SIGN UP! If you’d like to continue receiving Washington Examiner’s Daily onEnergy newsletter, SUBSCRIBE HERE: http://newsletters.washingtonexaminer.com/newsletter/daily-on-energy/

WILL PRUITT APPROVE ETHANOL WAIVERS DESPITE TRUMP’S WISHES? Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt is still receiving requests from the nation’s largest oil refiners for “hardship” waivers.

Marathon Petroleum Corp., the second largest refiner in the nation, has asked the EPA for a small refiner waiver to exempt one of its facilities from the Renewable Fuel Standard’s mandate to blend ethanol into the gasoline supply, Reuters reported Wednesday.

• No waivers, please: Whether or not Pruitt acts on the waiver request would demonstrate his commitment to President Trump’s recently hashed-out plan to help corn ethanol producers and refiners alike, which does not include approving the waivers.

• Past actions: Pruitt has approved dozens of the hardship waivers for large oil companies that own small refineries, which the ethanol industry and its supporters in Congress are furious about.

• Chuck’s threat: Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, has vowed to call for Pruitt’s resignation if he continues to grant the refinery exemptions, which undercuts the EPA ethanol program. Reuters has reported that the White House wants Pruitt to stop granting the exemptions.

• Right or wrong? The refinery industry says Pruitt is acting within the law under a 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that gave the agency increased discretion in granting the waivers. The ethanol industry says the waivers are far removed from the law.

• No action: In the meantime, Pruitt has not issued actions on any of Trump’s directives under the deal he secured this month to increase the amount of ethanol that is allowed to be blended in gasoline year round.  

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.

WHITE HOUSE ‘LOOKING INTO’ EPA BARRING REPORTERS FROM SUMMIT: The White House is looking into why reporters were barred and forcibly removed from the EPA summit on dangerous chemicals Tuesday.

• What’s the matter? “Certainly, we’ll look into the matter,” White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said at the daily press briefing Tuesday afternoon.

The Associated Press, CNN, and E&E News were barred from the meeting Tuesday, while 10 other outlets were allowed to cover the first hour of it, during which Pruitt delivered an opening address.

• Law says: The Federal Advisory Committee Act says “any committee, board, commission, council, conference, panel, task force, or other similar group” used by an agency “in the interest of obtaining advice or recommendations” for the federal government must be open to the public.

• EPA turnaround: Jahan Wilcox, a spokesman for the EPA, originally said the banned news outlets could not attend the majority of the first day of the day-and-a-half long summit meeting due to a lack of space. But reporters who attended the opening hour observed plenty of empty seats.

Wilcox later sent out a new statement saying all media, including the previously barred outlets, could attend the afternoon session, from 1 p.m. until 5:30 p.m.

PRUITT REACHES NEW ‘LOW’ IN REPORTER INCIDENT, UDALL SAYS:  Sen. Tom Udall of New Mexico wants Pruitt to answer for the “disturbing treatment of journalists” demonstrated at the water summit.

The Democrat sent Pruitt a letter late Tuesday after an Associated Press reporter had been forcibly removed from the agency for trying to attend the meeting. According to the Associated Press, guards at EPA “grabbed the reporter by the shoulders and shoved her forcibly out of the EPA building,” he wrote.

• A new ‘low’: Udall said the EPA under Pruitt already has a reputation of “refusing to do the public’s business in public,” but Wednesday’s incident showed it has “reached a new low.”

“This intimidation of journalists seeking to cover a federal official presiding over important policy-making is un-American and unacceptable,” Udall wrote. “Clean drinking water is a public health issue that does not belong behind closed doors.”

BUT… MEDIA, PUBLIC BLOCKED FROM SECOND DAY OF CHEMICAL SUMMIT: The EPA refused to open Wednesday’s session of the chemical summit to media and the public, again claiming the event is at capacity.

EPA Deputy Administrator Andrew Wheeler was scheduled to address the summit Wednesday morning.

• No advice given: Wilcox told reporters that the summit meeting Wednesday is “not a federal advisory committee event,” so the rules on public access don’t apply.

