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RYAN ZINKE SPENDING A LOT OF TIME ON NATIONAL SECURITY: The Interior Department chief led a delegation of high-level Trump officials to the middle of the Pacific ocean in recent days to talk about denuclearization of North Korea.

Zinke led a roundtable discussion on North Korea and broader security issues between the U.S. and the heads of 16 Pacific Island countries and territories on Nauru on Tuesday, according to the State Department, before setting out for Guam.

The environment and regional security are priorities: “The delegations discussed promoting regional security and stability, including maintaining international pressure to achieve the goal of the final, fully verified denuclearization of North Korea, sustainable growth and prosperity, addressing environmental challenges, and strengthening our people-to-people ties,” a statement from Foggy Bottom read.

Zinke’s meeting preceded the Pacific Islands Forum Leaders meeting with Forum Dialogue Partners in Nauru.

Back in Guam: Zinke then visited Guam, where he is on Thursday. Guam, of course, is a U.S. territory and home to Andersen Air Force Base, a key staging point for U.S. military forces in the Pacific. There is also a U.S. Naval base there.

Is this a military visit? Doug Domenech, Interior’s head of insular affairs, tweeted pictures of Zinke arriving in Guam on Wednesday. “Guam, the westernmost U.S. territory in the Pacific, is an important part of the President’s vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific,” Domenech tweeted on the Zinke arrival.

His time in the Navy remembered: “It’s great to be back in Guam!” Zinke tweeted. “I went to the territory a few times while serving in the @USNavy. Great to be back as Secretary of the @Interior.”

Meanwhile, back on the mainland: Zinke is also struggling to get a handle on the wildfire crisis in California. While journeying to the Pacific, he and Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue placed an op-ed in the Sacramento Bee on Labor Day, blaming the fires, in part, on environmentalists.

“For too long, our forest management efforts have been thwarted by lawsuits from misguided, extreme environmentalists,” the op-ed reads. “The time has come to act without flinching in the face of threatened litigation.”

Scrubbing the calendars: In the meantime, CNN is reporting that Zinke’s summer meeting calendars have been stripped of their details compared to those from previous months before June.

The Interior Department said it would be inaccurate to view the changes to the calendars as a move away from transparency.

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ZINKE’S HUNTING RULE DEADLINE EXTENDED TO DAY BEFORE ELECTIONS: The deadline has been extended for a rule opening up hunting at game preserves in Alaska amid growing opposition from conservation groups.

Today was the day: The original deadline for the new regulations was Thursday, Sept. 6, at 11:59 p.m., which the Department of Interior said it is now extending another 45 days to Nov. 5, which coincidentally is the day before the midterm elections.

Repeal Obama bans: The Alaska hunting rule would repeal restrictions imposed by the Obama administration on hunting and the methods of hunting big game in Alaska’s wildlife preserves.

For example, it would rescind the ban on killing hibernating bears, and other controversial practices that conservation groups stand opposed to.

In the name of ‘extreme sports’: “Extreme sport hunting methods, like brown bear baiting and killing hibernating black bear mothers and cubs in dens, don’t belong on national preserves in Alaska,” said a member of the National Parks Conservation Association in a comment submitted recently.

RICK PERRY PROMOTES VEHICLES THAT TRUMP WANTS TO SCUTTLE: Energy Secretary Rick Perry announced $80 million for research and development on vehicles that the Trump administration may not have the strongest affinity for.

The 42 projects that Perry announced funding for on Wednesday would be to develop lightweight, electric vehicles that are more affordable to consumers.

“Improving the affordability of transportation for American consumers and businesses keeps our economy moving,” said Perry. “By investing in a broad range of technologies, DOE is ensuring America remains at the forefront of innovation.”

At the Environmental Protection Agency, the story is different: The EPA is looking to lower Obama-era vehicle efficiency standards, arguing that the Obama push to generate a fleet-wide fuel economy average of 54 miles per gallon would lead to cars that are made from lighter, unsafe materials, leading to more traffic fatalities.

