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TRUMP CITES OIL EXPORTS AS THE PROOF HE’S TOUGH ON RUSSIA: President Trump is floating the idea that U.S. oil exports displacing non-OPEC oil supplies from Russia is proof that he has been hard on Kremlin — i.e. “no collusion.” But there is a limit to Trump’s claims.

He first pitched the idea on Saturday evening in a Fox News interview with Jeanine Pirro, attempting to counter a New York Times report that the FBI had opened an investigation into whether Trump was working for the Russian government.

How Trump sees things: “Nobody has been as tough as I have from any standpoint, including the fact that we’re doing oil like we’ve never done it,” Trump said over the weekend. “We’re setting records in our country with oil and exporting oil and many other things, which is obviously not great for them, because that’s where they get their money for the most part.”

Trump returned to the theme Monday on Twitter:

But Obama gets some of the credit: The quote from the cable news program said Trump had deregulated the energy industry, leading to more U.S. production and lower oil and gas prices. But in reality, the lifting of the 40-year-old oil export ban enabled the U.S. to become a major oil market participant, and that change came during the Obama administration. It was part of a 2015 budget deal that lifted the oil ban in exchange for extending tax subsidies for wind and solar.

Trump’s Iran waivers are helping lower prices: The Energy Information Administration says Trump has contributed to the lower price of oil by granting waivers to countries like China that import Iranian oil.

Trump granted a number of waivers to countries in re-imposing oil sanctions on Iran. The action was meant to avoid oil price shocks from taking millions of barrels of Iranian oil off the market.

Oil glut: The waivers were issued in tandem with Russia and Saudi Arabia increasing oil production, which crashed the price of oil and created a potentially harmful oil glut.

If the price of oil goes too low, it will result in U.S. production cuts and layoffs in the U.S. oil fields, as it did in previous years. More recently, Saudi Arabia, OPEC states, and Russia have begun to cut production, and the oil price has begun to rise again.

Some oil market observers have said Trump had been disingenuous in asking Saudi Arabia to increase production ahead of re-imposing sanctions. The big OPEC swing producer had been unaware that the U.S. administration was going to issue so many waivers.

Welcome to Daily on Energy, written 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.  

TRUMP EASES OFF USING DISASTER FUNDS FOR WALL AFTER BIPARTISAN PUSHBACK: The Trump administration is appearing to ease off a plan to use disaster relief funding to build a border wall amid bipartisan pushback.

White House officials told various news outlets Thursday that Trump is weighing using billions of dollars of Army Corps of Engineers funding allocated for states and territories suffering from storm or wildfire damage, including Puerto Rico, Florida, Texas, and California, in order to get around Congress and build his border wall.

But Trump on Friday and Monday backed off the idea, said he’s “not looking” to declare a national emergency for the border wall right now.

Congressional allies, meanwhile, denied that Trump is looking to divert disaster funding for the wall.

Projecting the impact: Diverting disaster funding would harm communities recovering from storms and wildfires, experts and critics say, and set a dangerous precedent on how presidents use money appropriated by Congress.

“This is weaponizing disaster assistance funding,” Craig Fugate, the administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency in the Obama administration, told Josh. “It’s using it for purposes to extract concessions or force issues that have nothing to do with a disaster.”

Read more of Josh’s report here.

CALIFORNIA UTILITY TO FILE FOR BANKRUPTCY AMID LIABILITY FROM WILDFIRES: California utility PG&E plans to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection by the end of the month, it said Monday in a regulatory filing, as it potentially faces billions of dollars in liability claims for helping cause wildfires.

PG&E’s filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission said bankruptcy is “ultimately the only viable option to restore PG&E’s financial stability to fund ongoing operations and provide safe service to customers.”

The notice comes after PG&E this weekend said it is replacing its CEO, Geisha Williams, who had led the utility since 2017. It said John Simon, the company’s general counsel, would serve as interim CEO as it searches for a replacement.

PG&E’s equipment failures help spark wildfires: The utility, which supplies electricity to 16 million California residents, said it faces about $30 billion in potential liability, or legal damages, for the state’s record deadly wildfires in 2017 and 2018.

The state’s fire agency, Cal Fire, has already found PG&E’s equipment responsible for 17 wildfires in 2017, some of which may result in criminal charges.

PG&E is also being investigated for its potential contribution to the Camp Fire last year, California’s deadliest ever. PG&E has disclosed to regulators that a larger power line was damaged just before the fire began.

