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WHEELER, ARRESTS, AND A GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN, OH MY:  Democrats on Wednesday called for a delay in confirmation proceedings for EPA Acting Administrator Andrew Wheeler, saying promoting him is inappropriate during a government shutdown.

“I don’t believe that giving the acting administrator a speedy promotion is more urgent or more important than protecting the public from contamination to our air and water and lands,” Sen. Tom Carper of Delaware, the top Democrat of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, said in opening remarks at Wheeler’s confirmation hearing.

But Republicans controlling the committee plan to swiftly confirm Wheeler, who vowed to continue executing President Trump’s deregulatory agenda at EPA.

“The Schumer shutdown is a good time to confirm these important nominees,” said Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., who Wheeler used to work for.

Protestors, meanwhile, interrupted the hearings, escorted from the room after chanting “Shutdown Wheeler, not the EPA.”

The protests were led by Friends of the Earth activists, a group that supports the “Green New Deal.” The group said in a statement that its activists had been arrested by Capitol Police at the hearing.

Wheeler defends his job: Wheeler assured EPA is “still on the job” during the shutdown on emergencies and court ordered actions, with personnel on the ground in California to help with wildfire response, and Puerto Rico to help it recover from 2017’s Hurricane Maria.

But he said only 800 of the EPA’s roughly 14,000 employees have been deemed essential, allowing them to continue working during the shutdown. No EPA employees are being paid. Democrats said the shortage is preventing EPA from conducting basic functions, including industrial inspections, Superfund cleanups, and pollution monitoring.

Meanwhile, Wheeler, making a bid to keep his job, highlighted major actions he introduced that were started by his predecessor to delay, weaken or repeal various regulations on air, water and climate change. While Democrats agreed Wheeler is implementing that agenda more ethically than disgraced predecessor Scott Pruitt, they said he has not been the moderating force he promised them he would be when he became acting leader in July.

Wheeler is “not the ethically bereft embarrassment that Scott Pruitt proved to be,” Carper said, but his policies are “almost as extreme as his predecessor.” Still, Democrats are helpless to stop Wheeler from being confirmed without the votes to do so.

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Here are some other highlights from Wheeler’s confirmation hearing:

WHEELER SEEKS DEAL ON FUEL EFFICIENCY STANDARDS: Wheeler said he is negotiating faithfully to reach a deal with California, and automakers, on fuel efficiency standards.

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.

Automakers consider the Trump plan too extreme, Democrats said. Wheeler said EPA plans to introduce a final rule by the end of March, hoping to maintain a common set of rules California would agree to follow, allowing automakers certainty with the markets they sell to.

“Nobody wants a 50-state deal more than I do,” Wheeler said. “I haven’t given up hope on that yet.”

Democrats said Wheeler needs to press harder. Carper suggested he has heard from automakers that the Trump administration is considering modifying its fuel efficiency proposal so the standards rise 0.5 percent per year rather than being frozen through 2026, which he does not consider a faithful compromise.

“Why are we unable to come to a deal that every auto company wants?” Carper said. “There is a deal ready to be made. Your job is to be a leader for fighting this battle.”

DEMOCRATS SPAR WITH WHEELER OVER COMMITMENT TO CLIMATE CHANGE: Wheeler expressed confidence that U.S. carbon emissions will continue to fall in the future after a one-year blip in 2018 in which emissions rose.

But Democrats said EPA’s proposals to weaken Obama-era climate rules shows it is not appreciative of the scale of the problem.

“How does it happen that the nominee of the head of the EPA does not mention the words climate change when the environmental community thinks it is the greatest crisis facing the planet?” said Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., a likely 2020 presidential candidate, noting that Wheeler did not mention climate change in his opening statement.

Wheeler replied he does consider climate change a “huge issue” but not “the greatest crisis.”

“I have not used the hoax word myself,” he added, responding to Sanders’ chiding of Trump’s outright skepticism of climate change. Asked by Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., to rate his concern about climate change on a one to 10 scale, Wheeler rated it an “8 or 9.”

Wheeler, echoing Trump, also rejected the claim that climate change is the dominant cause of record wildfires in California, which has suffered severe drought, saying poor forest management is the bigger problem.

He attributed higher emissions from last year to an unusually hot summer and cold winter, and increased manufacturing activity. “But I think the downward trend will continue in the long term.”

INDUSTRY GROUPS FRET SHUTDOWN IS SLOWING TRUMP’S ENERGY AGENDA: Industry groups are skittish the government shutdown could imperil Trump’s deregulatory agenda, particularly for energy policy.

“We are very concerned about the regulatory progress being stifled by the shutdown,” said Christopher Guith, senior vice president of the Global Energy Institute at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which published a blog post Thursday listing 20 energy-related reforms that could be delayed because of the shutdown.

Trump is already running out of runway: One fear is that, because of court challenges, the Trump administration could fail to implement many environmental rules changes before the president’s first term ends, noted Jeff Holmstead, a former deputy administrator of the EPA in the George W. Bush administration who represents energy clients at the law firm Bracewell.

Interior projects delayed: The Chamber and other industry groups are particularly concerned about delays at the Interior Department.

Industry groups had expected Interior to release this month its highly anticipated final plan to expand offshore oil and gas drilling.

Joe Balash, Interior assistant secretary for land and minerals management, told Josh the agency won’t release the final offshore drilling rule until February at the earliest.

Still, dozens of Interior employees continue to work on the offshore drilling plan during the shutdown, and others are available on an on-call basis, according to a contingency plan posted online by the agency’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.

