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CORNYN STEPS UP EFFORT ON OVERHAULING ETHANOL MANDATE: Fuel industry officials and others were crowding around Sen. John Cornyn’s office Thursday to get the first glimpses of what is expected to be a major bill to overhaul the Environmental Protection Agency’s ethanol mandate, John has learned.

Some proponents of reforming the Renewable Fuel Standard had hoped that Cornyn’s office would have a bill ready this week, while other lobbyists and former Senate aides said it’s coming soon, but not necessarily this week.

But there has been a significant uptick in the amount of activity in Cornyn’s office this week, said one official with a major oil refiner.

“Cornyn staff still working 18-hour days on drafting” the measure, said Stephen Brown, federal affairs vice president for the San Antonio oil refiner Andeavor, in an email to John.

Nevertheless, the briefings with industry and others that started Thursday on the bill are broad at this point.

Back-and-forth: The legislative text is requiring “a lot of back-and-forth” with the Senate legislative counsel’s office, “which is not surprising given the complexity of the issues being worked over,” said Brown, who has been in close consultation with aides for the Senate majority whip.

A week of meetings: The meetings on the bill ramped up Thursday and run through next week. However, Cornyn’s office has been tight lipped about the deliberations.

Lobbyists following the bill’s development believe the legislation will include a phaseout of the RFS in four years, but that could change as the text is modified.

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CRUZ PITS REFINERY WORKERS AGAINST WALL STREET TO FIX ‘BROKEN’ ETHANOL MANDATE: While Cornyn worked on overhaul legislation, Sen. Ted Cruz took his fix-the-broken-Renewable Fuel Standard show to Philadelphia Wednesday in a bid to appeal to both oil workers and farmers to support his push for reforming the ethanol mandate.

The Texas Republican said he wants refiners and corn farmers to stand together to overhaul the nation’s ethanol mandate by pitting them against Wall Street speculators who he said are getting rich off the program that is killing jobs.

“The ones that would be put out of business are the speculators, who can go and speculate on something else,” the Texas Republican said at a Wednesday rally in Philadelphia, at the largest refinery on the East Coast.

The broken RIN system: The Philadelphia Energy Solutions refinery filed for bankruptcy protection recently, blaming the Environmental Protection Agency’s Renewable Fuel Standard for the financial lapse.

The RFS requires refiners to blend corn ethanol at enormous cost, because of the millions of dollars they must pay for renewable identification number credits, or RINs, which Cruz called a unfair “tax” on refinery workers.

ETHANOL CAMP NOT EVEN CLOSE TO SUPPORTING CRUZ: For the most part, the ethanol camp and farmers weren’t having it. Before, during and after Cruz’s remarks at the refinery, he was met by press release after press release slamming just about everything he had to say — in some cases before he even said it.

No ‘win-win’ here: “Senator Cruz’s efforts to secure a so-called ‘win-win’ solution to protect refining jobs are entirely misdirected,” said Bob Dinneen, CEO of the pro-ethanol Renewable Fuels Association, in a statement after Cruz spoke. “His proposal to cap RIN prices would not protect these workers, and would most assuredly risk agricultural jobs across the country. All Senator Cruz is really protecting is corporate greed, because that’s what’s really at the heart of PES’ financial problems.”

The hits kept coming: The corn farmers chalked up the problems at the Philadelphia refiner to business mismanagement, not the high price of renewable fuel credits, or RINs, which independent refiners buy to show they are abiding by the RFS.

“While most refiners are reporting double-digit profit increases, Philadelphia Energy Solutions has filed for bankruptcy protection because its investors put their interests ahead of their workers’ interests,” said Kevin Skunes, president of the National Corn Growers Association.

Cruz looking out for Wall Street: “It’s disingenuous for Senator Cruz to claim he’s looking out for refinery workers, when he’s really looking out for Wall Street investors who made bad business decisions yet ensured they got their payout first, putting refinery jobs at risk,” Skunes said.

