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TRUMP FUMES AT SPIES, TALKS UP SUCCESS OF IRAN OIL SANCTIONS: President Trump took to Twitter on Wednesday morning to tout his withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal and the effects that re-imposing oil sanctions has had on hobbling the country’s pursuit of nuclear weapons.

“There economy is now crashing, which is the only thing holding them back,” Trump tweeted, scolding U.S. intelligence officials who said Iran is not a threat.

“Be careful of Iran. Perhaps Intelligence should go back to school!” Trump continued. “The Intelligence people seem to be extremely passive and naive when it comes to the dangers of Iran. They are wrong!”

Intelligence officials briefed the Senate on Tuesday, contradicting most of the administration’s claims about Iran, North Korea, ISIS, and other threats.

But it’s a bit of an unanswered question whether oil sanctions are hurting Iran’s economy right now.

Trump granted a huge number of waivers to a number of Iran’s top energy export destinations, like China and South Korea, giving Iran some time to continue collecting petroleum revenues. The Trump administration has pledged not to be as forgiving in allowing for extended waivers down the road.

However, given the intelligence assessment from Tuesday, it might no longer be relevant to hold back Iran’s oil exports.

The Energy Information Administration said earlier this month that Iran’s total revenues from petroleum totaled $55 billion in 2017.

In the lead-up to Trump’s November sanction on its energy industry, Iran lost about a million barrels per day in revenue, dropping from a peak of 2.7 million barrels in June to around 1.9 million barrels per day in September.

That’s a sizable chunk of revenue for an OPEC nation, but not exactly the end of the world. The EIA analysis shows that Iran increased its exports of petroleum products through the summer months in anticipation of sanctions kicking in Nov. 5.

Welcome to Daily on Energy, written 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.  

TRUMP PRODS THE WORLD TO JOIN HIS OIL SANCTIONS ON VENEZUELA: The Trump administration wants global support in its bid to block Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro from earning oil sales revenue — the country’s economic lifeblood — but is stopping short of punishing countries that continue to buy from him.

Alongside new sanctions against Venezuela’s state-run oil monopoly, PDVSA, the Trump administration placed the company on the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked-Persons List maintained by the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, or OFAC.

What that means: This designation, meant to discourage money laundering and terrorist financing, would likely dissuade international banks from being a party to transactions with PDVSA, likely crimping sales to some countries.

“Most international banks will cease dealings with a person or entity on the SDN list out of concern for risk exposure,” Joseph McMonigle, a former chief of staff at the Energy Department in the George W. Bush administration, told Josh. “Therefore, the sanctions are likely to have broader application than just U.S. commercial transactions.”

McMonigle and other experts say it’s unlikely China and Russia will stop buying Venezuela’s oil, which Maduro would likely offer at steep discounts.

“But other potential buyers will think twice about it,” McMonigle said, mentioning India as a possibility.

No “secondary sanctions”: Despite prodding U.S. allies rhetorically, the Trump administration’s sanctions on Venezuela do not formally prevent other countries from buying PDVSA’s oil.

That is a different approach than the administration took with Iran oil sanctions last year, when it applied so-called secondary sanctions, but granted waivers to some countries allowing continued importing of Iranian crude.

Read more of Josh’s report here.

RICK PERRY BRACES FOR OUTAGES FROM THE POLAR VORTEX: Energy Secretary Rick Perry received an update Tuesday from Karen Evans, the assistant secretary of the Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response, known as CESER, on the department’s readiness to “respond to the polar vortex hitting the country from the Midwest to the East Coast.”

Hail CESER: The CESER office was set up on Perry’s watch to coordinate the federal government’s response to major power outages due to extreme weather events, in addition to potential cyberattacks on the nation’s grid by nation states and other bad actors.

Energy demand on the rise amid cold snap: The Washington metro area is heading into several days of very cold temperatures as cold polar winds extend eastward across the nation, which could place strain on the electric grid, natural gas, and heating oil as demand for heating rises in one the most densely populated regions of the nation.

Read more from John’s story here.

ED MARKEY PLANS ON REINTRODUCING ESCAPE ACT AS A MODEST CLIMATE BILL: Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., told lawmakers on Tuesday he plans to reintroduce his ESCAPE Act legislation as part of an effort to make roads and highways more resilient to climate change.