More research on lightweight materials: Perry is investing $8.4 million on lightweight vehicle materials “that can be used to accelerate the introduction of new materials into advanced vehicles.”

Next generation of electric cars: But the bulk of the funding will be going toward research projects aimed at recharging multiple electric vehicles “quickly” and at “very high ‘extreme’ power levels,” according to the Department of Energy.

The $31 million project funding will also be used to develop “next generation electric vehicle batteries that eliminate or significantly reduce the use of cobalt,” which is an expensive and “foreign sourced critical material” that could pose a supply risk in the future.  

EPA RELEASES PUBLIC TOOL TO SEE EMISSIONS DATA OF INDUSTRIES: The EPA, as part of a new program to work closer with industry, launched an online tool on Thursday for the public to see a sector by sector breakdown of environmental performance.

The EPA unveiled its “Sector Snapshots” project, which is an online hub that assembles a range of environmental and economic data from publicly-available sources for various sectors over the last 20 years.

EPA officially launched the project Thursday, revealing data for three sectors: utilities, chemical manufacturing, and iron and steel. The agency will eventually provide data for 13 sectors.

How it works: The interactive visual tool includes graphs showing how environmental indicators such as air emissions, greenhouse gases, hazardous waste generation, water discharges, and criteria air pollution have changed for each industry over time. It compares how these environmental outcomes have changed in comparison to economic indicators, such as employment, gross output, and, for the utility industry, the amount of electricity generated.

EPA’s attempt at transparency: “By making this data easily accessible, you can look at the environmental and economic performance of each sector for many years,” Daisy Letendre, senior advisor for policy and strategic communications in the EPA’s Office of Policy, told reporters at agency headquarters Thursday morning. “It’s all in one spot. This is a way to portray public information in a different way that’s more accessible.”

The data looks good for industry: Data for the three sectors made available so far shows steady improvements in most environmental outcomes. For example, air emissions in the utility industry fell from 790 million pounds in 1998 to 86 million pounds in 2016. The chemical manufacturing industry saw its air emissions drop from 425 million pounds in 1998 compared to 159 million pounds in 2016.

But it’s not a gift to them: EPA officials claim the new data tool is not meant to make industries look good, as the agency rolls back environmental regulations — often by claiming that industry is already doing its part to limit emissions.

“This is meant to be a resource internally or externally for any one who is interested,”  Letendre said. I don’t foresee us using this as reasoning for any regulatory relief outside of EPA’s normal processes.”

EPA Acting Administrator Andrew Wheeler, however, said the data will inform his decisions on how to regulate industry.

“This type of data can help the public, the regulated community, and EPA gain a common understanding of sector performance that will better inform environmental improvement strategies moving forward,” Wheeler said in a statement.

It’s part of a bigger program: The data project is part of EPA’s new “Smart Sectors” program, announced by former Administrator Scott Pruitt last year, that aims to allow miners, drillers, utilities, and chemical manufacturers to collaborate on how to best regulate its industries.

It is modeled after a similar 2003 initiative started by the George W. Bush administration. The Obama administration halted the program in 2009.

SUPREME COURT NOMINEE BRETT KAVANAUGH DEFENDS ENVIRONMENTAL RECORD: Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh defended his environmental record on Wednesday during the first day of questioning at his confirmation hearing.

“In environmental cases, some cases I’ve ruled against environmentalist interests, and in many cases I’ve ruled for environmentalist interests,” he said.

Democrats and environmentalists have argued Kavanaugh is hostile to environmental regulations, and would hamper efforts to combat pollution, and climate change.

Check the record: His record at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia shows he has voted to invalidate some major EPA pollution rules in dissents, and supports strong judicial oversight in reviewing the actions of administrative agencies.

For example, Kavanaugh in 2016 heard oral arguments for the lawsuit against the Clean Power Plan, President Barack Obama’s signature initiative on climate change targeting carbon dioxide pollution from coal plants.

Kavanaugh, in his comments, seemed to argue that Obama based the Clean Power Plan on an expansive interpretation of the Clean Air Act not allowed by the law. He also expressed sympathy for Obama’s efforts to manage climate change, and acknowledged humans are causing global warming. But he said aggressive action would require Congress to expressly authorize it.

