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TRUMP’S FORMER ENERGY CHIEF LOOKS TO CHANNEL FRANCE’S YELLOW VEST MOVEMENT: President Trump’s former energy transition chief, Tom Pyle, is donning the vest of France’s protest movement in launching a campaign against the bipartisan carbon tax legislation introduced in the House last week.

Pyle’s group, the American Energy Alliance, is shipping Rep. Francis Rooney of Florida, the sole Republican on the bill, a yellow vest. In accompanying letter to be sent Tuesday obtained by John, Pyle wrote that the vest represents “solidarity with our French brethren who have protested expensive climate policies.” The populist protest movement in France is known as the “Gilets Jaunes” for their yellow vests.

Pyle, who heads the conservative free-market group, says the carbon tax legislation, if enacted, would raise energy costs in the U.S., similar to the tax policies the Gilets Jaunes movement has been protesting for months in the streets of Paris.

Pyle views the movement that began last fall as a public rebellion against rising fuel taxes, which French President Emmanuel Macron billed as a way to meet France’s commitments under the 2015 Paris climate accord.

“Just like your carbon tax, Macron’s goal was to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by making fuel more costly and restricting consumer choice,” Pyle said in his letter.

The $15 per ton tax on carbon pollution, which would increase by $10 each year, would drive up energy costs by making it more expensive for companies to produce electricity and other forms of energy from fossil fuels.

The bill introduced by Rooney and Rep. Ted Deutch, D-Fla., is meant to offset those costs for consumers by sending a dividend payment as a rebate to households.

But Pyle says the bill’s dividend payment is “a false bill of goods.”

“Nobody wants a so-called dividend if it means losing a job,” he writes.

The legislation was first introduced by the lawmakers last fall as the first bipartisan carbon tax bill in nearly a decade. The two lawmakers, who co-lead the bipartisan Climate Solutions Caucus, reintroduced the legislation last Thursday.

Pyle’s group led 20 conservative groups last year in a letter to Congress opposing the carbon tax idea as a misguided policy that will drive up costs while doing little to curb carbon pollution. It also commissioned a study that showed a carbon tax would harm the economy.

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ETHANOL INDUSTRY PREPARES FOR A ‘CRAZY YEAR’ TRYING TO SWAY THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION: Ethanol producers are preparing for major action at the federal level in the months ahead, both in terms of litigation against Trump administration actions on the nation’s renewable fuel mandate and lobbying to finalize rules regarding the ethanol mandate.

“You know, 2019 is going to be a crazy year,” said Monte Shaw, the president of the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association, speaking to John in an interview ahead of a regional ethanol summit he is hosting in Des Moines on Tuesday.

The insanity: The craziness Shaw referenced pertains to the number of lawsuits that are both anticipated and pending over the Environmental Protection Agency’s Renewable Fuel Standard program, as well as the agency’s new actions to boost the amount of ethanol sold year-round in the nation’s gasoline supply.

Ready for the war: Shaw warned the Trump EPA that “it will be war” if it refuses to follow a court order that directed the agency to add 500 million gallons of ethanol to its annual targets to make up for actions taken by the Obama administration that lowered the annual requirements.

Read John’s entire story here.

Making history: “Quite frankly, when you look at the plethora of issues on our plate that should come to a head this year, I will not be surprised if 2019 goes down in biofuels history as the most impactful year – for better or worse – since 2005,” Shaw concluded in Tuesday’s keynote he delivered this morning at the Iowa ethanol summit.

Administration no shows: Shaw told John that the Trump administration could not send representatives to the summit as initially planned because of the prolonged shutdown.

Shaw had planned for representatives from the Agriculture Department, including the agency’s chief economist, and several officials from the EPA to attend.

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION SANCTIONS VENEZUELA’S STATE-RUN OIL COMPANY: The Trump administration on Monday announced sanctions against Venezuela’s state-run oil monopoly, PDVSA, in a move to kill the main source of revenue for the regime of Nicolas Maduro, and empower opposition leader Juan Guaido.

National security adviser John Bolton said the move would block $7 billion in assets of Venezuela’s state-run oil company and result in $11 billion in export losses over the next year.

The sanctions stop short of a total embargo on Venezuelan oil.

What’s the real impact?: But energy industry experts say the impact could be the same, because Maduro would likely not allow oil to be sold to U.S. Gulf Coast refiners if he can’t use the revenues and would turn to alternative buyers, such as Russia and China.

“It is the same as an import ban for refiners,” Joseph McMonigle, a former chief of staff at the Energy Department in the George W. Bush administration, told Josh.

Mnuchin said Monday that U.S. Gulf Coast refiners, anticipating sanctions, have already reduced “dependence” on Venezuelan oil.

He projected little impact on U.S. oil and gas prices, noting that prices have dropped during the Trump administration.

McMonigle said the reality is likely more complicated with alternative sources of heavy crude strained.

“The Trump administration is trying to put a happy face on this,” he said. “It’s definitely going to be a big impact on U.S. refiners who will have to scale back their operation in the U.S. unless they can find other sources of medium to heavier crude. That in itself will have an impact on gasoline prices.”

LIBERALS GROW SKEPTICAL OF CARBON TAX: Liberals are moving away from carbon taxes as the primary answer to combating climate change, leaving the policy with little support on either side of the political spectrum.

“Carbon pricing is not doing well politically,” Kevin Book, managing director for research at ClearView Energy, told Josh. “The challenges from within the Republican Party are already insurmountable today, and the abandoning of pricing and market-based mechanisms on the Left are dooming its revival in the long term.”

Progressives envisioning a “Green New Deal” are turning away from carbon pricing in favor of government mandates to transition the U.S. to entirely renewable energy.

