FERC TARGETED BY IRANIAN HACKERS: The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission was a prime target of nine Iranian hackers whom the Justice Department is indicting on criminal charges for “malicious” cyber activity, the agency revealed Friday morning.

• Sensitive information: Justice Department attorneys pointed out during a press conference that FERC “has the details of some of this country’s most sensitive infrastructure,” said U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman. “That is the agency that regulates the interstate transmission of electricity, natural gas and oil.”

The Justice Department said  FERC was among federal, state and United Nations agencies targeted, including the Department of Labor, Hawaii, Indiana, the United Nations, and the United Nations Children’s Fund.

• Who was targeted: “The defendants were each leaders, contractors, associates, hackers-for-hire or affiliates of the Mabna Institute, an Iran-based company that, since at least 2013, conducted a coordinated campaign of cyber intrusions into computer systems belonging to 144 U.S. universities, 176 universities across 21 foreign countries, 47 domestic and foreign private sector companies,” as well as the agencies mentioned, Justice said.

CHINA GOES AFTER ETHANOL AFTER TRUMP TARIFF ANNOUNCEMENT: China is threatening to impose tariffs on U.S. ethanol imports in retaliation for Trump’s tariff announcement.

“China’s response was entirely predictable, given recent actions by our administration to implement new tariffs,” Bob Dinneen, head of the Renewable Fuels Association, said Friday.

• Will the White House learn? “It is my fervent hope that the White House now fully understands the impact these actions will have on America’s ethanol industry and farmers, and we urge the administration to redouble its efforts to expand demand for ethanol here at home,” Dinneen said.

China is the third largest importer of U.S. ethanol globally.

• China in the RFS: “Unfortunately, over the last several months, EPA has been consistently and aggressively destructing biofuel demand,” he said. “That must stop, and meaningful action to expand biofuel demand must begin by allowing the year-round use of E15 nationwide.”

The ethanol industry is pushing for the Environmental Protection Agency to relax rules that would allow the 15-percent blend of ethanol and gasoline to be sold year round.

• Most gasoline contains 10 percent ethanol in the U.S. Relaxing the restrictions would stave off the need to ship ethanol abroad by providing a larger domestic market for the fuel.

EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt met Friday with more than 400 farmers and ranchers from Texas, Wisconsin, Kentucky, Georgia, and Pennsylvania, where the Renewable Fuel Standard was discussed.

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TARIFFS AIM TO STOP CHINESE PILFERING OF U.S. ELECTRIC VEHICLE TECHNOLOGY: The tariffs that President Trump slapped on China Thursday seek to help U.S. automakers protect their advanced electric vehicle technologies from being stolen by Chinese rivals.

The White House said the Section 301 investigation that formed the basis for the new tariffs showed the country’s policies were set up to steal technologies from foreign automakers, while placing them at a competitive disadvantage as a stipulation for being given access to the Chinese market.

• China’s pressure play: “The investigation concluded that China uses foreign ownership restrictions, such as joint venture requirements and administrative review and licensing processes to force or pressure U.S. companies to transfer technology to Chinese entities,” according to a White House fact sheet explaining Thursday’s actions against China’s unfair trade practices.

‘Threat’ to innovation: The White House said a prime example of the practice is Chinese requirements that foreign companies, to access the country’s “New Energy Vehicles” market, “transfer core technologies to a joint venture and disclose development and manufacturing technology for the entire vehicle.” The White House called the requirements “a threat to American innovation.”

CONSERVATION GROUPS SUE OVER ‘UNCONSTITUTIONAL’ WAIVERS FOR BORDER WALL: Conservation groups sued the Department of Homeland Security on Thursday over its use of “illegal” and “unconstitutional” waivers to exempt President Trump’s border wall from dozens of environmental laws.

The lawsuit targets the Jan. 22 issuance of a waiver to build the New Mexico portion of the wall under Section 102 of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, which the lawsuit called “unlawful because it exceeds the limited grant of authority for such waivers” under the law.

