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EMBATTLED VIRGINIA GOVERNOR’S NEXT ACT OF REDEMPTION WILL FEATURE COAL: As the furor over Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam’s blackface incident is seemingly dying down, his first act of redemption will likely be to sign a bill marking the beginning of the end of coal use in the Old Dominion. 

The Virginia legislature voted out a bill on Friday that directs utilities to clean up and close all legacy coal waste ponds in the state, which environmentalists say pose a threat to the water supply along the Potomac River near Washington, D.C.

The cost of the clean up: The bill enables Dominion Energy, the state’s largest utility, to recover the money for the clean up from ratepayers in the state, which is estimated to cost as much as $5.7 billion, and projected to raise monthly electricity costs for households by $5 on average over the next two decades.  

The bill’s next stop is Northam’s desk, but his office hasn’t said when. State lawmakers have been trying to pass the law for years.

What is coal ash? Coal ash is a mud-like slurry kept in large ponds near coal power plants. The waste can be used to make concrete blocks and even drywall when dried and harvested. But the ponds themselves are an increasing liability for coal utilities because of the maintenance expense and environmental hazard they pose.

Added expense for operating coal plants: It is one of the reasons why coal utilities are deciding to convert coal plants to burn natural gas, in which coal-ash waste is no longer a concern, along with mercury dust and other hazardous pollutants that come from burning coal. Natural gas is also a cheaper fuel due to the shale energy boom of the last decade.

The beginning of the end: Dominion Energy says it has already begun phasing out the waste facilities as it switches its power plants to use more gas.

“As we now transition to cleaner energy sources of the future we will continue to be responsible for managing coal ash to ensure the communities we call home are safe and environmentally sound,” the utility company says on its website.

Its plan is to close six of its 11 ash ponds, which the Environmental Protection Agency calls for under federal regulations.

Four ponds at Possum Point Power Station and two ponds at Bremo Power Station will be closed in accordance with all applicable federal, state and local environmental regulations and necessary permits, the company says.

Once permits are obtained, the ponds are expected to be permanently closed by the end of 2019, says Dominion. The remaining ponds at its other power plants are still being assessed.

AL GORE’S OWN IDEAS FOR NORTHAM’S REDEMPTION: Former Vice President Al Gore wants Northam to redeem himself by blocking a natural gas pipeline compressor station in his state, which he called a form of environmental racism.

Northam should make good on his promise for racial reconciliation by blocking the pipeline project, Gore said at a rally in Virginia on Tuesday night. “This is an ideal opportunity for him to say, ‘I’ve seen the light,’” Gore said, according to AP.

The proposal to build a compressor station in the African-American community of Union Hill, where he spoke, is a “vivid example of environmental racism,” Gore said.

The town, which Gore made as one of his stops on his environmental justice tour, was founded by emancipated slaves.

“This proposed pipeline is a reckless, racist rip-off,” Gore said, according to AP.

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.  

HOUSE OVERSIGHT HAS TRUMP’S SAUDI NUCLEAR DEAL IN ITS SIGHTS: The Democratic-led House Oversight and Reform Committee is launching an investigation into whether the Trump administration broke the law in pursuing a nuclear energy deal with Saudi Arabia.

A committee report released on Tuesday details talks the committee had with government whistleblowers, implicating several former White House national security staff in a plan to sell Saudi Arabia nuclear technology that may have both violated the law and numerous conflict of interest rules.

“Based on this snapshot of events, the Committee is now launching an investigation to determine whether the actions being pursued by the Trump Administration are in the national security interests of the United States or, rather, serve those who stand to gain financially as a result of this potential change in U.S. foreign policy,” the committee said in its report.

At the center of the investigation: Former National Security Adviser Mike Flynn emerged at the center of the allegations over conflicts of interest, according to the report. Before becoming Trump’s top national security adviser, he had worked for a company called IP3, a consortium of nuclear power companies looking to set up shop in Saudi Arabia.

Most of Flynn’s trips to Saudi Arabia on behalf of the group were withheld in his security disclosures, while the IP3 plan to create a Marshall Plan for the Middle East by selling nuclear technology became the focus of Flynn’s staff at the National Security Council, according to the whistleblowers.

Flynn’s reach inside the White House: Even after he left the White House, Flynn’s staff continued to push the IP3 plan, forcing ethics lawyers at the White House to raise red flags over a conflict of interest. Other career staff advised Flynn’s former colleague, Derek Harvey, who remained at the White House, that the Saudi plan is in violation of nuclear energy laws governing cooperation with a foreign buyer.  

Despite the concerns of whistleblowers and National Security Council attorneys, and even after Trump was forced to fire Flynn in February 2017, officials inside the White House continued to move forward on the IP3 nuclear plan, according to the committee report.

“More than five individuals separately confirmed that Mr. Harvey stated during a meeting on March 2, 2017: ‘I speak with Michael Flynn every night,’” the report read. Harvey also refused to accept the White House counsel’s advice that the plan would violate the law.  

FLYNN USED CLIMATE CHANGE TO PUSH MIDEAST NUCLEAR PLAN UNDER TRUMP: A memo released by the House oversight committee showed that Flynn used climate change to push the Saudi nuclear plan while serving as Trump’s top national security adviser.

Turns out Flynn’s memo meant for Trump was actually an email from an IP3 adviser. It was cut-and-pasted into an email authored by Flynn with the subject line, “Marshall Plan for the Middle East,” the committee explained in an appendix document.

