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IS TRUMP SERIOUS ABOUT WORKING WITH GREENS ON WILDFIRES? Over the weekend, President Trump said he will be working with environmental groups to solve the wildfire crisis in California, but so far the administration hasn’t reached out.

“The president talks about beautiful air and a great climate, but his administration’s policies are all about the opposite,” David Doniger, senior climate policy director at the Natural Resources Defense Council, told John in an email.

Nevertheless, if there ever was a “serious overture, we’d be ready to respond,” Doniger added.

What Trump said: Trump said on Saturday that “we’ll also be working with environmental groups … I think everybody has seen the light.” The president toured the devastation in California with Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown on Saturday.

Trump also told reporters that he has not changed his attitude toward climate change after seeing the wildfires. He blames forestry mismanagement for the fires, rather than higher temperatures caused by the warming of the planet. He also said he wants a “great climate.”

Which groups? Trump wasn’t precise in saying which environmental groups he would reach out to in working on the wildfire threat. Many national groups, like Doniger’s, are currently suing the administration over his the administration’s climate and environmental policies, and many are wary of Trump’s statements.

Most are suing Trump: The Center for Biological Diversity, which is suing Trump at one of the highest rates, says it hasn’t heard from the White House after Trump’s comments over the weekend.

“The truth is that climate change is leading to hotter, drier conditions that make fires more likely to burn, and people are starting more fires, in more places, throughout the year,” Kassie Siegel, director of the Center for Biological Diversity’s Climate Law Institute, said in a statement to John.

“If Trump wants to do a 180 and get to work fighting the climate crisis and preventing urban sprawl development, we’d be happy to help,” said Siegel.

Trump is toning down: But some conservatives think Trump’s rhetoric over the weekend, especially when it comes to reaching out to environmentalists, is his attempt at toning it down.

Republican environmental strategist Mike McKenna says in the “it is a consequence of the midterms.”

He tells John that voters strongly suggested “that the volume be reduced and the tone be improved.”  

McKenna thinks Trump could make the case that the California wildfires are at least partially a result of government mismanagement, both of forests and development.

Welcome to Daily on Energy, compiled 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.  

DEMOCRATIC LAWMAKERS JOIN COURT FIGHT AGAINST TRUMP’S ROLLBACK OF NATIONAL MONUMENTS: Over 110 Democratic lawmakers filed court documents on Monday to join environmentalists’ lawsuits opposing Trump’s rollback of the Obama administration’s expansion of the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments in Utah.

Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., and Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., led a bicameral group in submitting an amicus brief in support of five lawsuits pending before the federal District Court for the District of Columbia.

“By revoking protections for millions of acres of public lands, President Trump has overstepped the authority delegated to presidents by Congress, putting cherished national monuments like Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante on the chopping block in an egregious giveaway to big corporations,” Udall said in a statement.

Attorneys general weigh in: A coalition of 11 Democratic attorneys general also filed comments Monday opposing Trump’s actions.

“President Trump does not have the power to unilaterally revoke national monuments,” Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson said. “My office is committed to defending these national treasures in Washington state and throughout the country.”

In addition to Washington, attorneys general of California, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Massachusetts joined the multi-state coalition in submitting the brief.

Reversing Obama-era decisions: The lawsuits are in response to Trump’s order from last December cutting the size of the national monuments by 85 percent. Former President Barack Obama had expanded the monuments, restricting development over an increasing swath of land.

The Democrats argue that the Constitution’s framework provides Congress with plenary control over all federal lands. The president only has the right to establish national monuments, but not rescind them.

Conservative groups also say it’s illegal: Legal opposition to Trump’s action is not limited to Democrats and liberal groups. Conservative groups filed briefs with the court on Monday siding against Trump.

Conservatives for Responsible Stewardship, a 14,000-member national grassroots organization, filed a friend-of-the-court brief that calls the Trump administration’s monument rollback illegal.

COMMITTEE DEMOCRATS WANT ANSWERS FROM EPA ABOUT CLIMATE ROLLBACKS: Top Democrats set to take control of the House Energy and Commerce Committee requested on Tuesday morning that the Environmental Protection Agency provide them with information and documents explaining the agency’s decision to weaken three major Obama administration climate change rules.

Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J., expected to lead the committee next Congress, and colleagues, want to examine the agency’s rationale and analysis for rolling back the Clean Power Plan targeting coal plant emissions, CAFE standards that increased the fuel efficiency of vehicles, and a rule requiring the oil and gas industry monitor and repair leaks of methane, a potent greenhouse gas.

“Combined, the administration’s rollbacks willfully turn a blind eye to the dangers of climate change, putting American communities at risk and diverting EPA’s mission to protect human health and the environment,” Pallone wrote in a letter to EPA Acting Administrator Andrew Wheeler, which was also signed by Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo., and Paul Tonko, D-N.Y.

Pallone recently told Josh that he intends to focus his leadership of the Energy and Commerce Committee on providing oversight of the Trump administration’s environmental policies.

EPA REGIONAL HEAD FORCED TO RESIGN OVER ALLEGED ETHICS VIOLATIONS:

The EPA’s regional administrator for the Southeast has resigned after being indicted by a grand jury in Alabama for using his post for personal gain.

Onis “Trey” Glenn III, a Trump political appointee, announced his resignation on Sunday in a letter to Wheeler.

EPA chief of staff Ryan Jackson said on Monday that Wheeler accepted Glenn’s resignation, while taking steps to install Mary Walker as acting head of the regional office. Walker is a former Georgia state environmental regulator.

