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BREAKING: KEYSTONE XL APPROVED BY NEBRASKA REGULATORS: Nebraska regulators on Monday morning voted to allow TransCanada’s Keystone XL oil pipeline to move forward, granting a key permit for the long-debate project.
The Nebraska Public Service Commission approved an in-state route for the pipeline on a 3-2 vote, in the last major regulatory hurdle facing the project.
The $8 billion Keystone XL pipeline would ship oil from Canada’s Alberta oil sands to Steele City, Neb., and then on to refineries along the Gulf Coast. It has been contested by environmental advocates worried about spills and climate change.
Former President Barack Obama’s State Department considered the application for seven years before Obama rejected it in November 2015, a month before signing the Paris climate change agreement.
The Trump administration granted a permit for the pipeline in March, but it still needed approval by the five-member Nebraska Public Service Commission to be built in the state.
The Keystone XL pipeline has become a political punching bag between the Right and the Left for nearly a decade, and it looks like that will continue, despite President Trump’s executive action soon after he was inaugurated to expedite the project.
“Even if Nebraska’s PSC approves the permit, the fight’s not over yet,” Jason Disterhoft, senior climate campaigner at the Rainforest Action Network, said last week.
Going after the money: Environmentalists plan to take the fight to the financial institutions that back TransCanada. The group plans to use a Dec. 15 deadline for the company to renew its loan obligations with major investment banks, putting pressure on the banks to end their business with the large Canadian energy company.
What’s next: Parties to the decision can appeal the ruling to the state district court, with the Nebraska Supreme Court likely to have final say.
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TRUMP HOLDS BACK ‘HORROR SHOW’ ELEPHANT HUNT: Trump promised Sunday he would make a final decision this week on whether to allow permits to trophy hunt elephants and other big game after delaying the decision last week, but said he’s leaning toward not allowing the permits.
“Big-game trophy decision will be announced next week but will be very hard pressed to change my mind that this horror show in any way helps conservation of Elephants or any other animal,” Trump tweeted.
Trump on Friday placed a hold on the the Interior Department’s decision to allow hunters to import elephant trophies from Zimbabwe.
GOP says no: Trump responded to bipartisan criticism of the administration’s decision to allow imports of trophy carcasses.
Rep. Ed Royce of California, the Republican chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, on Friday criticized the decision because of the political situation in Zimbabwe and asked Interior to immediately rescind the directive.
Threats to sue: Environmental groups have also threatened to sue over the decision.
D.C. CIRCUIT COURT TO HEAR FIGHT OVER EPA COAL ASH RULE: The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals will hear oral arguments Monday in Utility Solid Waste Activities Group v. EPA, as the Trump administration seeks to reconsider parts of coal ash storage and disposal regulations issued by the Obama administration in 2015.
AES Puerto Rico and the Utility Solid Waste Activities Group, an industry group, filed petitions to the court in May challenging the Obama rule.
The EPA sent a list to the court of 16 provisions to the rule that “are or are likely to be reconsidered” by the agency.
The scope of coal ash: According to Earthjustice, more than 1,400 coal ash sites are in the United States, and they say coal residual waste contaminated water sources at at least 200 of those sites.
COLLAPSE OF COALITION TALKS IN GERMANY COULD AFFECT CLIMATE GOALS: Germany is facing political uncertainty after talks to form the next government fell apart overnight, dealing a blow to the prospects of Chancellor Angela Merkel.
The liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP) departed the negotiations shortly before midnight on Sunday, CNN reported, over disagreements on major issues, including energy policy.
But Merkel acknowledged last week during the United Nations climate change talks in Bonn, Germany, that her country was likely to miss its goal of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 because of its continued reliance on coal.
She said eliminating coal use would require “tough discussions” with German politicians in coming weeks.
The collapse of coalition talks makes consensus decisions on climate change and other issues more difficult.
TOM STEYER PLANS ‘MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT’ ON IMPEACHING TRUMP: Climate change activist Tom Steyer is planning to make a “major announcement” Monday in New York’s Times Square about his push to force the impeachment of Trump.
Steyer’s campaign, Need To Impeach, said Steyer will deliver the announcement at 11:45 a.m.
Need To Impeach has launched an eight-figure national television campaign asking people to sign a petition to remove Trump from office. More than 2.5 million people have signed it.
HEAD OF PUERTO RICO’S MALIGNED, BANKRUPT POWER UTILITY RESIGNS: The head of Puerto Rico’s fledgling state-owned power utility resigned Friday, almost 60 days after Hurricane Maria ravaged the island’s electricity grid.
Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rossello told local reporters that Ricardo Ramos resigned as executive director of the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, or PREPA.
“The resignation was worked on … in the best interest of the people of Puerto Rico,” Rossello said. The governor said Ramos had caused “distractions” at PREPA despite working in a “professional” manner.
PREPA’s governing board named engineer Justo González the interim chief.
RUNDOWN
Reuters Metal recyclers prepare for electric car revolution
Washington Post Zinke rocked moccasins to celebrate Native cultures. But tribes are focused on his plans to rock Bears Ears
Reuters Coffee grounds to help power London’s buses
Politico What EPA chief Scott Pruitt promised — and what he’s done
Bloomberg Norway oil bosses insist end isn’t near after $35 billion shock
Wall Street Journal Big Oil and auto makers throw a lifeline to the combustion engine
Calendar
MONDAY, NOV. 20
All day, 500 Fifth St. NW. The National Academy of Sciences holds a workshop on “Understanding Pathways to a Paradigm Shift in Toxicity Testing and Decision Making,” Nov. 20-21.
nas-sites.org/emergingscience/meetings/paradigm-shift-in-decisions/
9 a.m.-3 p.m., 14th and F streets NW. The Institute for the Analysis of Global Security and the China Energy Fund Committee hold the 12th U.S.-China Forum: “Toward a broader U.S.-China agenda.”
oborforum.org/index.php/agenda-2017
10 a.m., 1300 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. The U.S. Energy Association holds a discussion on “The Carbon IRA: The Most Rad Idea You’ve Never Heard of for Shrinking our Carbon Footprint.”
11 a.m. EDT. Nebraska Public Service Commission decides whether to approve the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline through the state. The commission meeting will be livestreamed here as well as on the PSC Facebook page.
2 p.m., teleconference. National Marine Fisheries Service holds a meeting by teleconference of the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council’s Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Advisory Panel with the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission.
Congress is out of town all week for its Thanksgiving recess.
TUESDAY, NOV. 21
9:30 a.m., 14th and F streets NW. The American Coal Ash Association holds an event to release the “2017 Coal Ash Production and Use Survey” results.
THURSDAY, NOV. 23
Happy Thanksgiving. Enjoy your turkey and football.
