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

WHITE HOUSE AIMS HIGH ON INFRASTRUCTURE WITH ENERGY TAGGING ALONG: President Trump will make most of his energy and environment policy promises through a recommitment to infrastructure Tuesday night when he delivers his second State of the Union address.

Industry sources and GOP energy advisers say that Trump is likely to lump energy priorities into a broader agenda item on infrastructure, which in turn will emphasize building pipelines to bolster the country’s move to become a net oil exporter. Specifically, it could also entail setting up a new market for shale-based chemicals from West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Ohio.

A number of White House officials that John reached out to are keeping a tight lid on confirming any of the details, while lobbyists, donors and others scramble to get confirmation on energy priorities in the run-up to tonight’s address.

But will infrastructure move this time? The White House told reporters last week that the speech will focus on infrastructure projects under the broader mantle of “rebuilding America.”

Trump has made infrastructure a priority of his administration since day one, but has not managed to advance a bill to fund the agenda in the last two years. The prospects for enacting legislation during his term are poor.

Energy dominance: An energy industry lobbyist who has been in recent meetings with the White House said he anticipates some mention of “facilitating energy infrastructure” to harness America’s “energy dominance” — which translates to oil and natural gas exports.

The lobbyist also anticipates recent oil sanctions against Venezuela to make it into the major speech.

Chemicals, not coal, for West Virginia: But there could be room for Trump to mention other items, such as developing a new chemical hub between Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania that takes advantage of the shale gas boom in the region, says a consultant with close ties to the administration.

Deus ex Manchin? The tri-state region is rich in both natural gas and the chemical liquids that come along with the resource, like ethane. Developing that resource has been a legislative priority of Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, who is now the top Democrat on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

Manchin is a centrist who supports fossil fuel development that is done in an environment-friendly way. He has also been looked at by Trump in the past as a possible member of his Cabinet. Mentioning a chemical hub in his speech could be used to build Democratic support for energy infrastructure with the Republican majority by using Manchin’s regional focus as a foil.

Dan Eberhardt, CEO of the oil services company Canary and a Trump donor, said the White House has been noticeably quiet on the pieces of energy and the environment policy that will show up in the speech.

Although he has not been given him any specifics of the speech, Eberhardt believes the White House is aware of the “pipeline bottleneck” that exists in exporting more oil from Texas, as well as the additional support needed at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to approve more natural gas export terminals.

Energy Secretary Rick Perry’s office “is all over” those issues, he said.

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.  

MARKEY BRINGS CLIMATE PROTEST LEADER AS SOTU GUEST: Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., the 2008 co-author of the only major legislation to address climate change to pass the House, will be accompanied by the head of a top climate change protest group Tuesday night at the president’s address.

His guest is Varshini Prakash, executive director and co-founder of the Sunrise climate activist group, which made headlines by occupying House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office last year in a push to get her to adhere to a progressive agenda dubbed the Green New Deal.

“Varshini is a powerful voice of her generation, leading an historic movement of young people who recognize that climate change is the most important issue facing the planet and its leaders,” said Markey.

More climate guests: Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Fla., invited Leon W. Russell, chair of the board of directors at the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Castor, who leads the Democrats’ new select climate change committee, said Russell is an advocate for “climate justice.”

Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., invited longtime climate activist Bill McKibben as his guest. And Rep. Paul Tonko, D-N.Y., the new chair of the Energy and Commerce subcommittee on climate change, invited League of Conservation Voters Executive Director Gene Karpinski to the speech.

GREEN LEADER RESIGNS: Rhea Suh, the president of the major environmental group Natural Resources Defense Council, announced that she will be leaving the group on Monday, after two years of fighting the Trump administration.

EIA HEAD GRILLED OVER COAL PROJECTIONS AND CO2: Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., prodded the government’s lead energy analyst on her projections for continued coal use.

Linda Capuano, the head of the Energy Information Administration, took criticism from Heinrich for her agency’s annual energy forecast that predicts continued use of coal into 2050, although at a flat level.

The exchange occurred at the first Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing of the year.