“A carbon price is one tool,” Greg Carlock, Green New Deal research director at the progressive think tank Data for Progress, told Josh. “But it is insufficient as the only piece. My gravest concern is that we try for what is most likely to pass in a bipartisan sense, but punt the issue of decarbonization down the road.”

Democrats show mixed signals: While a few Republicans in the House and Senate have joined with Democrats to introduce carbon tax bills in recent weeks, freshman progressives with the support of activist groups are pressuring Democratic leadership to pursue bolder, broader policies, ones that wouldn’t have bipartisan support.

Their preferred approach would marry massive public investments in clean energy infrastructure such as light rail, electric vehicle charging stations, and weatherized buildings, with progressive policies such as a jobs guarantee and nationalized healthcare.

Read more of Josh’s report in this week’s Washington Examiner magazine.

SHUTDOWN DELAYS WILDFIRE PREVENTION PROJECTS: The record-long government shutdown that ended Monday stalled federal forest management projects to help prevent wildfires, with some of the work likely to never to be redeemed.

“The lapse in funding has prevented progress on projects that would normally occur at thi s time of year, affecting partners, tribes, local communities and businesses,” John Haynes, a spokesman for the U.S. Forest Service, told Josh.

What was lost: Haynes said firefighting training has been delayed. Prescribed burns, in which officials intentionally set fires to take away ignitable material off the forest floor and give trees more space to breathe, have been postponed or canceled.

Work that could only be done during winter months may not be completed. Prescribed burns, for example, are less effective when conditions get too wet, during the spring, and too dry, during the summer, said John Barnwell, director of government affairs at the Society of American Foresters.

Barnwell told Josh that as fire season approaches, human and capital resources are diverted to responding to fires rather than preventing them. Other important activities also occur at this time of year, including hiring of seasonal employees and securing contracts and contractors for forest management projects.

“There have definitely been impacts on hiring and training for seasonal wild land firefighters,” Michael Wara, director of the Climate and Energy Policy Program at Stanford University, told Josh. “There is limited intake capacity and a month of that was lost. That means that we are likely to have fewer boots on the ground next season.”

Trump harms his own policy: The delays from the shutdown, prompted by Trump’s push for border wall funding, come as his administration has pushed forest management as the key solution to combating worsening wildfires in the West, and dismissed the impact of climate change in making conditions hotter and drier.

CALIFORNIA UTILITY PG&E OFFICIALLY FILES FOR BANKRUPTCY: California utility PG&E officially filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Tuesday as it faces potentially billions of dollars in liability claims for helping cause wildfires.

The utility, which supplies electricity to 16 million California residents, foreshadowed its move to seek bankruptcy protection earlier this month, as it incurs about $30 billion in potential liability, or legal damages, for the state’s record deadly wildfires in 2017 and 2018.

State officials have already found PG&E’s equipment responsible for 17 wildfires in 2017, some of which may result in criminal charges.

EIA PROJECTS US TO EXPORT MORE ENERGY THAN IT IMPORTS BY 2020: The U.S. will export more energy than it imports by 2020 for the first time since the 1950s, the Energy Information Administration projected Tuesday.

The milestone will happen because U.S. production of crude oil, natural gas, and petroleum has outpaced growth in energy consumption.

The U.S. has been a net exporter of coal and coke for decades, began exporting more natural gas than it imports in 2017, and is projected to export more petroleum and other liquids than it imports within the decade.

EPA BOASTS OF DEREGULATORY AGENDA, EMISSIONS REDUCTIONS IN 2018 REVIEW: The EPA on Monday boasted about the money-saving impacts of its deregulatory agenda, while selectively touting emissions reductions, in its annual “year in review” report.

EPA Acting Administrator Andrew Wheeler said the EPA finalized 13 major deregulatory actions in 2018. During Trump’s term, EPA has finalized 33 major deregulatory actions, saving Americans almost $2 billion.

“Over the past year, the Trump Administration has continued to deliver on its promise to provide greater regulatory certainty while protecting public health and the environment,” Wheeler said.

Wheeler implements Trump’s Agenda: Since replacing Scott Pruitt in July, Wheeler has introduced major actions started by his predecessor to delay, weaken or repeal various regulations on air, water and climate change.

They include the EPA’s effort to weaken the Obama administration’s two signature climate change regulations: His strict fuel efficiency standards for cars and light trucks, which were set to steadily rise through 2026, and the Clean Power Plan that was set to limit carbon emissions from power plants.

The agency also highlighted its work to more quickly clean-up hazardous toxic sites. EPA said in 2018, it deleted all or part of 22 Superfund sites from the National Priorities List, the largest number of such actions in one year since fiscal year 2005.

Not giving the full emissions picture: EPA’s report mentions falling U.S. emissions to suggest it still cares about combating climate change (although the report never uses the term). But it cites data from 2017, while the EIA confirmed Monday that U.S. carbon emissions rose in 2018.

SENATE REPUBLICANS NAME CHAIRS OF EPW SUBCOMMITTEES: Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, announced Monday the chairmanships of the panel’s four subcommittees.

Sen. Shelley Moore Capito. R-W.V., will serve as the chair of the Subcommittee on Transportation and Infrastructure. Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., will be chair of the Subcommittee on Fisheries, Water, and Wildlife. Sen. Mike Braun, R-Ind., is leading the Subcommittee on Clean Air and Nuclear Safety.

And Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., will chair the Subcommittee on Superfund, Waste Management, and Regulatory Oversight.

RUNDOWN

Politico Trump EPA won’t limit 2 toxic chemicals in drinking water

Wall Street Journal Venezuela oil sanctions jolt Citgo claimants

Bloomberg PDVSA’s angry creditors are prowling the Caribbean for oil to seize

Reuters European companies secure record amounts of wind power