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PELOSI USES COAL MINERS’ PLIGHT TO DING TRUMP OVER HARM CAUSED BY SHUTDOWN: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tried to drive a wedge between President Trump and coal miners this week by floating the idea that their pensions and benefits would be in jeopardy if the shutdown continues.

“I am particularly concerned about the United Mine Workers of America,” Pelosi said on Thursday. “Even though I’m not a big supporter of coal, I am a big supporter of the coal miners and their retirement benefits.”

The miners union spent time in her office over the last few days to warn her that tens of thousands could lose their healthcare retirement benefits if the shutdown continued. The U.S. government has underwritten pensions and health benefits for miners for over 40 years.

“Yesterday, I heard from the United Mine Workers of America, who warned that reimbursements of healthcare providers are not being processed, which will lead to the service shortages that jeopardize the healthcare of 35,000 mineworkers if the shutdown continues,” Pelosi said.

Coal union touts Democratic support: The United Mine Workers of America pointed out on its website that Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio is leading a fight to reform and save the pensions and healthcare benefits secured by the government for the miners.

Brown has sponsored a 2019 bill that addresses the several problems facing the 1974 Pension Plan beyond the shutdown. The plan’s pension fund will become insolvent by 2022 due in large part to the many bankruptcies that the mining industry had suffered over the last decade.

A storm of discontent: Pelosi said her office is experiencing a “story storm” like those of the coal miners, which offer the most articulate justification for opening up government. Pelosi asked why the concerns of American workers has not sunk in with the administration.

EPA employee can’t pay rent: She also heard from Environmental Protection Agency employee James Munson from her district in San Francisco who told her in a letter that he could sell everything he owns and it wouldn’t be enough for one month’s rent. San Francisco is one of the most expensive U.S. cities.

“I don’t understand why the reality of this… is not concerned or cared about by the administration,” Pelosi said. “Not only are these workers not paid, they’re not appreciated by this administration.”  

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YOUNG DEMOCRATS SUSPICIOUS OF PELOSI’S CAP AND TRADE: Pelosi’s plan to resurrect a decade-old cap-and-trade bill is more about preventing new progressive lawmakers from hurting the party’s chances in the 2020 presidential race than actually passing legislation, conservative veterans of climate policy suspect.

Subscribe here to read John’s full story in the upcoming issue of the Washington Examiner.

STATE DEPARTMENT PLANS TO REVERSE STANCE ON CLIMATE CHANGE: The State Department is offering new guidance to foreign aid offices on how to assess global warming risks, even as it decides whether to seek repeal of the Obama-era executive order directing it to include climate change in its assessments, according to a new federal watchdog report issued Thursday.

The change marks a reversal, as the Government Accountability Office report said the department had stopped providing any mention of climate change in 2017 guidance documents to mission offices.

In a letter to the GAO, contained in the report, it explained that it would give its foreign mission offices the “option” to include climate change resilience in its risk assessments for countries.

It will begin providing the climate change option to its mission offices in June, the State Department said in its letter to the GAO.

PENTAGON WARNS CLIMATE CHANGE IS A ‘NATIONAL SECURITY’ RISK TO MILITARY BASES: The Defense Department issued a report to Congress Thursday finding that climate change is a “national security” issue that could leave military bases vulnerable to coastal flooding and wildfires fueled by drought.

“The effects of a changing climate are a national security issue with potential impacts to Department of Defense missions, operational plans, and installations,” the 22-page report said.

Congress mandated the report in the fiscal year 2018 National Defense Authorization Act, asking DOD to report on “vulnerabilities to military installations and combatant commander requirements resulting from climate change over the next 20 years.”

The NDAA also required the Pentagon to report on the top 10 at-risk bases and what should be done to protect them. But the new DOD report to Congress does not provide a list.

Rather it reviewed 79 “mission-essential” military installations in the U.S. that could face climate change-related risks within the next 20 years.

The risk from flooding: DOD found 53 of those bases face a current risk of repeated flooding because of storm surge fueled by sea level rise, with seven more vulnerable to being inundated in the future. Most of these are located on the East coast.

It notes that Joint Base Langley-Eustis in Virginia has already experienced 14 inches of sea level rise since 1930.

Wildfires are a threat too: The report also says 36 military bases are vulnerable to damage from wildfires, with an additional seven facing a future risk of blazes. More than half of the bases could be harmed by drought, which can hamper water supply.

DOD says the results of the study has amplified its ongoing push to incorporate climate change resilience as part of its planning and decision-making process for operating current bases, and building new ones.

OIL MARKET BALANCE IS COMING SLOWLY, IEA SAYS: Achieving oil market balance will take time this year as OPEC and Russia implement their production cut agreement, the International Energy Agency said in a report Friday.

After bottoming out in the low $50s per barrel last month — too low for energy producers’ liking — the Brent price has risen to above $60 per barrel thanks to Saudi Arabia cutting output  in December ahead of the production cut pact, which officially began this month.

“However, the journey to a balanced market will take time, and is more likely to be a marathon than a sprint,” IEA said. “While Saudi Arabia is determined to protect its price aspirations by delivering substantial production cuts, there is less clarity with regard to its Russian partner.”