GRASSLEY SCOLDS REFINER FOR BANNING REPORTER: Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley, from the major corn-producing state of Iowa, pumped up the conclusions of independent studies that showed the Philadelphia refinery’s bankruptcy was due to management decisions “that did not work out, not the Renewable Fuel Standard.”

He added that’s why the company banned a Reuters reporter from attending the Cruz rally after the journalist “released an analysis exposing the embarrassing truth.”

“It sure looks like PES management and its private equity owners are scapegoating the RFS to distract from their own failings, which have risked the livelihoods of more than a thousand workers,” he said.

Grassley is the top supporter of the RFS in the Senate who has managed to successfully block a number of effort to derail the program.

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION SIGNALS SUPPORT FOR MILEAGE TAX: The Trump administration suggested Wednesday it could support a tax on drivers for the amount of miles they drive, as a revenue source to pay for its $200 billion infrastructure investment plan.

The ‘VMT’ tax: California and Oregon have introduced vehicle miles traveled (VMT) pilot programs, in which motorists can volunteer to pay taxes on the miles they travel and get a rebate on the gas tax they pay.

Supporters say a VMT tax is more fair than increasing the gasoline tax because it would apply to electric and hybrid vehicles.

‘Promising alternative:’ The White House, in the annual Economic Report of the President, described Oregon as a “pioneer” in transportation funding and complimented its VMT program, which began in 2015.

“The program offers tangible evidence that a tax on vehicle miles traveled is a promising alternative to relying on fuel taxes,” the report said.

Kevin Hassett, chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, described Oregon’s mileage tax as “innovative” in a conference call with reporters, according to Reuters.

Keeping options open: Trump previously has suggested he would support raising the federal gas tax for the first time since 1993.

Hassett said the administration was still looking at the “pluses and minuses” of different ways to pay for infrastructure. “There’s a lot of discussion that will continue to evolve, I’m sure, as the infrastructure legislation moves forward, about how should we pay for this stuff.”

UNIVERSITY DISAVOWS STUDY THAT SUPPORTED EPA’S REPEAL OF TRUCK EMISSIONS STANDARDS: A university that produced a study justifying the repeal of stronger emissions standards for a type of freight truck has asked the EPA to disregard the study.

Philip B. Oldham, the president of Tennessee Technological University, warned the EPA in a letter that “experts within the university have questioned the methodology and accuracy” of the study.

Industry-backed study: Critics have said the study was tainted because it was funded by the country’s largest manufacturer of so-called glider trucks, Fitzgerald Glider Kits of Byrdstown, Tenn.

EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt said last year he would move to exempt glider trucks from a requirement imposed on new heavy-duty trucks to install modern emissions control systems.

He announced in August that he would re-examine the Obama-era rule eliminating the exemption for glider trucks “in light of the significant issues raised” and review whether it’s permitted under the agency’s Clean Air Act authority.

Truck twist: The Obama administration rule, which has been embraced by the trucking industry, applies emissions standards now used for heavy-duty trucks to new truck components called gliders and trailers.

Glider trucks are older trucks that are equipped with remanufactured engines that do not have modern emissions controls.

The EPA in its own modeling has projected that gliders emit 20 to 40 times as much of the pollutants nitrogen oxide and soot as trucks with new engines

Study says: Pruitt met in May with officials from Fitzgerald, the leading opponent of the rule.

The company funded the Tennessee Technological University study that concluded that pollution from glider trucks was the same as trucks with modern emissions controls.

Fitzgerald also offered to build a new research center for the university on land owned by the company, the New York Times reported.

EPA’s review: An EPA representative said the agency “did not rely on the study” to justify revisiting the Obama administration rule, and “only noted the existence of the study” in its findings.

The EPA is reviewing public comments about repealing the exemption before making a final decision.

ENERGY DEPARTMENT DOLES OUT $17.6 M FOR CLEAN COAL TECH: Energy Secretary Rick Perry gave out nearly $18 million Thursday to six projects to develop new technology to make coal cleaner and climate friendly.

