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CALIFORNIA FIREFIGHTERS SAY TRUMP’S ORDER FOR MORE WATER IS USELESS: California officials say the Trump administration’s effort to provide more water to firefighters is useless and that it won’t affect the response to the dozen-plus wildfires still raging through the state.

‘No issue’: “We have absolutely no shortage of water,” Mike Mohler, deputy director at Cal Fire, the state’s firefighting agency, told Josh. “There is no issue in Northern California, and there is no issue in Southern California with water. The directive has not impacted any of our operations statewide. It’s been status quo. The real issue is the dry conditions and explosive fire growth.”

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross on Wednesday directed the National Marine Fisheries Service to allow for redirecting water set aside in California for endangered species protection to be used for fighting wildfires.

Political response: Environmentalists and fire experts were quick to criticize the move as an act of political posturing, since Ross appeared to be acting in response to tweets from President Trump this week in which he placed blame for the fires on the Democrat-led state government’s mismanagement of water.

On Monday, he said California wildfires “are being made so much worse by the bad environmental laws which aren’t allowing massive amount of readily available water to be properly utilized.” Since Ross issued the directive, the Commerce Department and the White House have not explained how it would help federal, state, and local firefighters put out 13 large fires that Cal Fire officials say continue to burn as of Friday.

Non-answer: Asked to explain the rationale for a policy that firefighters say isn’t needed, the White House directed Josh to the Commerce Department.

A Commerce Department spokesperson provided a statement that gave no further explanation.

“The Secretary provided clear guidance in his statement on August 8th to remove all doubt that Federal officials can respond to these devastating fires by exercising authorities provided in the law,” the person said.

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ZINKE TOURS CARR FIRE, CONTINUES TO DISAGREE ON ROLE OF CLIMATE CHANGE: Interior Secretary on Sunday began a two-day visit of areas devastated by the Carr Fire in Redding, Calif., expressing support for recovery, and calling for more aggressive measures to prevent fires.

“I have no words that describe the loss and devastation experienced by the community,” Zinke said in a post to Twitter. “I’ve been to a lot of fires and this is just something else. We are here for you.”

Personal impact: National Parks and recreation areas were damaged by the Carr Fire, which forced the evacuation of 40,000 people, burned 191,211 acres, and was 59 percent contained as of Sunday, according to Cal Fire. It has caused eight deaths.

The National Park Service announced Sunday that 15 Whiskeytown National Recreation Area employees have lost their homes.

“Wow. This used to be the neighborhood of some of my employees. Despite losing everything they own, many of them still come to work to restore power, fight fires, and repair damaged facilities. My heart and gratitude goes out to all of them,” Zinke said in a second tweet.

‘Manage our forests’: Zinke, in comments to local media, continued to amplify the Trump administration’s push for improvements to forest management policies, rather than blaming climate change for worsening fire seasons.

He blamed environmentalists for holding up forest management projects, which involve the removal of trees and vegetation in forests to take away fuel for fires.

“We need to manage our forests, we need to reduce the fuels,” Zinke told reporters Sunday, in comments reported by the Sacramento Bee. “The public lands belong to everybody, not just the special interest groups.”

Climate’s role: Gov. Jerry Brown and many scientists have said that global warming has made conditions drier, and caused drought, forcing wildfires to become more damaging. But California droughts were around before man-made climate change, and there have been conflicting studies about global climate change’s exact role in this particular drought. Zinke was more comfortable sticking to a discussion of forest management.

“It doesn’t matter whether you believe or don’t believe in climate change,” he said. “What is important is we manage our forests.”

Zinke was more direct in downplaying a role for climate change in an interview with a local television station, KCRA 3.

“I’ve heard the climate change argument back and forth,” Zinke said. “This has nothing to do with climate change. This has to do with active forest management.”

YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK TO REOPEN AFTER WILDFIRE: Yosemite National Park is planning to reopen on Tuesday, but with limited hours and services, the park said on Friday.

The Ferguson Fire had shut down major sections of one of America’s most populated parks, including the Yosemite Valley, since July 25.

It is the first time a wildfire forced the closure of the Yosemite Valley since 1990.
EPA’S WHEELER ARRIVES IN ETHANOL COUNTRY: Environmental Protection Agency acting administrator Andrew Wheeler arrives at the Iowa State Fair on Monday, where ethanol is expected to be a big part of his visit.

Meeting with lawmakers: Wheeler plans to meet with Iowa lawmakers and local stakeholders to discuss “agency issues,” the agency said in an tight-lipped advisory. He plans to hold a press conference later on Monday to outline what was discussed.

Ethanol concerns: The ethanol industry says the top issues that Wheeler needs to address is fixing problems under the EPA’s flagship ethanol and biofuel program, the Renewable Fuel Standard, and implementing President Trump’s plan to allow 15 percent ethanol fuel blends to be sold year round.

Pruitt’s legacy: Former EPA administrator Scott Pruitt had slow-walked the president’s E15 initiative before resigning last month. Pruitt also gave oil refiners dozens of waivers to get around requirements to blend ethanol in gasoline, which stoked the ire of corn farmers and landed EPA in court.