Plenty of oil is still sloshing around: Russia, the IEA said, increased crude oil production in December to a new record close to 11.5 million barrels per day. Meanwhile, more oil from Iran will remain on the market than previously thought because of sanctions waivers granted by the Trump administration.

Production in the U.S. will also rise by 1.3 million barrels per day this year, IEA said.

“By the middle of the year, US crude output will probably be more than the capacity of either Saudi Arabia or Russia,” IEA said.

Capacity means how much a country is capable of producing, rather than its actual output. The U.S. is already the world’s largest oil producer.

GREENS SAY INTERIOR IS BREAKING LAW BY ISSUING DRILLING PERMITS DURING SHUTDOWN: The Trump administration’s decision to continue issuing oil and gas permits during the government shutdown violates federal law, environmental groups argued Thursday.

Issuing drilling permits during the shutdown violates the National Environmental Policy Act and Federal Land Policy and Management Act, the groups said in a letter to acting Interior Secretary David Bernhardt, since the public can’t view or provide feedback on new permits or environmental reviews.

“It’s absolutely outrageous, not to mention illegal, that Trump is rolling out the red carpet for the oil and gas industry while the American people can’t even reach an agency staffer by phone,” said Rebecca Fischer, climate and energy program attorney with WildEarth Guardians. “We’ve been completely shut out of decisions affecting our public lands, and we won’t stand for it.”

What work is ongoing: During the shutdown, Interior is continuing to process permit applications for oil and gas drilling on federal land, and in existing offshore areas where energy development is allowed in the Gulf of Mexico, using carryover funds and user fees.

It is also proceeding with oil development in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, known as ANWR.

Interior’s Bureau of Land Management has posted public notice of at least 127 new drilling-permit applications in several states during the shutdown, the environmental groups said.

TOO SOON FOR PG&E TO CAVE TO CALIFORNIA WILDFIRE RISK, HEDGE FUND CLAIMS: It’s too soon for PG&E, the electrical utility threatened by possible liabilities in one of California’s deadliest wildfires, to declare bankruptcy, says a $21 billion hedge fund with a stake in the company.

PG&E, which notified regulators earlier this week that it was planning to seek bankruptcy protection as it grapples with safety improvements and payouts linked to its role in previous blazes, remains solvent and “there is no urgency to an imminent filing,” BlueMountain Capital Management argued in an open letter to the company’s board,

“The company has ample liquidity to operate its business,” added the hedge fund, which holds $30 million of the PG&E shares, and “the amount of liabilities remains uncertain and contestable.”

PG&E has said it doesn’t yet know whether its equipment was responsible for the November 2018 Camp Fire, which destroyed the Northern California town of Paradise along with nearly 14,000 homes, killed at least 86 people, and heightened tension between the largely Democratic state and the Trump administration.

COLORADO MOVES TOWARDS ZERO-EMISSION VEHICLE MANDATE: Colorado’s new Gov. Jared Polis, a Democrat, signed an executive order Thursday directing Colorado environmental officials to establish a zero emission vehicle program by no later than May.

The proposed zero emission plan would mimic an existing program in California that is followed by nine other states. Such programs act as mandates for electric vehicles sales to account for an increasing amount of an automaker’s sales.

The Trump administration, as part of its proposal to freeze fuel efficiency standards, has threatened to prevent California and other states from mandating more electric cars with zero emission vehicle programs.

DC MAYOR TO SIGN NATION’S MOST AGGRESSIVE 100 PERCENT RENEWABLE ENERGY BILL: Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser on Friday will sign the nation’s most aggressive 100 percent renewable energy bill, in what would be the fastest-acting climate change legislation in the country.

The bill, passed by the D.C. city council last month, requires District utilities to source all electricity from wind and solar by 2032 — up from its current goal of 50 percent renewables in that time — and sets tough new energy efficiency standards for buildings. The bill’s authors say it will reduce greenhouse gases in the District 44 percent by 2032.

ACCUWEATHER APOLOGIES TO NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FOR BEING A SHUTDOWN ‘ALTERNATIVE’: AccuWeather apologized late Thursday for a story which focused on the “limitations” placed on the National Weather Service and promoted the company as a reliable “alternative” weather forecasting option.

“We sincerely apologize to our colleagues at the @NWS for a story we ran earlier. It was not our intent to imply any disrespect,” the commercial weather service, which is headquartered in State College, Pa., said in a tweet.

The partial government shutdown, now four weeks in, has impacted 800,000 federal workers who are furloughed or are working without pay amid a political fight over border wall funding.

The National Weather Service remains open as it is considered critical, but as the Washington Post recently reported, its managers and forecasters are working without pay, operations have taken a hit, and weather models and training have gone by the wayside.

Trump ties to AccuWeather: Trump has nominated AccuWeather CEO Barry Lee Myers to head the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration under which both the National Weather Service and National Hurricane Service lie.

His nomination has been controversial as Myers faced accusations of conflicts of interest and concerns about past efforts that would shrink the NWS’s deck of forecasting services to favor commercial meteorologists.

RUNDOWN

Bloomberg Environment Bipartisan duo emerges as Senate panel sets course on energy

Wall Street Journal China offers Iran $3 billion oil-field deal

New York Times Climate change’s giant impact on the economy

CNBC Bad bets on oil, gas spark wave of energy-fund closures

Reuters After billion-barrel bonanza, BP goes global with seismic tech