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PERRY CONDEMNS ‘STUBBORN OPPOSITION’ TO FOSSIL FUELS: Energy Secretary Rick Perry opened the World Gas Conference in Washington Tuesday morning by criticizing “stubborn opposition” to fossil fuels and hyping natural gas as key to the future energy mix because it produces only half the carbon emissions as coal.

“There is still stubborn opposition to natural gas and other fossil fuels,” Perry said in his opening speech in between splashy performances by the Blue Devils Marching Band and the Harlem Globetrotters. “The opposition exists even as fuels become cleaner and natural gas increases its share of use. These opponents flatly reject the all-of-the-above strategy that is helping us achieve energy security.”

Ready to serve: Perry referred to an emerging trend he often cites of developing nations needing more energy, and how the U.S. can deliver “cleaner” fossil fuels. The U.S. is now the world’s largest producer of crude oil and natural gas combined because of the shale boom, a transformation that Perry called an “astonishing energy miracle.”

Get on board: He said that by 2040, fossil fuels will comprise 75 percent of the world’s energy use.

“The answer is not to exclude oil and gas and coal from world’s energy mix,” Perry said. “It’s too include, for the sake of national security, for the sake of environmental progress, for the sake of our fellow human beings. We must honor the right of every nation to use every available fuel at their disposal. I wish I can tell you the entire developed world is on board with our vision. They are not.”

Innovation key: Perry also promoted the Trump administration’s deregulatory agenda and praised energy companies for improving emissions reduction through innovation.

“Rather than punishing fuels that produce emissions through regulation, we seek to reduce emissions through innovation,” he said. “Innovation has helped us drastically reduce fuel emissions. Our goal is to continue to reduce emissions going forward.”

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OIL AND GAS CHIEFS SAY TRUMP’S TRADE AGENDA A ‘DRAG’ ON GROWTH: CEOs of major American oil and gas companies expressed concern Tuesday about the Trump administration’s trade agenda, saying tariffs could curb economic growth.

“The world economy is growing for the first time in a decade or so,” said Michael Wirth, the CEO of Chevron, in comments at the World Energy Conference. “The risk of trade skirmishes or a trade war starts to weigh on people’s perceptions of economic growth in the future. From a demand standpoint, that is a risk. These things run the risk of becoming a bit of drag on growth.”

Exxon Mobil CEO Darren Woods, speaking on the same panel, also advocated for fewer trade barriers.

“We compete globally,” Woods said. “Free trade underpins our success as a U.S. company. When tariffs come on, threats of a trade war run the risk of making the projects less competitive and attractive The world has been very well served with low tariffs and free trade.”

TOTAL CEO ALSO FEARS TRUMP’S ‘TRADE WAR’: Patrick Pouyanne, CEO of French energy giant Total, told reporters on the sidelines of the World Gas Conference Monday that consumers of energy will lose if Trump’s trade policies escalate into war.

“It’s not good to have the economy in a war,” Pouyanne said. “Who pays in the end? Consumers will pay one way or another. It’s a question of consumer vs. worker.”

Trade targets: Trump has imposed tariffs on imported steel from the around the world. The president also has imposed $50 billion tariffs on a variety of Chinese imports. China has said it will slap penalties on U.S. crude oil, though it will spare liquefied natural gas, because Beijing needs the cleaner-burning fuel source to weed itself off coal and reduce smog.

Pouyanne said Total is working on 10 LNG products across the globe. He said if trade tensions eventually hit LNG, it would be “very bad news.”

‘Not buying’ coal: The CEO of the French energy giant also chided the Trump administration for its support of coal.

“The U.S. administration tries to promote coal-fired plants, but frankly if you find an investor who wants to invest 25 years in coal-fired plants, I would not buy the shares of that company,” Pouyanne said.

JUDGE TOSSES CALIFORNIA CLIMATE LAWSUITS IN VICTORY FOR ENERGY COMPANIES: A federal court judge has dismissed several climate change lawsuits in California that targeted fossil fuel companies for driving global warming.

