THE SUN ALSO RISES FOR SCOTT PRUITT: Twenty-four hours have passed since a flurry of bad headlines hit, and Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt is still standing.

Lobbyists, Trump donors and conservative advisers tell John the decision on whether he stays, or goes, will come down to Trump himself. And the president really likes having Pruitt around.   

“I don’t doubt there are people inside EPA or the White House that don’t like Pruitt. But the president likes Pruitt, they are very similar in many ways,” said one industry lobbyist.

Pruitt has been effective in carrying out Trump’s deregulation agenda. From the Paris climate deal exit to this week’s auto emissions rollback, “he has been effective all along,” the industry source said.  

• Standing up to ‘fake media:’ Plus, “he looks like a victim of the ‘fake media,’” which Trump likes the most, and the recent stories of taking a sweetheart deal from lobbyists to live in a condominium only creates “more background” that Pruitt has opponents who want to take him down.

By the way, the industry source believes the condominium deal is being overblown as an ethics issue, when it is really a “judgment call.” It is just noise that Trump probably believes Pruitt can get through, the source says.

• From the donor circle: Dan Eberhart, a Trump donor and oil service magnate, told John that the condo issue is troubling but not something Pruitt can’t overcome.  

“Administrator Pruitt’s short-term housing arrangements seem misguided given the fishbowl of D.C., but I don’t see it as unethical or some ill-gotten financial gain,” Eberhart said in an email. “Overall, I think Pruitt has been a tireless advocate of Trump’s philosophy of rolling back unnecessary business-hampering regulations while balancing the EPA’s mission to protect the environment. And he’s accomplished this in an agency that is hostile to him even being in the building.”

• White House staff out to get him: Mike McKenna, a conservative environmental consultant close to the Trump transition team, said the stories that have boiled over for Pruitt likely stem from the White House itself. He believes lesser advisers have it out for Pruitt and are pushing the stories to the media to pressure him to resign.

• Pruitt is safe, but …: White House officials tell the Washington Examiner that Pruitt is safe in his job for now.

A Republican close to the White House described Pruitt Tuesday as “more effective than any other Cabinet secretary, with [Attorney General] Jeff Sessions being the one possible exception.”

• It’s Stormy out there: But the same source said that neither Pruitt’s track record nor Trump’s phone call guarantees that “he’ll still be around a week from now.”

One senior administration official said Pruitt could outlast former Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin and national security adviser H.R. McMaster because rumors about his job security have overshadowed news coverage of Trump’s alleged affair with porn star Stormy Daniels.

“Obviously, that won’t last forever,” the official warned.

• Trump’s take: Trump has offered cryptic comments about his EPA chief since their conversation Monday evening. “I hope he’s going to be great,” the president told reporters during a quadrilateral meeting Tuesday.

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EMBATTLED PRUITT RIPS ‘TOXIC WASHINGTON’: Pruitt on Tuesday forcefully pushed back against criticism that he won the short-term sweetheart rental deal from a lobbyist friend, claiming his and the president’s critics will “resort to anything” to stop their agenda.

“It’s toxic here in that regard,” Pruitt said in an interview with Washington Examiner columnist Paul Bedard.

• Preaching to the president: “This president’s courage and commitment to make those things happen and him empowering his teammates in each of these respective agencies to say go forth and get results and get accountability, it’s happening. It’s happening here, it’s happening elsewhere. And do I think that is something that some folks don’t like? Absolutely. And do I think they’ll use any means to [stop] it? Absolutely. And it’s frustrating,” Pruitt said.

• ‘Dumbfounded’ by condo gate: Pruitt is under scrutiny for paying $50 per night for a single bedroom in a condo near the Capitol, only paying on the nights he actually slept there, an amount significantly under the market rate.

Pruitt dismissed the controversy, saying he he rented just one room while he looked for permanent housing. The EPA’s general counsel issued a reporting calling the rent for one room, about $1,500 a month, “reasonable.”

Pruitt said, “I’m dumbfounded that that’s controversial.”

REPUBLICANS CALL FOR PRUITT TO RESIGN: Two Republican lawmakers from Florida told Pruitt to resign Tuesday, becoming the first GOP members to do so.