No-shows: However, some leading lawmakers from the state aren’t planning on being in Iowa for Wheeler’s visit. Congressional sources tell John that Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, a top ethanol proponent, will be back in Washington as Wheeler descends on the fairgrounds.

Ernst had earlier urged Wheeler to visit the state.

DNC REVERSES POLICY, ACCEPTS CONTRIBUTIONS FROM FOSSIL FUEL WORKERS: The Democratic National Committee on Friday reversed its ban on taking financial contributions from fossil fuel companies, after an outcry from union workers that said it was alienating a major part of the Democratic base.

‘Draw the line’: “We have to draw the line that we are indeed a party of a big tent where all working people are welcome,” said DNC Chairman Tom Perez on a conference call Friday night. “We’re not a party that punishes workers simply based on how they make ends meet.”

Resolution: Perez sponsored the Friday resolution that allows the DNC to accept contributions from workers that are employed by fossil fuel firms, such as those that mine coal, drill for and refine natural gas and oil.

MONSANTO FOUND LIABLE FOR CAUSING MAN’S CANCER IN LANDMARK CASE: A California jury on Friday found agriculture business giant Monsanto liable for causing a groundskeeper’s cancer in the world’s first ruling on the health effects of the popular weed killer Roundup.

Failed to warn consumers: The Superior Court jury emerged from three days of deliberations to find the global company failed to warn a school groundskeeper, Dewayne Johnson, and other consumers of the cancer risks posed by its weed killers containing the chemical herbicide glyphosate.

First to go to trial: The jury awarded Johnson $39 million in compensation and fined the company $250 million in punitive damages. Monsanto was recently purchased by the German conglomerate Bayer for just over $62.5 billion. The Johnson lawsuit was the first to go to trial, but thousands more are pending in the U.S.

DEVIN NUNES SAYS PROVIDING MORE ENERGY TO EUROPE IS ‘ONLY WAY’ TO TAKE ON RUSSIA: House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., said Sunday that reducing Western Europe’s reliance on Russian gas is the “only way” to take on Moscow in a broader conflict between the two powers on the world stage, and in cyberspace.

Nunes, speaking on Fox News, said the U.S. can help that shift by doing “a lot more” to export liquefied natural gas to Europe.

“The only way we’ll ultimately take on Russia is to say, look we’re not going to be reliant on you for our energy,” Nunes said, who was in Eastern Europe this weekend to build support for the Trans Adriatic Pipeline.

Contested pipeline: The pipeline would take natural gas from the Caspian Sea in Azerbaijan and transport it through Italy to Western Europe. The Trump administration supports the pipeline as a competitor to Nord Stream 2, a pipeline project that would transport natural gas from Russia to Germany. Trump recently criticized German Chancellor Angela Merkel for supporting Nord Stream 2, accusing Germany of being “captive” to Russian gas.

‘Propaganda’ fear: Italy, however, is resisting the 45-mile, $5.2 billion Trans Adriatic Pipeline, with the country’s new environment minister calling the project “pointless” because of what he says is a lack of demand.

Nunes, whose committee conducted an investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, said Russian “propaganda” is spreading misinformation for Italy to oppose the pipeline.

The U.S. role: Trump also wants to export more American LNG to Europe, now that America is the top producer of natural gas.

The European Commission said last week that a recent spike in LNG imports from the U.S. would be maintained and even expanded under Trump’s trade deal with Europe, as long as the U.S. honors its side of the bargain by cutting “red tape.”

FERC HALTS CONSTRUCTION OF ATLANTIC COAST PIPELINE: The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Friday halted construction on “all portions” of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, after a federal appeals court had rejected a permit for the controversial project.

Court forces action: Last week, the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the National Park Service’s approval of a portion of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline.

The court said the agency failed to show how the permit allowing the pipeline to cross the Blue Ridge Parkway was compliant with the purposes of the national park system.

Round-about: FERC staff, in a letter to Dominion, the project developer, said the court’s ruling means the pipeline may need to be rerouted, and subjected to another review by the commission.

“I strongly support @FERC staff’s decision to halt construction on the #AtlanticCoastPipeline,” Democratic FERC commissioner Richard Glick said in a Twitter post. ”The Fourth Circuit’s ruling suggests that the project might need to be rerouted, which will require additional FERC oversight before construction could be permitted to resume.”

Shale provider: Dominion Energy’s 600-mile, $5.1 billion Atlantic Coast Pipeline has been fiercely contested, facing local opposition in both states that would receive natural gas carried by it: Virginia and North Carolina.

The pipeline would transport Mid-Atlantic shale gas from northern West Virginia to eastern Virginia and North Carolina. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, or FERC, approved the project in October. It has been projected to be completed by the end of the year.

More action: Also, on Friday, in three separate 3-2 votes, FERC declined to revisit decisions approving three other pipelines: the PennEast Pipeline; Eastern Market Access Project; and the Southeast Markets Pipeline Project.