DC MOVES CLOSER TO MANDATING ELIMINATION OF FOSSIL FUELS: Washington D.C. moved closer Tuesday morning to adopting the nation’s first 100 percent renewable energy bill, in what supporters say would be the most aggressive, fastest-acting climate change legislation in the country.

Two committees of the D.C. Council separately approved the bill Tuesday, moving it to a vote before the full council.

Countering federal inaction: The Committee on Transportation and Environment, and Committee on Business and Economic Development, each passed the bill unanimously.

“We can’t be walking or strolling toward solutions, we need to run,” council member Charles Allen, a Democrat, said before voting to approve the bill on the Transportation and Environment Committee. “The damage being done at the federal level can’t be reversed in a year or two.”

The full council is slated on Nov. 27 to conduct the first of two votes on the 100 percent renewable energy bill.

What the bill does: The bill would move the district to 100 percent renewable electricity by 2032, compared to its current policy of obtaining 50 percent of its power from renewables by that year. It would also also create energy efficiency standards for existing buildings, both privately-owned ones and those owned by the District, a first-of-its-kind proposal in the nation.

The Democrat-dominated states of California and Hawaii also have laws mandating 100 percent electricity from carbon-free sources, but those set a later target date than D.C. is proposing — 2045.

INTERIOR MOVES TO EXPAND DRILLING IN ALASKA OIL RESERVE: The Interior Department on Tuesday move to expand drilling in Alaska’s National Petroleum Reserve.

Joe Balash, assistant secretary of the Interior for land and minerals management, told reporters the agency will release a notice of intent to rewrite a Obama administration management plan for the reserve that blocked about half of its 22.1-million acres from drilling.

Roughly 1.4 million acres currently are leased for drilling.

“We think it’s time to reevaluate some of the areas that were previously left unavailable for leasing,” Balash told reporters on a press call, adding that it would take about a year to revise the management plan.

Environmental groups quickly criticized the intended move, saying it will remove protections for caribou and migratory birds.

OIL INDUSTRY URGES AGAINST EXTENDING ELECTRIC VEHICLE TAX CREDIT: The American Petroleum Institute, the largest oil and gas lobbying group, urged Republican congressional leaders Monday to oppose extending a temporary tax credit for electric vehicles.

API argues the tax credit is “bad policy” because even with the subsidy, “only the wealthy can afford” electric vehicles.

“We encourage the House and Senate to build on tax reform and not take a step backward,” API wrote in a letter to House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

The letter was also signed by American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers; National Association for Convenience & Fuel Retailing; Petroleum Marketers Association of America; and SIGMA.

Congress may act in the ‘lame duck’: Some Republicans and Democrats are seeking, as part of a package of temporary tax breaks slated for re-upping, to extend the $7,500-per-vehicle tax credit for electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles — keeping it alive for more years — and lifting the individual manufacturer cap.

That momentum has pushed opponents to speak up.

Koch industries, led by oil and gas billionaires Charles and David Koch, also urged Congress this month to reject the renewal of the breaks, known as “tax extenders,” for electric vehicles.

COAL LOBBY CHEERS NEW LEGISLATION GIVING PLANTS LOAN GUARANTEES: The American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, a trade group supporting the industry, expressed support Monday for a bill introduced by Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., which would provide federal loan guarantees to high-efficiency coal plants.

What’s in the bill: It would provide loan guarantees for certain coal plants larger than 300 megawatts, and for smaller modular units.  

Eligible plants would have to achieve a certain level of efficiency, and be capable of accommodating carbon capture and storage technologies to collect emissions from the coal and bury it underground.

A life preserver for fading coal: “Senator Young’s bill is an important step toward deploying the next generation of advanced coal plants to replace the coal plants that are retiring,” said Michelle Bloodworth, president and CEO of the coal group.

About 40 percent of U.S. coal plants have retired or are scheduled to, according to ACCCE, as cheaper natural gas and renewables have challenged its market share.

RENEWABLE GROUP CALLS FOR CHANGES TO POWER MARKET RULES: A nonprofit representing the wind and solar industries released a report Monday finding that “outdated” wholesale power market rules are biased against these cleaner technologies, and need to be reformed.

Despite the falling cost of renewables, the Wind Solar Alliance argues that grid operators are not recognizing wind and solar for other positive attributes that can help make the grid cleaner.

“The report demonstrates the numerous ways that existing market structures are biased in favor of older, large, slow-to-react resources,” said John Kostyack, executive director of the Wind Solar Alliance. “It’s time for market operators to ensure these clean, low-cost technologies [wind and solar] are appropriately recognized and rewarded for the reliability services they can provide.”

Proposed changes include: The group, for example, wants to update rules in electricity markets to remove barriers to competition for distributed energy resources — solar panels or home batteries, for example — that can generate, store, and manage their own electricity, and diminish the stress on the main power grid.

Many market rules were adopted in the 1990s and early 2000s, the group said, before the growth of renewables was anticipated.

On the docket at FERC: The report from the alliance comes as the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which oversees wholesale power markets, is examining how to properly compensate different fuel sources as the grid has evolved over recent years away from coal and nuclear power.

Read the full report here.

RUNDOWN

New York Times ‘Like a terror movie’: How climate change will cause more simultaneous disasters

Bloomberg Deep divisions hinder Canadian oil patch in fight of its life

Reuters South Korean shipbuilders’ lock on LNG tanker market to hold for years

Wall Street Journal Energy shares shed crude relationship with oil prices

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