“Major policy differences aside, @EPAScottPruitt’s corruption scandals are an embarrassment to the Administration, and his conduct is grossly disrespectful to American taxpayers. It’s time for him to resign or for @POTUS to dismiss him,” Rep. Carlos Curbelo, R-Fla., wrote on Twitter Tuesday.

• Already a Trump critic: Curbelo is a founder of the bipartisan Climate Solutions Caucus, a group with more than 70 members that advocates for policy to combat climate change. He is a moderate congressman up for re-election in a competitive district.

• Florida fighters: Joining Curbelo opposing Pruitt was Rep. lleana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., a fellow member of the Climate Solutions Caucus who is retiring.

“When scandals and distractions overtake a public servant’s ability to function effectively, another person should fill that role,” Ros-Lehtinen said Tuesday.  

EPA GOES ON CORN ETHANOL’S HIT LIST: The ethanol industry, meanwhile, is furious about the EPA’s decision to exempt oil refinery giant Andeavor from having to comply with the Renewable Fuel Standard’s ethanol mandate.

“EPA has struck again,” Bob Dinneen, the ethanol industry’s top lobbyist, blasted in a statement from his group, the Renewable Fuels Association. “It appears the agency has initiated a fire sale on RFS demand.”

The EPA granted three of Andeavor’s smaller refineries with exemptions on Tuesday, which corresponds with an oil industry victory in the courts last year that reinforces the exemptions as legal if applied to a limited number of units, industry lobbyists point out.

• Typical ethanol industry response: One lobbyist played down Dinneen’s outrage as just noise, saying the exemption is “so small after all,” equaling 10 percent of Andeavor’s production. The “hair on fire” response by ethanol groups is “just typical,” the lobbyist said.

• More exemptions coming: The oil industry expects to see even larger oil companies that own small refineries seeking exemptions in the coming weeks.  

• Backtracking on Trump’s promise: Dinneen says EPA’s actions renege on Trump’s promise to protect the RFS.

“Providing a small refiner waiver to a company like Andeavor is laughable and abandons the commitment of President Trump to protect the RFS,” he said. “This is an outrageous abuse of the statute.”

• The suing words of corn ethanol: Using words like “statute” and “abuse” typically precede court action, and it wouldn’t be a surprise if the ethanol industry takes the matter to court.

• EPA acts in ‘darkness:’ Dinneen explained that EPA’s action doesn’t fit the definition of a small refiner waiver.

“Any claims the RFS is negatively impacting the oil industry are absurd, much less the fifth-largest refiner in the country which posted a profit of nearly $1.5 billion last year,” he said. “Suffice it to say we are exploring all our options to return the RFS to what the statute intended and what the President has supported.”

PRUITT TAKES OVER ALL BIG DECISIONS ON AMERICA’S WATERWAYS: The EPA chief has placed himself in charge of all decisions regarding the nation’s waterways, throwing to the wayside the agency’s regional offices that used to have some say on the matters, according to a leaked memo.

In the new directive, Pruitt states he will be making all final critical decisions when it comes to the preservation of streams, ponds and wetlands.

The group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility provided CNN with a copy of the memo, which was date March 30.

The memo states: “With this revised delegation, authority previously delegated to regional administrators to make final determinations of geographic jurisdiction shall be retained by the administrator.”

EPA’S ACTING DEPUTY ADMINISTRATOR LEAVES: EPA acting Deputy Administrator Mike Flynn officially left the agency Tuesday after retiring from a 38-year career.

Flynn had announced in February he would retire.

• Replacement coming? Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., recently filed cloture to advance the nomination of Flynn’s expected replacement, Andrew Wheeler, allowing for a vote next week, when Congress returns from its Easter recess.

Wheeler is an energy industry lobbyist whose ties to Murray Energy, a privately owned coal giant, have drawn scrutiny from Democrats.

He previously worked on the staff of Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., including as chief counsel for the senator on the Environment and Public Works Committee.

RUSSIA UNHAPPY WITH U.S. SUCCESS, TRUMP SAYS: Trump said Tuesday that Russia isn’t happy with the U.S.’ success in becoming a top producer and exporter of oil and natural gas.