Some work goes on: Interior is also continuing to process permit applications for oil and gas drilling on federal land, and in existing offshore areas where energy development is allowed in the Gulf of Mexico, using carryover funds and user fees.

And it is also proceeding with oil development in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, known as ANWR.

Read more of Josh’s story here.

TRUMP’S IRAN WAIVERS, RATHER THAN HIS DEREGULATORY PUSH, HAVE LOWERED OIL PRICES: The Trump administration’s waivers for Iran sanctions have had the most impact of any of the president’s actions to lower oil and fuel prices, according to the Energy Department, while his deregulation agenda has not moved prices much.

The administration’s waivers to allow countries like China to continue purchasing oil from Iran surprised the market by further collapsing the price of oil in November, according to the Energy Information Administration, the Energy Department’s analysis arm.

“Although implementation of sanctions on Iran began on Nov. 5, the United States granted waivers to some of Iran’s largest customers to continue importing limited volumes of crude oil for six months, which resulted in more crude oil available to the global oil markets than many market participants expected,” the agency said in its latest oil analysis.

The oil trinity: The waivers were among three key factors the energy agency cited as responsible for a significant drop in oil prices and subsequent drop in gasoline and diesel prices in the U.S.

The top factor that led to the decline in oil prices since October was near-record crude oil production by the world’s three largest producers — the U.S., Russia, and Saudi Arabia.

U.S. oil exports have been driven by the private sector and the advent of shale oil on private land, coupled with the repeal of the Carter-era oil export ban in 2015.

Read what else is ratcheting down the oil price in John’s story here.

SHIMKUS WILL WAIT ON THE DEMOCRATS WHEN IT COMES TO ETHANOL REFORM: Rep. John Shimkus, R-Ill., is mothballing his reform legislation for the nation’s ethanol program from last Congress in favor of a wait-and-see attitude toward the Democratic majority’s agenda.

Shimkus had taken the lead on developing legislation to reform the Renewable Fuel Standard, the nation’s flagship renewable fuels program, that would phase out the standard’s ethanol mandate.

But now Shimkus’ office says he won’t push the issue unless the Democrats want to reform the RFS, which is not clear they will pursue.

That could put the Senate, and Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, in the driver’s seat when it comes to reforming the ethanol program.

WHERE IS RICK PERRY?: Energy Secretary Rick Perry has kept a pretty low profile during the government shutdown, but reemerged on Twitter Tuesday revealing that he has begun reaching out to Republicans in the House.

Perry met with Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., who was named the ranking Republican on the Energy and Commerce Committee’s energy subcommittee.

Perry also tweeted out congratulations to Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Lieutenant Gov. Dan Patrick on his inauguration and securing a second term in office. Perry was a two-term Texas governor, as well.

Perry also met with U.S. ambassador to Poland Georgette Mosbacher at the Energy Department on Tuesday on growing a market for U.S. liquefied natural gas exports in Poland. They also discussed the development of Poland’s civil nuclear program, and the national security implications of “our broader transatlantic energy policy & engagement  with Eastern Europe,” Perry said.

MEANWHILE… PERRY’S DEPUTY JETS OFF TO THE MIDEAST: With very few details given, the Energy Department said on Tuesday that Deputy Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette arrived in the Middle East this week to continue and energy dialogue with allies there.

One big issue is if maintaining nuclear energy talks with Saudi Arabia will come up.  

The agency tweeted that he will continue the “energy dialogue” in the region “by enhancing cooperative efforts with Middle Eastern counterparts and promoting @ENERGY’s commitment to advancing energy security, development, and trade.”

A big part of his visit will have to do with Iran, as several U.S. officials have descended on the Persian Gulf in the last week to discuss countering Tehran.

“The U.S. is committed to working with our global allies to increase energy security and decrease dependence on Iran’s malign influence, specifically in the Middle East,” Brouillette tweeted on Wednesday. “We stand with our friends and partners in Israel as we put an end to Iran’s nuclear buildup and the Iran Deal.”

Trump meets with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo Wednesday afternoon in the White House to debrief him on his trip to the region.

US COAL PRODUCTION TO HIT FOUR-DECADE LOW IN 2020: U.S. coal production will decline to a four-decade low in 2020, the Energy Information Administration projected Tuesday.

EIA expects U.S. coal production to fall 3 percent to 729 million tons this year, compared to last.

Then, coal production will decline 9.9 percent to 680 million tons by 2020, the first time annual production would be below 700 million tons since 1978, according to S&P Global Platts.

EIA attributes the decline of coal to “relatively weak competitiveness in the electric power sector compared with natural gas,” which is cheaper and emits half the carbon, and less opportunity for coal exports.

NEW YORK INTRODUCES ‘GREEN NEW DEAL’ CLIMATE GOALS: New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, unveiled a “Green New Deal” plan Tuesday to reduce carbon emissions and combat climate change.

Cuomo seeks to have New York obtain 100 percent of its electricity from carbon-free sources by 2040.

His proposal, which would need legislative approval, would dramatically increase the target for offshore wind energy, from 2,400 megawatts by 2030 to 9,000 megawatts by 2035.

It also calls for a doubling of distributed solar power development, to 6,000 megawatts by 2025, up from 3,000 megawatts by 2023. That would be enough to power nearly 1 million homes.

RUNDOWN

Washington Post Will diminished Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument spur a mining boom?

New York Times How the shutdown is delaying climate data and undercutting scientists

Wall Street Journal PG&E bankruptcy threatens California wildfire suits, green-power contracts

Bloomberg Climate and cyber risks top concerns facing the world in 2019, World Economic Forum says