monday afternoon by planting a tree on the South Lawn of the White House.

Trump is hosting Macron for the first state visit for either of them, beginning Monday. The tree planting will be followed soon afterward by a visit to the Mt. Vernon estate of George Washington and his tomb and dinner.

Trump marked Earth Day Sunday with a message promoting how a “healthy environment and a strong economy go hand in hand.”

“Already, we are making great economic progress in concert with — not in opposition to — protecting our environment.”

• Le climatique: Macron has often chided the president for his opposition to climate change regulation and for vowing to exit the Paris climate change agreement. It is not clear how climate change will be discussed during the two days of talks between Trump and Macron.  

• Democrats growling over climate: But it is clear where Democrats stand on the matter. Some chose to counter Trump’s message on Sunday, saying his rollback of climate rules will harm the environment.

“The anti-climate agenda coming out of this admin[istration] is wrongheaded. The majority of Americans want to protect the environment and keep our air and water clean. #EarthDay,” Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., tweeted.

• Meanwhile: Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg vowed Sunday to provide $4.5 million to cover some of the U.S. commitment to the Paris climate change deal.

The money will go to the United Nations body that oversees international climate change negotiations, the UNFCC.

WHY TRUMP IS DEFENDING A MARINE MONUMENT MADE BY OBAMA: The Trump administration is defending an underwater national monument off the coast of New England designated by former President Barack Obama in 2016, but not because it likes what Obama created.

After all, President Trump last year issued a rollback of the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments in Utah, and his administration has argued that Obama and other recent presidents abused their authority in creating or expanding national monuments on large swaths of public land.

Trump wants fewer and smaller monuments, and Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has recommended the president shrink the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument that the administration is now backing in court.

• Power trip: The reason is presidential power.

“This is purely about giving the president as much authority and broader power as he can have,” said Justin Pidot, a law professor at the University of Denver who served as the deputy solicitor for land resources at the Interior Department during the Obama administration.

• Trump defense: The Department of Justice declined to tell the Washington Examiner why it supported Obama in the marine monument case, citing ongoing litigation. But the Justice Department’s legal filing in the case makes clear the motivation.

In a filing in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia this week, the Justice Department said the federal court system has no authority to decide whether Obama acted lawfully when he created the marine monument in 2016.

“This court cannot review how the president exercised the discretion that Congress granted him to designate and define national monuments in the Antiquities Act,” the Justice Department wrote in a motion asking the court to dismiss a lawsuit from fishermen trying to eliminate the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument.

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KEVIN CRAMER CHATTING WITH WHITE HOUSE ON OPEC COMMISSION:  Energy security advocates and one of Trump’s top energy confidantes, Rep. Kevin Cramer, have been pushing a way the president could keep better tabs on OPEC.

• It came from the campaign: The creation of an OPEC commission was an idea suggested to Trump by Cramer, the Republican from North Dakota, during the presidential campaign. He has been in touch with senior Trump aides to discuss the commission and says it can be created by executive action.

• Regular talks: “I have on a pretty regular basis been in touch with folks in the White House,” Cramer told the Washington Examiner.

• As senior aides depart: Nevertheless, with the loss of senior energy aides George David Banks and Mike Catanzaro, it will be challenging to stand up the commission. “They’re the ones with the most institutional knowledge of my request in terms of an administrative approach, which is quite honestly, the most likely,” Cramer said.

• Trump eyes OPEC: The idea of a commission to monitor OPEC came to fore publicly Friday after Trump tweeted about the oil cartel being “at it again” by “artificially” driving up oil prices.

“Looks like OPEC is at it again,” Trump tweeted. “Oil prices are artificially Very High! No good and will not be accepted!”

PRUITT MET WITH LOBBYIST WHOSE WIFE RENTED HIM CONDO: Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt met last year in his official role with J. Steven Hart, whose wife rented Pruitt a $50 per night condo on Capitol Hill, according to a disclosure filing made public Friday.

• Connecting the dots: The filing shows Hart lobbied the EPA on the behalf of Smithfield Foods, the world’s largest pork processor and hog producer, on issues “relating to support for EPA Chesapeake Bay programs.”

The meeting occurred at the same time Hart’s wife was renting Pruitt the condo, a living arrangement that is under multiple federal investigations.