“We’re now exporting oil and gas,” Trump said. “This is not something that Russia wanted.”

The U.S. is now a net natural gas exporter, which means it exports as much or more than it uses domestically. The Trump administration has made energy exports part of its geopolitical strategy to free countries from the potential stranglehold Russia has over energy supplies in Europe.

Trump made the comments in meeting with the leaders of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania as they marked the 100th anniversary of their independence from Russia.

A DOZEN ATTORNEYS GENERAL ‘STRONGLY OPPOSE’ EPA’S ROLLBACK OF CAR POLLUTION RULES: A dozen Democratic attorneys general said Tuesday that they “strongly oppose” Pruitt’s decision this week to reject strict vehicle fuel-efficiency standards imposed by the Obama administration and vowed to enforce tougher rules in their states.

“Whatever decisions the administration may make, we are committed to using our market power and our regulatory authority to ensure that the vehicle fleets deployed in our jurisdictions fully meet the promises made by the auto industry in 2012,” the attorneys general said.

• Democrats, unite: The attorneys general signing onto the statement include Eric Schneiderman of New York, Maura Healey of Massachusetts and Brian Frosh of Maryland.

• Start over: Pruitt announced Tuesday that the Obama administration’s rules that set a 54-mile per gallon standard by 2025, up from the current average of 38.3 mpg, for cars and light trucks were “not appropriate.” In the coming months, he will write new, likely weaker standards.

CLIMATE-FRIENDLY GOVERNORS DENOUNCE EPA’S VEHICLE EMISSIONS MOVE, TOO: Separately, the U.S. Climate Alliance, a coalition of 17 governors committed to upholding the Paris Agreement, said Tuesday they support the Obama administration’s fuel-efficiency standards and will reject their weakening.

“We reject this attempt to weaken emissions standards while the rest of the world moves forward,” the governors said. “We call on non-Alliance states, car makers, the health community, and others to work with us to uphold the economic, environmental and public health benefits of cleaner cars.”

• Coast to coast: The alliance includes the governors of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and Puerto Rico. Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, who is up for re-election in a blue state, is the only Republican on that list.

• Bottom line: Still, the statement is significant because it is endorsed by all 12 states that follow California’s stricter fuel-efficiency standards, which are in line with what President Barack Obama had planned. California has a waiver so it can set its own rules under the Clean Air Act, and 12 other states, representing one-third of the auto market, follow those.

Pruitt is considering revoking California’s waiver to force it, and the other states, to follow weaker standards. But California, and now the states that follow it, are vowing to maintain their right to set their own rules.

CYBERATTACKS HIT DATA SYSTEMS OF THREE PIPELINE COMPANIES: Cyberattacks  have shut down the data systems of three U.S. pipeline companies that they use to communicate with customers over the last few days, according to Bloomberg.

A fourth company also had its data system go offline, but it has not confirmed it resulted from a cyberattack.

• State of play: On Monday, Bloomberg had reported that the electronic data interchange used for Energy Transfer Partners’ pipeline system was attacked and shut down. The attack did not affect the transport of natural gas through the company’s pipeline system.

Boardwalk Pipeline Partners and Chesapeake Utilities Corp.’s Eastern Shore Natural Gas also reported breakdowns in their systems that day.

On Tuesday, Oneok Inc., which operates natural gas pipelines in the Permian Basin in Texas and the Rocky Mountains, said it disabled its communications system as a precaution after determining that a third-party provider was the “target of an apparent cyberattack.”

• What’s affected: The communications system that have been attacked facilitate transactions of oil and gas moving through the pipelines, using a computer-to-computer exchange of documents.

Energy Transfer says its system is back online and working again. Eastern Shore Natural Gas’s Latitude system was restored as well.

There is no indication of who committed the attacks.

RUNDOWN

Reuters Oil giants stayed in their own backyards in U.S. offshore drilling auction

Washington Post A fierce opponent of the Endangered Species Act is picked to oversee Interior’s wildlife policy

New York Times How U.S. fuel economy standards compare with the rest of the world’s

Wall Street Journal Home solar dims as Tesla, others, curb aggressive sales

Bloomberg Tesla’s Model 3 is now America’s best-selling electric car