Targeted energy firms: U.S. District Court Judge William Alsup dismissed the lawsuits Monday night, throwing out claims by city governments in San Francisco and Oakland that targeted major energy companies for their role in causing the Earth’s temperature to rise.

Seeking damages: The cities were seeking damages to help them construct sea walls and other infrastructure necessary to cope with sea-level rise caused by global warming.

Victory for industry: Industry officials at the gas conference praised the judge’s decision Tuesday morning.

“The court rightly acknowledged the global benefits of fossil fuels,” Wirth said, addressing the week-long World Gas Conference. “Reliable affordable energy is not a public nuisance. It’s a global necessity.”

Not an issue for the courts: “Climate change is real, but it requires global engagement,” not lawsuits, he said.

“Lawsuits and the courtroom, and using tactics that vilify the good men who work in this industry, is not a productive way to engage in this dialogue,” he said.

PRUITT TRIED TO RECRUIT STAFF FROM OIL INDUSTRY: Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt tried to recruit staff to fill key positions at the agency by asking for help from the oil industry’s lead trade association.

Pruitt apparently sought help to fill the vacancies this year by reaching out to the American Petroleum Institute, based on emails obtained by environmental groups through an Freedom of Information Act request.

After meeting with API, Kevin Avery, federal affairs manager for the oil company ConocoPhillips, sent an email to Pruitt offering the company’s assistance.

“I understand that Administrator Pruitt met with the API executives last week and he made a plea for candidates to fill some of the regional director positions within the agency,” the email said. “One of our employees has expressed interest. He is polishing up his resume. Where does he need to send it?”

FRANCE’S LARGEST OIL COMPANY CONSIDERED ASKING EPA FOR ‘HARDSHIP’ WAIVER: The fourth-largest oil company in the world contemplated asking the Environmental Protection Agency for a “hardship” waiver exempting it from having to blend ethanol into the U.S. gasoline supply, according to a top company official.

Pouyanne, Total’s CEO, told reporters on the sidelines of the World Gas Conference in Washington that he sent an email to company lawyers asking, “Why don’t you apply for an exemption?”

The answer is ‘no’: The answer he got was “No. Our refinery is too big,” Pouyanne said.

Cost of credits: The global oil and natural gas company owns a refinery in Texas, which Pouyanne said has been hurt by the high prices of Renewable Identification Number credits, or RINs, which refiners must buy to comply with the EPA’s Renewable Fuel Standard.

Pruitt under attack: Pruitt has come under attack by ethanol supporters for quietly exempting more than two dozen oil refineries from having to pay millions of dollars to buy the credits.

Got waivers? Some of the companies that were granted waivers included very large refinery companies such as Andeavor. Exxon Mobil and Chevron also have asked for waivers. Many of the companies being granted the waivers do not meet the 75,000 barrel-per-day standard under the program to receive a “hardship” waiver, say critics of the EPA’s waiver program under Pruitt. The ethanol industry, biofuel groups and farmers are suing EPA over what they argue is the illegal use of its authority.

PRUITT IGNORED ENERGY DEPARTMENT’S ADVICE ON WAIVERS: The EPA reportedly ignored the Department of Energy’s advice that it not grant full ethanol waivers to refineries owned by Andeavor, Reuters reported Tuesday.

Stop at 50 percent: The Energy Department had recommended a 50-percent exemption, according to two sources familiar with the company’s approval. EPA confers with the Energy Department on technical issues related to energy production.  

Big, becoming bigger: Marathon is looking to buy Andeavor to become the country’s largest oil refining company.

Ethanol pushback: “Administrator Pruitt’s continued mischaracterizations of his rationale for using the hardship waivers as reported by Reuters today is causing even more harm in rural America,” said American Coalition for Ethanol CEO Brian Jennings.

More reasons to sue: “This news only reinforces our decision to challenge certain small refinery exemptions in court and to petition EPA to account for lost volumes of renewable fuel resulting from the unprecedented number of retroactive small refinery exemptions granted by the agency,” Jennings said.

