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CORNYN LOOKS TO OVERHAUL ETHANOL PROGRAM: Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn is expected to issue draft legislation on overhauling the Renewable Fuel Standard, but the timing is a bit muddy going into the long Presidents’ Day weekend.

• Next week? Proponents of getting rid of the ethanol mandate pitched the idea of the bill being released during next week’s holiday recess, but Cornyn’s office is being tight lipped.

Sources tell John that the Senate majority whip has been working steadily on a bill that would phase out the ethanol mandate in four years.

• Months in the making: Cornyn began working on the bill following the meeting at the White House late last year on a strategy to deal with refiners’ complaints about the biofuel program. Refiners say the ethanol requirement is costing them millions of dollars in pricey renewable identification number credits, or RINs, to meet the standard.

• The goal: The Renewable Fuel Standard requires refiners to blend billions of gallons of corn ethanol into the nation’s gasoline supply each year, in addition to other biofuels derived from plant waste and other non-food crops.

But a number of groups and lawmakers have been calling for major changes in the the program, or straight out repeal, saying the program has been a failure.

• Corn’s rethink: The group Rethink Ethanol, representing RFS detractors from the restaurant industry to environmentalists, made the rounds in Washington this week to discuss what they see as the future of the program.

Tim Constantine, one of the officials with the group, told John that Cornyn is ready to push out a bill, or a draft, by next week.

• Ethanol makes no sense: “We’re not opposed to renewable fuel, but it has to make sense,” Constantine said. Corn ethanol “does not make sense,” he said. Rethink Ethanol does not believe corn ethanol is even a renewable fuel.

• Credits getting cheaper: Meanwhile, the ethanol industry’s lead trade group, the Renewable Fuels Association, on Friday morning was pumping up the findings of a University of Illinois report that showed RIN prices were about to fall to a few cents on the dollar.

• Not next week: A refinery lobbyist in the thick of the debate told John that Cornyn’s plan wouldn’t be rolled out for a while. “We are talking to Cornyn folks daily and we are not expecting to see anything,” said Stephen Brown, vice president for the San Antonio-based refiner Andeavor.

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ANGRY TRAVELERS PROMPTED PRUITT TO SEEK FIRST-CLASS TRAVEL: An EPA official said Thursday that Pruitt’s security staff recommended last year that he travel first-class because of encounters with travelers he had on planes and in airports.

• ‘Unsafe’: “He was approached in the airport numerous times, to the point of profanities being yelled at him and so forth,” Henry Barnet, the director of the EPA’s Office of Criminal Enforcement, told Politico.

“The team leader felt that he was being placed in a situation where he was unsafe on the flight.”

• ‘F—ing up the environment’: Barnet said the agent in charge of Pruitt’s security detail recommended in May that he travel in first class because of frequent threatening interactions with travelers.

Barnet recalled an incident from October at the Atlanta airport, where a traveler approached Pruitt and yelled, “‘Scott Pruitt, you’re f—ing up the environment,’ those sort of terms.”

• First-class pass: The EPA on Thursday backed away from a previous explanation that Pruitt has a “blanket travel waiver” to fly first class.

An EPA official told Josh 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 each trip.

EPA’S TOP FINANCIAL OFFICER WINS CONFIRMATION: The Senate on Thursday voted to confirm Pruitt’s new chief financial officer, Holly Greaves.

She has been working for him as an adviser over the past year.

“Holly has been essential in providing EPA financial and budgetary counsel over the last year as a senior adviser for budget and audit,” Pruitt said.

ENERGY DEPARTMENT TO GIVE $44 MILLION FOR CARBON CAPTURE PROJECTS: The Energy Department said Friday it will provide $44 million in funding for seven projects that capture carbon dioxide emissions from power plants and store it underground as a way of limiting their impact on global warming.

• Where they are: Three of the carbon capture and storage projects are planned for California, two for Colorado, and one each in North Dakota and North Carolina.

• A way to support ‘clean coal’: President Trump frequently refers to his commitment to “clean coal.” Although it’s not clear what he means, energy experts generally interpret it to mean carbon capture and storage technology that removes carbon dioxide from a power plant’s exhaust, so as to not release it into the atmosphere. The carbon can be cooled and injected as a liquid underground.

• Important, but expensive: Experts consider deployment of the technology key to limiting global warming to “well below” 2 degrees Celsius, or 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit, the limit at which many scientists say the world would see irreversible effects of climate change.

The concept has not been widely deployed, mostly because of the high cost to retrofit a coal plant for the technology.

Congress last week passed a government spending bill that would extend and expand a tax credit supporting carbon capture and storage projects.

JUDGE ORDERS TRUMP ADMINISTRATION TO IMPOSE OBAMA-ERA ENERGY-USE LIMITS: A federal judge on Thursday ordered the Trump administration to implement four Obama-era energy efficiency standards after it had delayed for more than a year.

• Fact check: The Department of Energy under the Obama administration adopted energy-use limits in December 2016 for portable air conditioners, air compressors, commercial packaged boilers, and uninterruptible power supplies.

It posted the standards online for public review, giving 45 days for people to identify potential errors in the rules.

• Take you to court: The Democratic attorneys general of New York and California, and other states, sued the Department of Energy in June 2017 for refusing to implement the standards after the review period.