“The purpose of this event is for EPA’s state, tribal, and federal government partners and national organizations to share a range of individual perspectives on the agency’s actions to date and path forward on PFOA/PFAS,” Wilcox said.

• Summit focus: The summit, attended by state, local, tribal, industry, and nonprofit officials, is focused on the challenge of removing toxic chemicals known as per- and poly-fluorinated substances, or PFAS, from water supplies. The chemicals have been linked with thyroid defects, problems in pregnancy, and certain cancers.

The stain-resistant chemicals have been used since the 1940s in Teflon, nonstick pans, electronics, water-repellent clothes, and firefighting foam.

• Delaying tactic: The meeting comes after emails produced by a Freedom of Information request showed that the EPA has helped delay the release of a study that found PFAs in water are harmful to human health at lower levels than the agency previously deemed safe.

Pruitt this week said he has no authority to release the study, saying that power rests with the Health and Human Services Department, which prepared the study.

HHS SAYS IT WILL RELEASE CHEMICAL STUDY SOON: HHS plans to release the chemical study soon, a spokeswoman for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told Josh.

• ‘Normal process’: “As part of the peer review process, our scientific peers at EPA and other federal agencies provide expertise on all toxicological profiles, including this profile. This document has been through the normal review process, leading to a number of revisions, resulting in multiple rounds of peer review and public comment. We do not have a release date identified for the next public comment period, but additional comments received on this draft will be incorporated into the final PFAS Toxicological Profile,” said Bernadette Burden.

The head of the HHS agency overseeing the chemical safety assessment also said the report would be released soon.

“We’re committed to making sure that everybody’s on the same page about what our minimum risk levels are and what they mean,” Patrick Breysse, who directs the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, said at Tuesday’s summit.

• Congress calls for study: Ohio Republican Rep. Mike Turner implored HHS Secretary Alex Azar Tuesday to release the study.

DEMOCRATS GIVE TRUMP ONE LAST SCOLDING BEFORE HOLIDAY: Senate Democratic Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York joined led his colleagues in blaming President Trump for policies causing higher gasoline process ahead of Memorial Day.

The Democrats accused Trump’s “reckless agenda” of raising prices at the pump, and urged the president to take specific action to lower costs for American families. Schumer said any benefits stemming from last year’s GOP tax bill will be “negated by higher gas prices and healthcare costs, disproportionately affecting low-income families.”  

Sens. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., Bob Menendez, D-NJ, and Ed Markey, D-Mass., joined Schumer at the press conference at a Capitol Hill gas station.

NEW JERSEY GOVERNOR PLANS TO SIGN NUCLEAR BAILOUT BILL: New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat, plans to sign a bill Wednesday saving three struggling nuclear power plants in the state.

The legislation, approved by the state’s Democratic legislature, would require utility customers to spend more than $300 million a year to rescue nuclear power plants run by Exelon and Public Service Enterprise Group.

• Give to get: Murphy will sign the nuclear legislation as well as measures boosting wind and solar energy, mandating that half the state’s energy come from renewable energy by 2030.

• Nuclear need: The move to subsidize nuclear plants in New Jersey comes as the Energy Department is considering declaring a grid emergency over the planned closures of coal and nuclear plants in the Midwest, which are struggling to compete with lower cost natural gas and renewables.

Nuclear has drawn more sympathy from policymakers than coal, because it emits no carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas.

• States act: Illinois and New York also have moved to compensate nuclear plants for their zero-carbon value.

EXXON MOBIL AIMS TO CUT METHANE EMISSIONS BY 15 PERCENT: Exxon Mobil on Wednesday morning announced new greenhouse gas emission reduction goals, aiming to cut its methane emissions 15 percent and flaring 25 percent by 2020 from 2016 levels.

The company also announced its intention to improve energy efficiency in refining and chemical manufacturing facilities.

• Playing a part: Exxon joined other large energy companies last year such as Shell and BP in signing a pledge to reduce emissions of methane from natural gas production, part of an effort by the industry to show it is committed to combating climate change even as the Trump administration rolls back regulations forcing them to.