Kavanaugh also authored a 2012 decision rejecting the EPA’s attempt to curb power plant pollution that crosses state lines, arguing the agency had overstepped its authority.

In a pro-environment case, one that he referenced on Wednesday, Kavanaugh affirmed EPA’s approval of California emissions limits in 2010.

He’s a skeptic of ‘illegal regulation’: The Supreme Court nominee also laid out Wednesday his views of regulatory power, when he seemingly expressed skepticism regarding the Chevron doctrine, which states that the courts should defer to executive branch agencies’ interpretations of ambiguous laws.

“I am not a skeptic of regulation at all,” Kavanaugh said. “I am a skeptic of unauthorized regulation, of illegal regulation.”

DEMOCRATIC STATES SUE TRUMP FOR EASING BIRD KILL RULES: The attorney general of New York led eight states Wednesday in suing the Trump administration in federal court for easing rules energy companies have to follow on killing birds.

States claim harm: Plaintiffs on the suit, all Democrats, said weakening the rules “subjects migratory birds to increased likelihood of death or injury from industrial and other human activities.”

This would harm the states, the plaintiffs say, because migratory birds benefit citizens who live there by providing “ecological services,” including eating insects and rodents, pollinating, and dispersing seeds.

The birds also provide scientific, recreational, and birdwatching opportunities, and aesthetic benefits, the states said.

“All of these benefits directly or indirectly generate economic activity and tax revenue for the States, which are lost or diminished when bird numbers are depleted,” the states said in the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

California, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, and Massachusetts also joined the lawsuit.

How Trump is reading the law: Interior Department Acting Solicitor Daniel Jorjani on Dec. 22 issued a new interpretation of the 1918 Migratory Bird Treaty Act, which is used to prosecute energy companies for killing birds in the course of their operations. The law is worded broadly, and makes it illegal to “pursue, hunt, take, [or] capture” a migratory bird “by any means whatever [and] at any time or in any manner.”

But the Trump administration said applying the law “to incidental or accidental actions hangs the sword of Damocles over a host of otherwise lawful and productive actions, threatening up to six months in jail and a $15,000 fine for each and every bird injured or killed.”

Interior’s new interpretation of the law said a company violates the law only when it’s “engaged in an activity the object of which was to render an animal subject to human control.”

REPUBLICAN SENATORS PUSH FOR FOREST MANAGEMENT REFORMS IN FARM BILL TO HELP STOP WILDFIRES: Republican senators on Wednesday urged a House and Senate conference committee to include in the farm bill forest management reforms that they said would help combat worsening wildfires.

Republicans want to enact further reforms in the farm bill to make it easier for states and counties to assist in managing federal forests, and to combat lawsuits by environmentalists that they say slow down projects. Forest management projects involves the removal of trees and vegetation in forests to take away fuel for fires.

Here’s the wish list: “[W]e implore you to include a robust forestry title in the Farm Bill conference report that cuts unnecessary red tape, addresses the challenges of chronic litigation, and further empowers state and local collaborative partners to help develop and carry out science-based forest management projects,” the senators wrote in a letter.

Senators writing the letter include Steve Daines of Montana, Cory Gardner of Colorado, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, John Barrasso of Wyoming, Mike Lee of Utah, and more.

Among the provisions they want to see in the farm bill are allowing more projects to avoid going through strict environmental reviews, and establishing a pilot arbitration process to more quickly resolve disputes over forest management projects.

What critics say is wrong about this approach: Democrats say the biggest challenge to getting work done in the forests is funding, not environmental hurdles. They also argue Republicans are ignoring the impact of climate change on worsening fire seasons.

RUNDOWN

Bloomberg Climate envoys seek heir to $33 billion UN carbon market

Reuters U.S. energy operations begin recovering after Storm Gordon

The Guardian Australia signs declaration saying climate change ‘single greatest threat’ to Pacific

S&P Global Platts France’s new environment minister to release energy plan