Judge Vince Chhabria of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California said the government violated its error correction regulation under the Energy Policy and Conservation Act by not publishing the standards in the Federal Register.

Chhabria gave the Energy Department 28 days to publish the standards.

• ‘Common-sense’: “Today’s ruling means that the Trump administration may no longer block common-sense energy efficiency standards,” said California Attorney General Xavier Becerra. “This is a tremendous victory for the American people and for our planet.”

The Energy Department under the Obama administration had estimated that over a 30-year period, the standards would result in the reduction of 99 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions and save consumers and businesses $8.4 billion.

• Under review: An Energy Department representative told Josh that the agency is reviewing the ruling before deciding whether to comply.

KOCH INDUSTRIES TELLS CONGRESS TO OPPOSE GAS TAX INCREASE: Koch Industries sent a letter to each member of Congress Friday to oppose a 25-cent increase in the federal tax on gasoline, which Trump endorsed this week.

• Thumbs down on gas tax: “On behalf of Koch Companies Public Sector, I urge you to oppose the 25-cent gasoline tax increase to fund infrastructure legislation,” said Philip Ellender, Koch’s president for government affairs. “While we support efforts to improve America’s infrastructure, there are multiple avenues to consider before resorting to another tax hike.”

• Gas tax would hurt consumers: “We have consistently opposed any government policy that increases costs on consumers, particularly on the most vulnerable in society,” he wrote in the letter to lawmakers. “As you consider this important proposal, we encourage you to only advance legislation that helps people improve their lives. A gas tax increase does anything but advance that ideal.”

WHITE HOUSE BACKTRACKS ON SUPPORT FOR HIKE: A top Trump administration official said Thursday the “political reality” would prevent Congress from increasing the federal gas tax.

Marc Short, Trump’s legislative affairs director, told Bloomberg the “political reality” is that “there is not support for a gas tax in Congress.”

• Trump jumps the gun: The comment came a day after Trump, at a meeting with lawmakers, said he could support the increase.

• Political reality: Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., said Thursday that Trump’s comments backing a gas tax increase were “exaggerated.”

“I know the comments that were made after that meeting and I know who made them,” Inhofe said at a Washington Examiner event. “And there was, I have to say, a lot of wishful thinking in his comments.”

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has historically opposed a gas tax hike.

The tax, which has not been increased in 25 years, is 18.4 cents for gasoline and 24.4 cents for diesel.

U.S. CAN MEET PARIS CLIMATE GOALS WITHOUT TRUMP, STUDY SAYS: The U.S. can meet or surpass its emissions reductions targets under the Paris climate change agreement, even without the participating of the Trump administration, according to a report released Friday.

Carnegie Mellon researchers said in a new report that the U.S. will meet or exceed emissions goals for 2020, 2025 and 2030, based on the Energy Information Administration’s 2017 Annual Energy Outlook.

They found that emissions have already declined from 2.7 billion tons to an estimated 1.9 billion tons, with more use of natural gas from lower prices being the driving force.

• Trump’s attack on climate regs: The White House took 64 actions to deregulate climate change last year, according to the latest findings from the Sabin Center’s U.S. Climate Deregulation Tracker.

“These actions correspond to at least two dozen climate-related protections on the way out under Trump,” said the report’s executive summary.

DEMOCRATS SEEK FERC BRIEFING ON OHIO PIPELINE WORRIES: Congressional Democrats on Thursday asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to provide them with a special joint briefing on the environmental practices of a company that is trying to build a major pipeline in Ohio.

“Our committees have a longstanding interest in ensuring that drilling activities minimize environmental risk and that regulated entities are operating in full compliance with all applicable statutes, regulations, and permits,” top Democrats from both chambers said in a rare request to the commission. “In order to more fully understand these issues, we request a briefing from FERC staff on any environmental risks associated with this project as referenced in FERC’s Jan. 24 memorandum.”

• The issue: Energy Transfer Partners is trying to expand its 713-mile Rover Pipeline. But the Democrats’ letter said FERC recently ordered the company to cease its drilling activities near the Tuscarawas River in Ohio because of environmental concerns. FERC is the primary regulator and licenser of major interstate natural gas pipelines like Rover.

MOODY’S GIVES A BIG THUMBS DOWN TO TRUMP’S IDEA OF SELLING OFF FEDERAL UTILITIES: Credit ratings giant Moody’s shot down the Trump’s administration’s proposal to sell off two federally owned electric utilities on Thursday, saying the action would result in a negative credit rating for the utilities and higher prices for electricity customers.

Trump’s fiscal 2019 budget request to Congress and infrastructure plan propose selling off the transmission line assets of the Tennessee Valley Authority, one of the largest federally owned public utilities, with the Bonneville Power Administration, a large federal electric utility in the Northwest.

RUNDOWN

Houston Chronicle In Oklahoma, a war over wind power

Wall Street Journal Federal judge rejects government loan for Puerto Rico power utility

The State Members of South Carolina board that OK’d nuclear rate hikes soon could lose their jobs

Washington Post In a surprising study, scientists say everyday chemicals now rival cars as a source of air pollution

Bloomberg Tesla seeks upgrade to Australia’s grid to recognize world’s biggest battery

Philadelphia Inquirer Methane emissions from Pennsylvania oil and gas sites 5 times higher than reported, says group

Houston Chronicle Base of talent provides lift to Houston’s renewable energy sector