The department has been active in announcing grants and competitive awards for carbon capture technology in recent weeks. The Thursday awards are the latest in that effort to move the technology ahead.

TREY GOWDY QUESTIONS PRUITT OVER FIRST-CLASS FLIGHTS: House Oversight Chairman Trey Gowdy is questioning Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt over his frequent first class travel.

The South Carolina Republican and head of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, in a letter to Pruitt addressed Tuesday, wants answers regarding how Pruitt has been able to obtain waivers to travel first class.

Seeking answers: Gowdy wants to obtain details about Pruitt’s air travel over the last year, including how often he has flown first class and whether the EPA granted him a waiver for the flights.

Gowdy also wants to know why waivers were granted in each case, whether other EPA employees or security staff also sit first class, and the airfare cost of each first class flight.

Wave the waiver: The EPA last week said Pruitt doesn’t have a “blanket travel waiver” to fly first class, backing away from its previous explanation that he is pre-approved to fly first class whenever he wants because of security reasons.

An EPA official told the Washington Examiner the agency submits the same security-related waiver for Pruitt to fly first class before each trip. The waiver has to be approved by multiple EPA officials before every trip.

NEW JERSEY JOINS COALITION BACKING PARIS CLIMATE CHANGE DEAL: Democratic New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy on Wednesday signed a bill joining a coalition of states committed to cutting emissions of carbon dioxide to fulfill the United States’ pledge under the Paris international climate change agreement.

Murphy’s action requires New Jersey to join the U.S. Climate Alliance, a coalition of 15 other states and Puerto Rico vowing to uphold the Paris Agreement. Both chambers of the state legislature passed a bill to put New Jersey in the alliance.

Economic powers: The alliance, which includes California — the sixth largest economy in the world — represents at least $7 trillion of economic activity and about 40 percent of the nation’s population.

President Trump has announced his intent to remove the U.S. from the deal.

INTERIOR DEPARTMENT REVEALS DRONE AIR FORCE HAS FLOWN 5,000 FLIGHTS: The Interior Department has revealed that it flies an expanded drone air force of more than 300 aircraft, and that they flew nearly 5,000 flights, with many to help fight forest fires.

Tool to fight wildfires: “With a fleet of 312 unmanned aircraft, the Department of the Interior’s Office of Aviation Services flew nearly 5,000 missions in 2017 to support everything from fighting wildfires to monitoring dams and spillways and mapping wildlife,” the department said in a new report.

Not only has the number of aircraft operated by Interior grown, but the number of flights surged 82 percent, according to the report.

Firefighting tool: The drones were critical in guiding firefighters in several states where traditional aircraft couldn’t operate because of thick smoke.

The federal government spent more money fighting wildfires last year than any other on record.

TOP EPA OFFICIAL MIKE FLYNN ANNOUNCES PLANS TO RETIRE: Mike Flynn, acting deputy administrator of the EPA, said Wednesday that he plans to retire.

“After a long and rewarding career at EPA, I have decided it is time for me to move on, and so I will be retiring from the Agency effective April 3,” Flynn wrote in an email to colleagues Wednesday obtained by E&E News.

Flynn has worked at the agency since 1980.

Waiting on Wheeler: President Trump nominated Andrew Wheeler to serve as the deputy administrator, but has yet to be confirmed by the Senate.

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

RUNDOWN

Washington Post Two scientists have left the Interior Department after Zinke demanded confidential energy data

Texas Observer Texas’ environmental agency targets small business owners for minor recordkeeping violations, while ignoring big polluters

Axios Energy Department official who oversaw controversial grid study leaves agency

Reuters German court to decide whether cities can ban diesel cars

Bloomberg Hungry Venezuelan workers are collapsing. So is the oil industry

New York Times Centrica, Britain’s largest energy supplier, to cut 4,000 jobs

Washington Post Pending Va. law will affect utility bills for a decade

Reuters How General Electric gambled on fossil fuel power, and lost

Bloomberg U.S. oil boom tempts Saudis to consider American crude sale