TRUMP, ABE, MACRON ON CLIMATE COLLISION COURSE? President Trump will meet with Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at Mar-a-Lago Tuesday and a week later with French President Emmanuel Macron at the White House. Both leaders are facing interesting energy climates.

• Japan’s fossil fuel imports: Abe’s country is one of the largest importers of coal and natural gas, two areas of intense interest in meeting Trump’s energy dominance agenda, which includes more exports of both fossil fuels.

At the same time, Abe is a signatory to the Paris climate change deal, which Trump is leaving, although it will take until the next presidential election to do so. It will take a heavy lift for Japan to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels to meet its climate goals, especially in the wake of 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster that caused its expensive shift in power production away from carbon-free nuclear energy.

• France talks a good game: Macron, of course, has chided Trump for his climate stance, but for the most part wants to appear as though not having the U.S. on board the Paris Agreement will not deter the rest of the world from cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

• However … : France imported more electricity last year than in the past five years, while lagging other European countries in its adoption of renewables, according to Reuters.

• Bottom line: Both Japan and France find themselves in a place where aggressive climate actions may lag real-world challenges to keep the lights on.

• Bets are off nuclear: France still has a lot of no-emission nuclear power, but that didn’t suffice when a prolonged cold snap hit the country this year, forcing the country to import its electricity from fossil generators in other countries.

Macron is looking to reduce its nuclear power capacity from 75 percent to 50 percent of its energy, as part of an energy plan it passed into law in 2015. That could place it in a climate bind.

• U.S. leverage: Trump could use these realities as leverage, but it is not clear what, if anything, he could ask for.

The president could urge Macron to align with his clean coal agenda, in which Energy Secretary Rick Perry is pushing a technology fix to make coal viable in a carbon-constrained world. More natural gas imports also would help the French transition to more renewables.

Abe is already a beneficiary of the energy dominance agenda, with increased imports of shale natural gas from the U.S.

Japan could renew its commitment to carbon capture technology for coal during Tuesday’s visit.

Perry is in India meeting with government leaders to discuss that very issue as well as establishing ways to expand its natural gas infrastructure. Trump could get similar commitments from Abe.   

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ENERGY COMPANIES DEMAND THEIR SHARE OF THE AIRWAVES: The electricity industry is fighting for more access to increasingly valuable airwaves that it needs to keep the lights on and run and recharge the increasing amount of devices and tech toys tied to the Internet.

The industry has renewed its 20-year battle for the government to recognize its need for equal access to the radio frequency bandwidth in the electromagnetic spectrum, as energy management requires more machine-to-machine communication between customers and electricity providers.

For example, power grid operators need to be able to communicate with rooftop solar arrays to send signals on whether to increase output or curtail it, based on supply and demand changes. Read more in this week’s magazine.

Here’s the latest on Scott Pruitt’s and Ryan Zinke’s travails:

BARRASSO DEMANDS PRUITT GIVE ‘FULL PUBLIC ACCOUNTING’ ON PHONE BOOTH: Senate Environment and Public Works Chairman John Barrasso, R-Wyo., said Monday that the Environmental Protection Agency must explain to Congress its $43,000 purchase of a secure phone booth for Administrator Scott Pruitt.

“It is critical that EPA and all federal agencies comply with notification requirements to Congress before spending taxpayer dollars,” Barrasso said. “EPA must give a full public accounting of this expenditure and explain why the agency thinks it was complying with the law.”

• Out of the loop: The Government Accountability Office said Monday the EPA violated the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act because it spent more than $5,000 on the phone booth without notifying Congress.

The law prohibits government agencies from paying more than $5,000 to redecorate or furnish a presidential appointee’s office without approval from lawmakers.

• Breaking the mold: Barrasso has been close to Pruitt. The two recently toured coal plant operations in Wyoming, Barrasso’s home state. Barrasso has stood by Pruitt as others have called for his resignation over spending and ethical issues, saying he is awaiting the result of various investigations to pass judgment.

HE’S ALSO INVESTIGATING PRUITT’S FOUR EMAIL ADDRESSES: Barrasso is investigating Pruitt for using four email addresses at the EPA.

He asked Pruitt in a letter whether federal records requests to the EPA are searching all of his addresses.

“Can you confirm that the EPA does in fact search all your official email accounts when responding to [Freedom of Information Act] requests?”

• You’ve got mail: Two Democratic senators revealed last week that the EPA has four addresses for Pruitt. The addresses are [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] and [email protected], the Washington Post reported.

The EPA said two of the email accounts are used by staff for scheduling and correspondence, one is used by Pruitt, and one hasn’t been used except for three test emails.

• Consistent critic: Barrasso previously criticized Obama administration EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson for using an email account under the alias “Richard Windsor” that she used for official business.