Methane, the main component in natural gas, is more potent than carbon dioxide, although methane emissions are relatively short-lived.

LNG EXPORTS: GO BIG OR GO HOME: The largest exporter of liquefied natural gas announced that it is moving ahead with the expansion of its Corpus Christi terminal in Texas.

• Building for a growing market: “Moving forward with the construction of Train 3 at Corpus Christi reinforces our position as the leader in U.S. LNG,” said Jack Fusco, Cheniere’s president and CEO.

“We continue to see significant tailwinds in the global LNG market and look forward to delivering additional growth and value to shareholders.”

• Three at a time: Trains are the devices used to turn natural gas into a liquid to fuel an individual LNG export tanker. The addition will mean it will able to fuel three tankers at a time.  

UTILITY GROUPS CALL FOR INCREASES IN FUEL EFFICIENCY RULES: Major utility groups including the Edison Electric Institute, the American Public Power Association, and the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association urged Pruitt and Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao to maintain tough fuel-efficiency rules that increase over time instead of rolling them back.

The groups, in a letter to Pruitt and Chao, say they foresee electric vehicles as playing “an important part of the range of technologies and measures needed to reduce reliance on imported fuels, maintain a balanced energy mix, and reduce [greenhouse gases] and other emissions.”

• National pride: They also are pushing the EPA to seek peace with California, which has a waiver to set its own fuel-efficiency standards, rather than challenging their authority to do so.

• Far off: A leaked draft of a proposed rule by the EPA and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration includes an option to freeze fuel-efficiency targets at 2020 levels through 2025, a possibility that goes farther than what automakers and utility groups want.

The EPA and NHTSA are expected to release their proposal in late May or early June.

HULK SAY FRACKING BAD! “Avengers” star Mark Ruffalo, who plays the Hulk, joins Pennsylvanians on Wednesday to kick off a new campaign targeting Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf over his support for hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.

• Anti-frack action: Ruffalo will join with Frack Action and other activist groups in announcing the campaign to address the harm to residents caused by fracking in the Keystone State.

“Governor Wolf has long promised to help residents harmed by drilling and fracking, but for four years he has done nothing,” according to a statement from the groups. “Now dozens of organizations and affected residents across the state are taking to the streets, to the web, and to social media with a new public health impacts campaign to ask Governor Wolf: when will you help families harmed by fracking?”

More than 35 groups are involved in the “Pennsylvania Fracking Health Impacts” campaign.

BP ENDS PROJECT IN IRAN AFTER U.S. THREATENS SANCTIONS: BP decided to end its involvement with projects in Iran Tuesday after the U.S. threatened to sanction companies that operate in the country.

“JUST IN: British Petroleum is Ending projects in #Iran following threat of US Sanctions. Follows Total, Siemens, Maersk, Allianz, others…,” a reporter for the National, a news source in the United Arab Emirates, tweeted Tuesday morning.

Run away: BP is the latest Europe-based company to pull out investment and commitments from Iran following the Trump administration’s plan to re-up sanctions on Iran.

Oil giant Total SA, energy company Wintershall AG, shipping behemoths Maersk Tankers AS and Torm AS, and multiple insurance companies have pulled out of Iran.

WIND INDUSTRY BEEFS UP LOBBYING TEAM: The American Wind Energy Association is adding three senior officials to expand the industry’s lobbying and “advocacy muscle,” the group announced Tuesday.

• Hailing from the natural gas industry: The trio includes Bree Raum, who will serve as the group’s new VP for federal affairs, and previously served as head of federal affairs for the American Gas Association, representing natural gas utilities.

• Beefing up FERC advocacy: Joining her will be Diane Miller, who will be the new vice president of public affairs, and Sari Fink, who will be lead advocacy efforts on issues related to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

RUNDOWN

Bloomberg Trump’s doomsday scenarios for power grid undercut by his agency

Reuters OPEC may decide to ease oil supply curbs in June

Wall Street Journal Why Venezuela sanctions are even more bullish for oil than Iran sanctions

NPR New studies confirm a surge In coal miners’ disease

Washington Post Here’s why there are so many coyotes and why they are spreading so fast