Markey introduced the bill last year with Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., with lawmakers filing a companion bill in the House, and told senators at a confirmation hearing in the Environment and Public Works Committee that he re-filing the bill soon.

The Enhancing the Strength and Capacity of America’s Primary Evacuation Routes (ESCAPE) Act dedicates $1 billion in federal resources to improve the resilience of the nation’s evacuation routes, and protect citizens from the adverse impacts of climate change, according to Markey’s office.

The bill was introduced last year in the run-up to hurricane season, which saw historic flooding, especially on the coast where roads and highways were blocked due to storm surge.

The bill is likely to be included in federal highway legislation that must be renewed next year.

EPA PUSHES BACK AGAINST REPORTS IT WON’T BAN DRINKING WATER CHEMICALS: The Environmental Protection Agency is bristling at reports, which have prompted congressional fretting, that it won’t seek to ban chemicals known as PFAS in a pending drinking water protection plan.

“Despite what is being reported, EPA has not finalized or publicly issued its PFAS management plan, and any information that speculates what is included in the plan is premature,” said David Ross, EPA’s water chief.

Ross said the agency is committed to following the law when it comes to the process for evaluating new drinking water standards, which is part of the many components of a draft water quality plan that is currently undergoing interagency review.

Among the Republicans who expressed worry that the EPA will not include drinking water limits for two toxic chemicals, PFOS and PFOAS was  Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., who serves on the environment committee and will be influential in developing the next highway bill.

West Virginia has suffered from widespread water quality problems in recent years that have made national news.

HOUSE DEMOCRATS QUESTION WHETHER INDUSTRY INFLUENCED EPA TO SUPRESS STUDY ON PFAS: Democrats of the House Energy and Commerce Committee requested Tuesday the EPA provide documents showing potential influence by the chemical industry in the delayed release of a study last year that found PFAS in water are harmful to human health at lower levels than the agency previously deemed safe.

Emails produced by a Freedom of Information request showed the EPA helped delay the release of a study, which was eventually released by the Health and Human Services Department.

The Democrats initially sought documents in May from EPA, when Scott Pruitt was leading the agency, but they never got a response.

NEW MEXICO GOVERNOR BECOMES LATEST TO JOIN PARIS CLIMATE COALITION:  New Mexico’s Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed an executive order on Tuesday to join 19 other governors in the U.S. Climate Alliance, a bipartisan coalition to support the Paris climate accord in the wake of Trump’s decision to withdraw from it.

“Today marks an important shift in direction on climate policy in New Mexico,” said Lujan in a statement. “We know all too well states cannot rely on the federal government right now to act responsibly and take the bold action scientists have made clear is needed to prevent calamitous climate change fallout in our lifetimes. It’s up to us.”

NOAA REMINDS US WINTER STORMS DON’T PROVE GLOBAL WARMING ISN’T HAPPENING: The U.S. federal agency charged with studying climate science reminded Americans on Tuesday that a powerful winter storm does not prove global warming is a myth.

Hours after Trump made a mocking reference to global warming as an extreme cold snap descends on the Midwest, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s climate arm tweeted a cartoon showing the few atmospheric and oceanic ingredients required for wintry weather.

“Winter storms don’t prove that global warming isn’t happening,” the tweet said.

The agency included a link explaining the difference between climate change and weather.

While global temperatures on average are on the rise, that does not preclude cold weather.

SENATORS INTRODUCE BIPARTISAN WILDLIFE CONSERVATION LEGISLATION: Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., the chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, teamed with the panel’s top Democrat, Tom Carper of Delaware on Wednesday to introduce legislation to protect endangered species, and promote innovation in wildlife conservation.

The WILD Act previously passed the Senate in 2017 without being considered by the House.

It would require federal agencies to implement strategic programs to control invasive species;  reauthorize legislation to protect endangered species such as elephants, great apes, turtles, and tigers; and establish monetary prize competitions for technological innovation to combat wildlife poaching and trafficking.

RUNDOWN

Washington Post Russia secretly offered North Korea a nuclear power plant, officials say

The Atlantic 7 reasons Democrats won’t pass a Green New Deal

The Hill New EPA policy would offer alternative to penalties for some oil, gas polluters

Wall Street Journal Once powerful PG&E has few friends left in California capital

New York Times China’s coal plants haven’t cut methane emissions as required, study finds