SENATE APPROVES BILL TO FUND ENERGY DEPARTMENT, REJECTING TRUMP CUTS: The Senate Monday passed a $145 billion spending bill to fund the Energy Department and veterans’ programs, rejecting cuts proposed by Trump.

The bill easily passed 86-5, after the House recently approved a similar bill. Republican hope to send a merged bill to Trump, in what they hope will be the first of several individual spending bills he signs into law before the 2019 budget year begins Oct.1.

Research reward: Lawmakers provided $375 million to the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, or ARPA-E, the most money it has received since being created.

ARPA-E is a program with bipartisan support in Congress that funds innovations in energy technology, such as battery storage. Trump in his fiscal 2019 budget proposed to eliminate the program for the second year in a row. The Energy Department’s Office of Science also got record funding of $6.65 billion.

Plus up: The Energy Department’s fossil fuels, nuclear energy research, and renewables offices all received more money than Trump requested.

FUEL ‘DIVERSITY’ COULD BE TRUMP’S LATEST ATTEMPT TO WOO EUROPE: Perry wants to use a European energy security plan to bolster the continent’s use of U.S. shale natural gas.

‘Diversify’: “The secretary stressed the Three Seas countries can utilize U.S. [liquefied natural gas] to diversify their fuel supply and thus, strengthen economic and national security in each sovereign nation,” an Energy Department readout from the meeting read.

The meeting: Perry met with the European Union and 12 members countries of the Three Seas Initiative, which is a collaboration to build energy infrastructure in Eastern Europe.

Fuel diversity is an argument that came up in President Trump’s meeting with the king of Spain last week at the White House. Exporting natural gas is a core part of Trump’s pro-growth energy dominance agenda.

Deeper role for U.S.: “The secretary continued to promote the role of the U.S., specifically the role of American industry through technology and innovation, as well as how DOE can mobilize technical expertise to help allies and partners,” the agency continued. “These efforts are essential to creating an environment to attract investment needed to build robust and resilient economies.”

Meeting with Russians: Perry is scheduled to meet Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak Tuesday afternoon.

ENERGY DIVERSITY FOR ISRAEL, TOO: Perry also signed an agreement Monday with the Israeli Energy Ministry to create the U.S.-Israel Center of Excellence in Energy, Engineering and Water Technology.

Funding: Congress appropriated $4 million in March for the Department of Energy to establish the joint research and development effort with Israel.

The congressional funds were matched by the Israeli government in addition to private-sector partners, totaling $16 million.

Perry and Israeli Minister of Energy Yuval Steinitz signed the agreement at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Monday.

‘Diversify energy supply’: The center would seek to accelerate development and “rapid” deployment of technologies that address fossil energy use, energy cybersecurity in critical infrastructure, the energy-water nexus, energy storage, and “other areas of energy that are needed to diversify energy supply and promote higher efficiency.”

WHY TRUMP IS GOING NATIONAL WITH BID TO SAVE COAL, NUCLEAR: Trump is going national with his latest bid to save money-losing coal and nuclear plants.

The Energy Department’s new proposal, spelled out in a leaked memo, has been met with widespread outrage, similar to the reaction to a previous version that was rejected by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

All hands on deck: But to succeed where that version failed, the Energy Department is proposing making coal and nuclear plants across the country eligible for subsidies, instead of limiting payments to plants in states that use wholesale electricity markets.

By broadening the eligibility, rather than focusing on specific regions hit hard by the pending loss of coal and nuclear plants, the Energy Department appears to be trying to bolster its national security rationale for bailing out the power plants, experts say.

Passing the ‘smell test’: “It’s very explicit that they want to stop the retirement of any coal or nuclear plant across the country,” John Hughes, president of the Electricity Consumers Resource Council, told Josh. “To the extent this national security issue passes the smell test, it would be silly to apply it only to PJM. To get some credibility for their proposal, they have to apply it consistently rather than helping a small set of plants.”

Read more on Trump’s national plan in this week’s Washington Examiner magazine.

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