Hart has said he did not lobby the EPA during 2017 or 2018, but the filing contradicts that assertion.

• More denials: Smithfield Foods and Hart deny the meeting and lobbying was related to the food company.

In a statement Friday, Smithfield Foods said the work Hart did was a personal service for Dennis Treacy, a friend and former Smithfield Foods executive vice president, who joined the July 2017 meeting with Pruitt.

Treacy is a member of the Chesapeake Bay Commission, a government body that aims to improve the water quality of the largest estuary in the U.S.

• Abrupt departure: Hart announced he is resigning from his lobbying firm Williams & Jensen just before the disclosure was published. He was already planning to retire in November.

ENVIRONMENTAL GROUPS INCREASE PRESSURE ON PRUITT TO RESIGN: Ahead of Pruitt’s visit to Capitol Hill on Thursday, environmental groups are stepping up their campaign for him to resign.

• ‘Fire’ Pruitt on Trump’s favorite show: A new ad that the Friends of the Earth began running Monday morning on “Fox and Friends” pushing for Pruitt to be fired. The ad points out that Trump promised to drain the swamp, but “corruption” is rising at the EPA under Pruitt. The 30-second ad concludes: “It’s time to fire Scott Pruitt.” The ad is called “Corrupt” and will run April 23-April 26.

• Pruitt goes to Capitol Hill: Pruitt is slated to appear twice in the House on Thursday. First, before the House Energy and Commerce Committee at 10 a.m., followed by the House Appropriations Committee at 2 p.m.

The hearings were scheduled months ago to discuss the fiscal 2019 budget. Democrats want to turn the hearings into a question-and-answer session about Pruitt’s travel and security expenses, as well as a number of other concerns surrounding the EPA chief’s behavior.

“Scott Pruitt has wasted millions of taxpayer dollars on his lavish lifestyle and given special favors to his friends and allies,” said Lukas Ross, climate and energy campaigner at Friends of the Earth. “Americans are sick of it, and we will not let up the pressure until Congress does the right thing and fires Pruitt.”

• Fact check: Only Trump can fire Pruitt, but Congress could put pressure on the president to do so.

15 REPUBLICAN ATTORNEYS GENERAL OPPOSE CALIFORNIA CLIMATE SUIT: The climate change court fight between California cities and big energy companies such as Exxon Mobil is widening as Republican attorneys general from 15 states filed a court brief Friday opposing the cities’ climate lawsuits.

The attorneys general argue that the cities and municipalities suing the companies in federal court are overreaching in using local “nuisance” ordinances as a way to find a court remedy to the complex issue of global warming.

• Fossil energy producer and consumer states: The 15 states filing the amicus brief opposing the lawsuit include Texas, Louisiana, Wyoming, Colorado, West Virginia, Indiana, Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Utah, and Wisconsin.

MICHAEL MOORE SPRAYS ‘FLINT WATER’ AT MICHIGAN CAPITOL: Filmmaker Michael Moore sprayed water from a hose connected to a truck labeled “Flint water” at the Michigan Capitol in Lansing on Friday.

He was surrounded by a film crew, who declined to discuss details of the new project, according to the Detroit News.

• Hometown connection: Moore is from Flint, and has been critical of how Gov. Rick Snyder has handled the city’s water contamination crisis.

“Gov. Snyder, drink the water,” Moore reportedly said, holding a glass and facing the historic building.

• Claiming progress: Snyder recently ended free bottled water service in Flint. He said testing shows that lead in tap water is now below the federal action limit.

He also said two years ago that he would drink filtered Flint water for a month to show it was safe.

The crisis began in 2014 when the source for drinking water in the city was changed to the Flint River.

RUNDOWN

New York Times Scott Pruitt before the EPA: Fancy homes, a shell company and friends with money

Reuters Facing shipping constraints, Canada moving oil one truckload at a time

Bloomberg The latest climate threat for coastal cities: more rich people

Washington Post Perched on a platform high in a tree, a 61-year-old woman fights a gas pipeline

Wall Street Journal Retirement communities lure boomers with eco-friendly message

New York Times Smothered by smog from burning coal, Polish cities rank among Europe’s dirtiest