PRUITT DIDN’T SIGN OFF ON THOSE BIG EPA PAY RAISES, INSPECTOR GENERAL FINDS: EPA chief of staff Ryan Jackson signed off on most of the high-profile pay raises that have landed EPA chief Scott Pruitt in hot water in recent weeks, the EPA inspector general said Monday.

Although Pruitt did authorize tens of thousands of dollars in pay raises for select employees, the biggest pay hikes came at the behest of Jackson, according to the inspector general.

The inspector general’s preliminary report was sent to Pruitt as an update on its ongoing investigation into whether the EPA broke the law in giving a group of lobbyists and others jobs at the agency with huge pay raises in the last year.

ZINKE COULD HAVE AVOIDED CHARTERED FLIGHT AFTER SPEECH TO HOCKEY TEAM, IG FINDS: Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke “could have avoided” taking a $12,375 charter flight to his home state of Montana after he spoke in June to a professional hockey team in Las Vegas owned by a former campaign contributor, according to the agency’s inspector general.

The Interior Department’s inspector general on Monday released the findings of an investigation it started in October in which it faulted Zinke for spending $12,375 on a chartered flight after speaking at the developmental camp for the Golden Knights, a National Hockey League team in Las Vegas.

• By the book, minus one chapter: The inspector general’s office reviewed three chartered flights Zinke took in fiscal 2017, and concluded that the Interior Department “generally followed relevant law, policy, rules, and regulations” in scheduling and approving the travel.

However, Zinke’s use of the chartered flight after the speech to the hockey team “could have been avoided if the [Interior Department] employees who were scheduling Zinke’s trip had worked with the Golden Knights to better accommodate his schedule,” the report said.

• Missing info: Interior Department ethics officials approved the trip, but did so with incomplete information, the inspector general said.

For example, Interior Department staff failed to tell ethics officials before approving the trip that Zinke’s speech would not cover anything related to his government role. The agency also did not disclose to ethics officials that Bill Foley, chairman of Fidelity National Financial Inc. and a donor to Zinke’s congressional campaigns, owns the hockey team.

Both facts likely would have made taking a chartered flight inappropriate, the report said.

ZINKE’S NOT A GEOLOGIST, ALTHOUGH HE SAYS HE IS: Zinke last week again defended his decision to shrink Bears Ears national monument by calling himself a geologist, and although geology was his major in college, he has never held a position in that field.

“I’m a geologist,” Zinke said while reasoning with lawmakers his decision to shrink Bears Ears. “I can assure you that oil and gas in Bears Ears was not part of my decision matrix. A geologist will tell you there is little, if any, oil and gas.”

Since being confirmed as secretary of the interior, Zinke has suggested or called himself a former geologist at least 40 times in public, according to a CNN report.

COAL BAILOUT ARRIVES IN THE SENATE: Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., introduced legislation that would do what Perry and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission have not — provide incentives for coal-fired power plants so they don’t close.

“This legislation will help ease some of the financial burdens placed on these plants, and as a result, it will help preserve our energy security,” said Capito, who is from a major coal-producing state.

“Recent winter storms have highlighted just how important it is that we have access to affordable and reliable energy sources, and as it has done time and time again over the years, coal proved to be exactly what we needed to power the country,” she said. “However, due to misguided and burdensome regulations and certain subsidies and mandates, many coal-fired plants have been prematurely slated for retirement and may not be around the next time there is a similar weather event.”

The bill is a companion to legislation that has been introduced in the House.

• It’s only temporary: The Electricity Reliability and Fuel Security Act would provide a temporary, five-year tax credit to help coal-fired power plants offset a portion of operation and maintenance expenses.

“The introduction of this bill is another important step towards the passage of legislation to help sustain the nation’s fleet of coal-fueled power plants,” said American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity President and CEO Paul Bailey.

FERC VS. FIRST ENERGY: Bailey told John in a recent interview that the bill’s tax credits would provide relief to coal plants while FERC works out a longer-term fix on how to boost grid resilience in the energy markets it oversees.

His group’s members are not part of the push to enact an emergency-relief waiver from the Energy Department, which Trump said he is looking at to help the coal industry.

The utility First Energy has asked Perry to issue the order allowing its fleet of coal and nuclear plants to continue running, despite being uneconomical. The plants are slated to close by 2021.

• Opposition to First Energy: The company’s petition is receiving a huge amount of opposition. Most recently, the American Petroleum Institute and a broad coalition sent a letter to Trump urging him to reject the proposal as harmful to open markets.

The coalition includes the oil industry, renewable trade groups, merchant utility companies and natural gas drillers.

FERC HINTS AT ACTION THIS WEEK ON PIPELINE REVIEWS: FERC Chairman Kevin McIntyre suggested Tuesday that the commission will take action this week on its nearly 20-year-old policy for approving interstate pipeline projects.