Capuano explained that the EIA provides a reference case that takes into account current policies. And without taking into consideration not-yet-passed laws and regulations, coal use persists through the middle of the century.

“It is not a forecast of where things will go,” she said, defending the new annual outlook.

Heinrich questioned whether such a reference case is even useful in facing the global climate crisis, which necessitates greater renewable energy. Capuano replied that she hoped it would be useful.

Henrich later questioned whether EIA had included enough on the rate of carbon dioxide reductions. She said she would look into it. The EIA is preparing to release state-by-state carbon dioxide emission data this month.  

NOPEC BILL GETS A NEW LOOK IN HOUSE: A bill aimed at keeping OPEC accountable for price fixing and production cuts was reintroduced in the House on Monday.

The bill, No Oil Producing and Exporting Cartels Act (NOPEC), was introduced by Rep. Steve Chabot, R-Ohio. The bill looks to protect U.S. shale producers from price swings created by OPEC, which harmed U.S. oil drillers three years ago when OPEC production increases forced the price of oil too low. The oil glut forced massive layoffs in the shale oil fields because it became too uneconomic.

Trump has toyed with the NOPEC idea by tweeting at OPEC when it convenes with Russia to discuss production cuts.

SENATE COMMITTEE APPROVES ANDREW WHEELER TO KEEP LEADING EPA: The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee approved Andrew Wheeler on Tuesday to be administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, which he currently leads on an acting basis.

All Republicans on the panel voted for Wheeler, while Democrats unilaterally opposed him. The vote was 11-10.

Wheeler, a former energy lobbyist and Senate Republican staffer, has led the EPA since July after former Administrator Scott Pruitt resigned from the post amid numerous scandals over his misuse of federal funds.

Since he replaced Pruitt, Wheeler has introduced major actions started by his predecessor to delay, weaken, or repeal various regulations on air, water, and climate change.

While Democrats agreed that Wheeler is implementing the Trump agenda more ethically than Pruitt, they said he has not been the moderating force he promised them he would be when he became acting leader.

“It brings me no joy to say he has not done what I hoped he would do in number of important respects,” said Sen. Tom Carper of Delaware, the committee’s top Democrat. “In many instances he has gone further that his predecessor [with regulatory rollbacks].”

CAPITO OK’S WHEELER AFTER GETTING ASSURANCES ON PFAS CHEMICALS: Sen. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia voted for Wheeler after he assured her that he plans to strongly regulate a class of chemicals that have contaminated water supplies across the U.S.

Capito was seen as the only committee Republican who was considering opposing Wheeler because she was “troubled” by media reports that he won’t seek to ban chemicals known as PFAS in a pending drinking water protection plan.

Her state is one of many whose water has been tainted by PFAS, which has been linked with thyroid defects, problems in pregnancy, and certain cancers.

“I intend to closely track the steps EPA is taking to address this public health crisis,” Capito said Tuesday.

COAL IS PART OF JOE MANCHIN’S PLAN TO COMBAT CLIMATE CHANGE: Manchin vowed Tuesday to be a constructive leader in helping combat climate change, but said coal will continue to have a role in the future.

“The impacts of climate change have been felt all over the world, and that includes my state West Virginia,” Manchin said at a Energy and Natural Resorces Committee hearing, the first since he became the top Democrat of the panel. He said he wants to work with Republicans on “pragmatic” solutions.

But, he later added: “Even in states with aggressive clean energy goals, if it gets cold, we will still need coal power.”

AHEAD OF CONFIRMATION VOTE, EPA AND CALIFORNIA FIGHT OVER FUEL STANDARDS: Wheeler and California still can’t agree on a deal for fuel efficiency standards with a key deadline two months away.

Wheeler and California Air Resources Board Chairman Mary Nichols met in San Francisco on Monday, but came no closer to a resolution, both sides said.

Wheeler told Bloomberg in an interview Monday the agency and the state remain “pretty far apart” on the issue.

Skeptical of ‘safety’ argument: Nichols meanwhile, criticized EPA for standing firm with its argument that Obama-era standards strengthening fuel-efficiency rules would make cars and trucks more expensive and encourage people to keep driving older, less safe models.