The lawsuit, filed in federal District Court in Washington argues that Homeland Security’s interpretation of its waiver authority is so broad that it violates the Constitution.

WILD HORSES SPARED FROM SLAUGHTER IN SPENDING BILL, BUT NEW FIGHT COMING: Wild horses in the West were spared from an early demise in the spending bill passed by the House Thursday, rejecting a Trump budget request that called for the slaughter of tens of thousands of wild horses and burros.

“This is a victory for animal advocates and the majority of Americans who want solutions, not slaughter,” said Marilyn Kroplick, the president of Defense of Animals, which helped lead a lobbying effort to make sure the provision wasn’t included.

• Trump’s plan: The fiscal 2018 spending request authorized that tens of thousands of captive wild horses and burros be euthanized, as well as up to 50,000 free-roaming horses on public lands, to try to reduce the overpopulation.

• Victory, for now: But Defense of Animals says Trump’s fiscal 2019 budget request re-ups the proposal, requiring a continued lobbying push.

“The battle is won, but the fight is far from over,” Kroplick said. “We will never back down or stop fighting for wild horses to remain on public lands.”

PRUITT’S NEW GROUP OF CHEMICAL ADVISERS INCLUDES OFFSHORE DRILLER: Pruitt announced new additions to the agency’s Science Advisory Committee on Chemicals, including a noted offshore drilling company that helped Israel discover one of the largest natural gas finds in the world.

• Complying with the law: The additions are required under the TSCA chemical safety law that requires more diverse membership on the committee.

• Pruitt’s 11: EPA announced 11 new members on Thursday to supplement the 18 members appointed in January 2017.

• From Israel to D.C.: Houston-based offshore drilling company Noble Energy has become well known for the giant Tamar natural gas find it made off the shores of Israel. Israeli officials have been in the U.S. recently talking up their plans for developing the field and creating new inroads for exports to Europe.

Those plans could dovetail nicely with Trump’s energy dominance agenda that plays up energy exports from the United States.  

The company announced this week that it sold off a 7.5 percent stake in the Tamar gas field, retaining a 25 percent stake in the giant energy find.

• Other notable adviser from Toys ‘R’ Us: On the other end of the spectrum, the new set of advisers also includes the Toy Industry Association, the industry’s top trade association. Alan Kaufman, a vice president of the group, will serve on the panel. Kaufman had been vice president for regulatory affairs and product safety at Toys “R” Us, Inc., which recently announced it will close its national chain of giant toy stores.

ZINKE ALLOWS FRACKING ON TOP OF THE SAGE GROUSE: Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke is upping the acreage of places to mine and frack in prime habitat for the sage grouse.

The Bureau of Land Management placed an additional 173,660 acres of public land and minerals up for auction in Wyoming this week, which environmental groups said represented almost 80 percent of prime habitat for the imperiled greater sage grouse.

• Lawsuit coming: After the auction, the Center for Biological Diversity hinted heavily at an impending lawsuit.

“His indiscriminate auctioning off of the bird’s last habitat is a betrayal of his responsibility to protect our public lands and wildlife on behalf of the people,” said Michael Saul, senior attorney of the group. “This is an absolutely unacceptable sacrifice of the common good to private profit.”

‘USE IT’ OR LOSE IT CLEAN COAL BILL INTRODUCED: A bipartisan bill introduced by Sens. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, and Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., a member of the committee, called the USE IT Act.  

The bill would support carbon utilization technologies and direct air capture research, which looks to extract carbon dioxide from the air.

The bill would support federal, state, and non-governmental collaboration in the construction and development of carbon capture, utilization, and sequestration, which the Trump administration says it supports, along with facilities and carbon dioxide pipelines.

The bill follows a spending bill passed this year that provide tax incentives for the projects.

RUNDOWN

The Hill Lawmakers press FEMA on restoring power to Puerto Rico

Western Journal Judge rules for oil companies in one part of climate suit

New York Times How one Houston suburb ended up in a reservoir

Bloomberg The hydrogen-powered car’s big setback

Oilprice Saudi oil minister expects oil cuts to extend into 2019