The memo to the president explains that Russia and China are looking to help the Gulf states, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia build power plants, but without U.S. safeguards to protect against the development of a nuclear weapons.

It explains that without the U.S., Chinese and Russian involvement in the region will certainly lead to a new nuclear arms race.

It goes on to say that the new Marshall Plan will lead to a rebirth of the nuclear energy industry, and with it more jobs and less carbon dioxide pollution, which is blamed for causing global warming.

“The rebuilding of that industry will provide a major boost to our economy, and a major reduction in carbon-based pollution,” the Flynn memo read.  

ELIZABETH WARREN WOULD MAKE CLIMATE CHANGE A NATIONAL EMERGENCY: Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said climate change, gun violence, and student loan debt would all be national emergencies under her administration if she were elected president.

“Oh, let’s do a list,” Warren said Tuesday night when asked on the “Late Late Show” what she would see as a national emergency. “Climate change, gun violence, student loan debt, right off the top. That’s what we ought to be working on.”

Warren has endorsed the progressive Green New Deal resolution. She was also the first 2020 presidential candidate to pledge to reject money from fossil fuel interests during the campaign, a major marker for progressive environmental groups.

TRUMP’S DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL NOMINEE HELPED LEAD FUEL EFFICIENCY ROLLBACK: Trump announced he will nominate the deputy secretary of the Department of Transportation to be the next deputy attorney general.

Jeffrey Rosen has been a key figure in moving to roll back stringent Obama-era fuel-efficiency standards.

The EPA, jointly with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, has proposed freezing fuel-efficiency and greenhouse gas emissions targets at 2020 levels through 2026, instead of raising them each year as the Obama administration had planned. Rosen, sources tell Josh, was key in making the argument that tougher fuel rules would make cars and trucks more expensive and encourage people to keep driving older, less safe models.

Rosen, if confirmed by the Senate, would succeed Rod Rosenstein, who is expected to leave his post next month, the White House confirmed Tuesday evening.

Previously, Rosen served as general counsel and senior policy adviser for the White House Office of Management and Budget and as general counsel of the Department of Transportation under former President George W. Bush.

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION SEEKS MONEY FROM CALIFORNIA FOR FAILED BULLET TRAIN: The Trump administration said Tuesday it is weighing legal options to force California to pay back $2.5 billion in federal money that the state spent on a suspended high-speed rail route to connect San Francisco and Los Angeles.

The Transportation Department also said it plans to cancel a $929 million federal grant to the California High-Speed Rail Authority.

Trump has attacked the $77 billion bullet train on Twitter, warning “we want that money” back now, and referring to the project as a “green disaster.”

California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, announced last week he was suspending the decade-long planned route between San Francisco and Los Angeles because of costs and logistical problems, but would continue with the high-speed rail project through the Central Valley part of the state.

He said he would fight the Trump administration’s move, which Newsom said was politically motivated and intended as retaliation for California leading a lawsuit against the president’s emergency declaration for a border wall.

“This is clear political retribution by President Trump, and we won’t sit idly by,” Newsom said in a statement. “This is California’s money, and we are going to fight for it.”

APPEALS COURT DISMISSES GREENS’ CHALLENGE TO MOUNTAIN VALLEY PIPELINE: The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia dismissed Tuesday a challenge by environmental groups and landowners of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s approval of the Mountain Valley natural gas pipeline.

The 303-mile, $3.5 billion Mountain Valley Pipeline, developed by Pittsburgh-based EQT Corp. and partners, would carry shale natural gas from West Virginia to southern Virginia.

The court said FERC properly evaluated the downstream greenhouse gas emission impacts of the pipeline, meaning the burning of the gas supplied by the pipeline. The court also said the developers of the pipeline did not violate federal law through their use of eminent domain to acquire land along the pipeline’s route. Industry groups cheered the ruling.

“FERC conducted a thorough environmental impact study that looked at everything from groundwater to surrounding communities’ cultural attachments, and the Court’s decision underscored that no further assessments are needed to ensure a safe path forward for the project’s completion,” said Robin Rorick, the American Petroleum Institute’s vice president of midstream and industry operations.

FORMER EPA STAFFER JOINS PUBLIC RELATIONS FIRM: A former top advisor at the EPA has joined Clout Public Affairs, an affiliate of campaign consulting firm Axiom Strategies, as senior vice president, Josh has learned.

Samantha Dravis was an associate administrator in the EPA’s Office of Policy under former administrator Scott Pruitt. There, she helped spearhead the agency’s regulatory rollback agenda, which Pruitt’s successor Andrew Wheeler has continued.

Last year, Dravis testified before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee about Pruitt’s conduct in office.

Dravis also served as associate director of political affairs in the George W. Bush administration.

BISHOP NAMES STAFF DIRECTOR FOR GOP ON NATURAL RESOURCES COMMITTEE: Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, named Parish Braden on Wednesday as staff director for Republicans on the House Natural Resources Committee. Braden was most recently deputy staff director for the committee, when Bishop was chairman last Congress before Democrats won the House.

RUNDOWN

Washington Post White House readies panel to assess if climate change poses a national security threat

Bloomberg Talks break down between California, Trump. on car mileage

Wall Street Journal Glencore, once a big coal backer, is capping output

The Atlantic A centuries-old idea could revolutionize climate policy

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.