The commission on Thursday will host its monthly open meeting, where there is an item on the docket related to the pipeline review.

• ‘Prudent’ review: “Today I intend neither to forecast a policy direction nor to prejudge the outcome of our review,” McIntyre said Tuesday during testimony before the House Energy and Commerce Committee, where all FERC members appeared to discuss the fiscal 2019 budget. “I believe that, as a matter of good government, it is prudent to review our processes and policies from time to time to explore whether any improvements can be made. Our review is timely in light of the many changes that the natural gas industry has witnessed in the past 20 years.”

FERC has been characteristically tight-lipped since it announced in December its plan to take an open-ended “fresh look” at its 1999 policy statement governing how it issues permits for pipelines.

• Changing system: Lawmakers said Tuesday they are expecting the new policy to reflect changes in the energy system, as it transitions to more use of renewables and away from fossil fuels.
“I hope this review leads to a new pipeline policy that provides greater protections to property owners and a more holistic review process that looks at all pipelines in a given region,” said Rep. Frank Pallone of New Jersey, the top Democrat on the committee.

FERC HEAD DEFENDS POWER MARKETS AHEAD OF FIRST ENERGY RULING: McIntyre on Tuesday defended the viability of competitive power markets as the Energy Department prepares to decide whether to grant FirstEnergy’s petition to save its failing coal and nuclear plants.

“FERC’s support of competitive wholesale electricity markets has been grounded in the substantial and well-documented economic benefits that these markets provide to consumers,” McIntyre said.

Critics have said approving the petition would disrupt competitive electricity markets and act as a bailout that would set a bad precedent.

• Competition to blame: FERC commissioners did not directly address the FirstEnergy case at the Tuesday hearing. But when Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, asked what is causing coal and nuclear to become less economic, McIntyre pointed to old-fashioned competition.

“It’s very difficult for [coal and nuclear] to compete in competitive markets against that cheap natural gas resource,” McIntyre said.

PERRY ANNOUNCES $105 MILLION FOR SOLAR: Perry on Tuesday announced $105 million in new funding to support solar energy technologies.

The Energy Department will provide funding to about 70 projects related to solar photovoltaic and concentrating solar thermal power technologies.

The funding also will support workforce initiatives for the solar industry, with the goal of boosting employment, especially among veterans.

CHINA ON PATH TO DOUBLE SHALE GAS PRODUCTION: China’s ventures into shale natural gas and fracking are about to double, which likely will mean less need for U.S. natural imports, a big part of the Trump agenda, according to a report released Tuesday.

“Shale gas in China has seen significant progress over the last decade, growing to nearly 600 wells and 9 [billion cubic meters] of production last year,” said the report from consultants at Wood Mackenzie.

Chinese shale gas production is set to nearly double to 17 billion cubic meters by 2020, the report says.

• Impact on U.S. shale: That means more Chinese domestic production and most likely a little less demand for U.S. natural gas.

But the report says the production goals the Chinese government has set will leave room for natural gas imports.

There will still be a 13 billion cubic meter “’gap” in 2020 that “will have to be filled by imports,” said Lynn-Yuqian Lin, consultant on the report for Wood Mackenzie. “We have already witnessed how China was able to leverage on flexible LNG [imports] to cope with record-high demand this recent winter season.”

COLORADO CLIMATE LAWSUITS COULD COME TODAY: Boulder, Colo., is expected to add itself to a growing list of cities suing energy companies over climate change.

Boulder’s elected officials are slated to host a rally Tuesday with national anti-fossil fuel organizations including the Sierra Club, Earth Guardians and 350.org, according to the group Energy In Depth funded by the oil industry.

CAP-AND-TRADE IS GOOD FOR THE ECONOMY: The nine-state Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative generated $1.4 billion in economic gains for the region, an independent analysis of the climate program shows.

The amount of economic benefits rose despite the cost of pollution allowances rising and the emission targets tightening.   

The Tuesday study by the Analysis Group showed net economic value increased from the program’s implementation in 2015 through 2017.

“The program’s implementation over that period also creates over 14,500 new job-years,” according to a release. “All of the participating RGGI states experience benefits, including employment growth and net economic benefits for electricity consumers, with those dollars flowing back into the local economy.”

RGGI states include Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Delaware, New York and Maryland. New Jersey and Virginia are looking to join the group.

RUNDOWN

Washington Post Pruitt upgraded his official car last year to a costlier, larger vehicle with bullet-resistant covers over bucket seats.

New York Times Ryan Zinke is opening up public lands. Just not at home.

Wall Street Journal Tesla halts Model 3 production again

Reuters Under military rule, Venezuela oil workers quit in a stampede

NBC News Wind energy takes a toll on birds, but now there’s help

CNBC Coal is on its way out, says Vistra Energy CEO as company shuts down coal plants