Turning a proposal into a final deal: The Trump administration has proposed freezing Obama-era fuel efficiency rules for cars and light trucks, instead of raising them each year. It has also proposed revoking a waiver that California has, and other states follow, allowing it to impose fuel efficiency rules tougher than the federal one. California and other states have already sued to keep the waiver.

Wheeler said EPA must introduce a final rule by early April, hoping to maintain a common set of rules California would agree to follow, allowing automakers certainty with the markets they sell to.

Letter to Wheeler: Ahead of the Wheeler vote, Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., told the EPA in a letter written with Colorado’s Democratic Gov. Jared Polis that it “is making a mistake in rolling back the clean car standards…America is on track to make cars and trucks at a competitive advantage — creating more innovative, safe, and clean vehicles.”

TRUMP NOMINATES FORMER LOBBYIST DAVID BERNHARDT TO BE INTERIOR CHIEF: Trump announced Monday that he is nominating David Bernhardt, the Interior Department’s acting secretary, to stay on leading the agency.

Bernhardt, a former lobbyist for the fossil fuel industry, has been serving as acting secretary since January after Ryan Zinke resigned from the Cabinet post earlier this year amid an ethics investigation

Bernhardt had been confirmed by the Senate to serve as Zinke’s deputy secretary, but would have to be approved again for his new role.

His record so far: At Interior, observers say Bernhardt had been leading the day-to-day policymaking process at the agency even when Zinke led it, specifically focusing on easing permitting processes and environmental reviews to open more federal land to oil and gas drilling, and reforming endangered species protections to make the law less cumbersome and restrictive to developers.

But Bernhardt has been criticized for his ties to the fossil fuel industry and environmental groups and Democrats have vowed to fight his nomination.

IRAN CRITICIZES GREECE, ITALY FOR NOT BUYING OIL DESPITE SANCTIONS WAIVER: Iran’s oil minister criticized Greece and Italy on Tuesday for not buying its crude oil despite being granted sanctions waivers from the Trump administration.

“No European country is buying oil from Iran except Turkey,” Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh said, in comments reported by Reuters given to Iran’s ISNA news agency. “Greece and Italy have been granted exemptions by America, but they don’t buy Iranian oil and they don’t answer our questions,” he said.

The Trump administration granted the two countries exemptions along with six others — Turkey, China, India, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan — allowing them to temporarily continue buying Iranian oil, because the president feared taking too much crude off the market would cause U.S. oil and gas prices to rise.

CLIMATE ADVOCATE TO RUN FOR VIRGINIA HOUSE SEAT: Andres Jimenez, previously the associate director of government relations at Ocean Conservancy and employee of former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, announced Monday he is running to serve in Virginia’s House of Delegates as a Democrat.

Jimenez, a Falls Church resident running in Virginia’s 38th District, promises to run a pro-environmental agenda, having served a prominent role with Citizens Climate Lobby, a group advocating for Congress to pass a carbon tax and dividend bill.

“Unfortunately, our environment is now facing the gravest of threats,” Jimenez said in a statement. “We must have a sense of urgency about protecting it. While many of the most destructive policies are being implemented by the federal government, your delegate in Richmond shouldn’t be complicit.”

RUNDOWN

Politico Green New Deal won’t call for end to fossil fuels

Reuters In squeezed oil industry, some rethink hunt for new barrels

Wall Street Journal Venezuela struggles to pump, ship oil after US sanctions

Bloomberg Guaido US envoy vows to open oil deals, restructure debt

New York Times Climate change could leave thousands of lakes ice-free

SPONSOR MESSAGE: 
Separating Fact from Fiction – GAIN Launches Fact Checker Site
The spread of misinformation about energy infrastructure projects is unfortunately not a new phenomenon. The GAIN Coalition recently launched a new website dedicated to countering targeted attacks of coordinated disinformation campaigns by so-called environmental activists. Through fact checking and original reporting, GAINFactChecker.org will provide straightforward, evidence-based analysis in order to increase the public’s knowledge and understanding of pipeline infrastructure.