California investigators have not yet determined PG&E’s faulty power line caused the Camp Fire, but the filing raises the likelihood that the utility could be held liable.

Under California law, utilities can be blamed for wildfires started by their equipment, even if they weren’t negligent.

State lawmakers last year aimed to help PG&E manage the costs of wildfires by letting it transfer some liability from the 2017 fires to ratepayers.

FLORIDA REPUBLICAN FRANCIS ROONEY TO CO-CHAIR CLIMATE SOLUTIONS CAUCUS: Rep. Francis Rooney, R-Fla., has been appointed co-chairman of the Climate Solutions Caucus, positioning him as the leading House Republican advocating for government policy to combat global warming.

Rooney confirmed to Josh he will be co-chair the caucus this session of Congress, after other Republican climate hawks, such as Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., rallied behind him.

“A leader in the fight against climate change, Francis’ leadership will be instrumental in expanding the ranks of the Climate Solutions Caucus,” Fitzpatrick told Josh.

Rooney, a 65-year-old congressman first elected in 2016, has quickly emerged as a leading caucus member, helping introduce last year the first bipartisan carbon tax legislation in nearly a decade.

Where the caucus stands: Rooney replaces Carlos Curbelo, who created the Climate Solutions Caucus in February 2016 with Rep. Ted Deutch, D-Fla., to “explore policy options that address the impacts, causes, and challenges of our changing climate.”

The caucus suffered huge losses of Republican members in November’s midterm elections, including Curbelo, who lost a competitive race in his left-leaning South Florida district.

But the remaining 20 or so GOP members who won re-election, led by Rooney and Fitzpatrick, have vowed to rebuild it rather than fold, aiming to impose rules on membership in response to Democratic critics who say the group provides cover to Republicans with poor environmental records.

Read more of Josh’s scoop here.

GREENS URGE GOP TO DELAY ANDREW WHEELER’S CONFIRMATION HEARING: Environmental groups on Friday urged Senate Republicans to delay Wednesday’s planned confirmation hearing for Andrew Wheeler to stay on as EPA administrator, arguing it’s inappropriate to use agency resources to prepare him during the government shutdown.

“It is profoundly unfair for Mr. Wheeler to audition for a promotion to lead an agency while the entire agency workforce is locked out and denied their paychecks, making it difficult to pay their bills and mortgages and provide for their families,” the leaders of nine environmental groups, including the Natural Resources Defense Council and Sierra Club, wrote in a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., the chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee.

The Office of Management and Budget has said EPA staff who are helping Wheeler prepare for Wednesday’s confirmation hearing are “excepted” from furlough during the government shutdown.

Trump last week nominated Wheeler to stay on as administrator of the EPA, a position he has held in an acting capacity since July after replacing Scott Pruitt.

ELIZABETH WARREN JOINS ‘NO FOSSIL FUEL MONEY’ PLEDGE FOR 2020 CAMPAIGN: Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., this weekend became the first 2020 presidential candidate to pledge to not accept money from fossil fuel interests during the campaign.  

The pledge, according to the activist group Sunrise Movement Boston, commits Warren to reject all fossil fuel PAC money and individual donations over $200.

Other Democratic potential presidential candidates have also signed the pledge, including Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee.

NEW REPORT WITH EX-CLINTON OFFICIAL SUGGESTS SHALE OIL COULD BE GOOD FOR RENEWABLES: A new global energy panel led in part by former President Bill Clinton’s energy chief suggests that the shale oil revolution has primed the U.S. to win the renewable energy race.

“The US is well positioned in the clean energy race: US companies hold strong positions in new technologies, including robotics, artificial intelligence, and electric vehicles,” the International Renewable Energy Agency’s Global Commission on the Geopolitics of Energy Transformation said Friday in its first report.

The oil shale “revolution” is making the country energy self sufficient and less dependent on energy imports, according to the report, meaning it is better prepared to support industries like the renewable energy one.  

The new commission, partly funded by the U.S. government, was established last January, with the goal of producing a report on the impact of renewable energy on global influence and geopolitics.

Bill Richardson, who served as Clinton’s energy secretary from 1998 to 2000, is the only representative from the U.S. on the new commission.

RUNDOWN

Houston Chronicle Energy sector heads into ‘kind of purgatory’

Wall Street Journal OPEC weighs a first-ever influence campaign in the US

Reuters Trump can’t stop US. coal plants from retiring

New York Times Electric vehicles are in the spotlight at Detroit’s 2019 auto show