The rush of party-line decisions came on the last day at work for FERC Commissioner Robert Powelson, a Republican, who resigned after a year on the board. Without Powelson, until a new nominee is confirmed, there will likely be plenty of 2-2 deadlocks on key pipeline rulings, with two Democrats and two Republicans making up the remaining four commissioners.

SAUDIS MAY BACK ELECTRIC-CARMAKER TESLA’S PLAN TO GO PRIVATE: Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund has repeatedly recommended converting electric carmaker Tesla to a private company, founder Elon Musk said Monday, and may back his proposal to do so now.

Saudi fund’s 5-percent stake: The managing director of the fund, which holds a 5 percent stake in Tesla already, met with Musk most recently on July 31 and “expressed regret that I had not moved forward previously on a going-private transaction with them,” he wrote in a blog post on the company’s website. “He strongly expressed his support for funding a going-private transaction for Tesla at this time.”

Eager to move forward: Musk said his understanding from the investor that no other approvals were needed and that the fund was “eager to proceed” was the basis for his statement on Twitter last week that funding for the transaction had already been secured, a comment that the Wall Street Journal reported had drawn the attention of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Corporations making such announcements typically do so via press release, either before or after the New York Stock Exchange’s regular trading hours of 9:30 to 4 p.m., not on social media.

‘Right and fair’: “I felt it was the right and fair thing to do so that all investors had the same information at the same time,” Musk said. “I will now continue to talk with investors, and I have engaged advisers to investigate a range of potential structures and options. Among other things, this will allow me to obtain a more precise understanding of how many of Tesla’s existing public shareholders would remain shareholders if we became private.”

SAUDIS TEAM UP WITH US FIRM ON REFINERY ‘MEGAPROJECT’: Pennsylvania-based Air Products and Saudi Aramco announced Sunday that they would be teaming up to build a multi-billion dollar project to power Saudi Arabia’s new mega-refinery complex.

The $8 billion joint venture will be built in the kingdom’s Jazan Economic City on the Red Sea.

Making Saudis self sufficient: The joint gasification and electricity generation project is central to the “self-sufficiency of our megaprojects at Jazan,” said Saudi Aramco Senior Vice President Abdulaziz M. Al-Judaimi. The project will combine Air Product’s patented gasification technology to help refine crude oil, while also turning waste gases from refineries into useful fuel to generate electricity from a state-of-the-art natural gas plant.

Powering a ‘megaproject’: That electricity will be used to help power Saudi Aramco’s Jazan Refinery and terminal, which is being hailed by Saudi Aramco as “a megaproject” that will process crude oil into liquefied petroleum gas, sulfur, asphalt, benzene and paraxylene. The Jazan refinery will add 400,000 barrels per day of refining capacity.

From China to Arabia: Air Products chairman Seifi Ghasemi said the facility will build on the success of the company’s Lu’An project in China, and extends Air Products’ leadership position supplying synthetic natural gas to major companies around the world.

ED MARKEY WANTS ANSWERS ON EX-TRUMP LAWYER’S ROLE IN NUCLEAR POWER PLANT: Democratic Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts asked questions Friday about former Trump attorney Michael Cohen’s lobbying of the Department of Energy, by which be sought to gain billions of dollars in financial assistance for a nuclear power plant on behalf of a Trump donor.

‘Disturbing questions’: “The revelation raises disturbing questions about the integrity of the Department of Energy’s loan approval process for funding nuclear power plant construction,” the Massachusetts senator wrote in a letter to Energy Secretary Rick Perry on Thursday night.

$10 million deal: Markey, who chairs the Senate climate change task force, wants Perry to investigate a report in the Wall Street Journal that Trump donor Franklin L. Haney agreed to pay Cohen $10 million to assist in gaining government funding to finish construction of the delayed Bellefonte Nuclear Power Plant in Alabama.

MARKEY URGES PERRY NOT TO SWITCH OFF LIGHT BULB RULE: Markey was also busy prodding Perry over reported plans to repeal one of the senator’s pet programs — light bulb efficiency standards.

2020 mandate: Markey championed the standards in the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, establishing minimum efficiency standards for all lightbulbs set to take effect by January 2020.

$666 billion: Markey argues that the standards will save consumers $666 billion in electric bills in the long run, while reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 1.7 billion metric tons by 2050. But reported plans by the Trump administration to rescind the efficiency standards will erase those savings, he wrote in his letter to Perry last week.  

“Rolling back these standards would lead to energy waste, undermine innovation, and take money out of the pockets of American families,” Markey said. “The Trump administration should immediately stop any effort to rescind these standards and instead work to fully implement the bipartisan law that Congress wrote.”

RUNDOWN

Axios Forget Trump — coal seeks new life in high tech

Wall Street Journal Frackers burn cash to sustain U.S. oil boom

Reuters Smoke gets in your eyes: wildfires sting California park tourism

Bloomberg Facing $17 billion in fire damages, a CEO blames climate change

New York Times A gas pipeline to Italy? Five Star backers sense a betrayal

Washington Post Pepco is building a substation next to a school. Residents want to know: Why here?