Daily on Energy: Escalating fuel economy fight could force carmakers to choose sides – Washington Examiner

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ESCALATING FUEL ECONOMY FIGHT COULD FORCE CARMAKERS TO CHOOSE SIDES: The future of fuel economy standards in the U.S. is looking like an all-out war, and it may force automakers those who havent already to choose sides.

President Trump with a tweet of course! confirmed Wednesday he will revoke Californias waiver to set its own tailpipe greenhouse gas limits stricter than federal limits.

Trump said that the administration was pursuing the change "to produce far less expensive cars for the consumer, while at the same time making the cars substantially SAFER."

The move effectively ties one hand behind Californias back as it tries to meet its ambitious climate goals. And it could slow the efforts of the dozen other states that also follow the California standards to lower emissions.

The move is certain to draw immediate legal fire from the Golden State. California Attorney General Xavier Becerra has already promised to sue, telling Trump in a statement Tuesday he has no basis and no authority to pull this waiver.

But the waiver withdrawal will also increase the pressure on automakers to weigh in on their fate as tensions between their regulators boil over.

Four automakers Ford, Honda, Volkswagen, and BMW went around Trump in July, striking a deal with California to follow standards that are less stringent than the Obama-era regulations but much stronger than Trumps plans to freeze the standards.

Intimidation tactics: Margo Oge, who directed EPAs transportation office from 1994 to 2012, told Abby the Trump administrations move seems geared to scare other automakers who might be considering joining the California deal.

The waiver withdrawal follows news earlier this month that the Justice Department launched an antitrust investigation into the four automakers teaming up with California, exploring whether those car companies are violating federal competition laws.

Eliminating Californias waiver now draws a hard line between the state and the Trump administrations plans to freeze federal standards.

This is really setting this up as a huge decision for companies like General Motors and Toyota that may be on the fence about the California deal, Jeff Alson, former senior engineer and policy advisor in the EPAs transportation office until 2018, told Abby. They cant just continue to stand on the sidelines now and try to play it both ways.

What the agencies are doing: The EPA will revoke a waiver given to California to set its own greenhouse gas standards for passenger cars.

Under the Clean Air Act, California has the special ability to set stricter standards than federal limits. That authority dates back to the 1970s when the Clean Air Act was written, and the state has been granted

Only once has a waiver been denied Californias first waiver on greenhouse gas emissions standards, during the George W. Bush administration. California went to court over that denial, but the case was never decided because the Obama administration came into office and reversed course.

To date, the EPA has never withdrawn a waiver.

But what the agencies arent doing is just as important, the former EPA officials say: The EPA and Transportation Department arent finalizing the rest of their plans to freeze federal fuel economy limits yet.

The agencies likely arent ready for that step yet because theyre grappling with how to fix the analysis justifying their rollback, Alson told Abby.

The agencies were just ridiculed in the public comment period over their analysis, Alson said, adding the White House is in a very big bind trying to rework the numbers.

They cant get the technical analysis to give them the answer they want in a way they think they can sell to the public, he said.

Welcome to Daily on Energy, written by Washington Examiner Energy and Environment Writer Josh Siegel (@SiegelScribe) and Abby Smith (@AbbySmithDC). Email jsiegel@washingtonexaminer.com for tips, suggestions, calendar items, and anything else. If a friend sent this to you and youd like to sign up, click here. If signing up doesnt work, shoot us an email, and well add you to our list.

SAUDI ARABIA RESTORES HALF ITS LOST OIL PRODUCTION AFTER ATTACK: Saudi Arabia has restored half the oil output it lost in weekend attacks on its production facilities.

The worlds largest oil exporter, Saudi Arabia expects production levels to return to normal by the end of September, the countrys energy minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said Tuesday at a press conference.

The attack Saturday on a Saudi oil field and the Abqaiq processing facility caused the loss of nearly 6 million barrels of oil per day about 5% of the world's daily crude oil production.

Also Wednesday, the CEO of Saudi Aramco, Amin Nasser, stressed that Saudi Arabia was able to make up for the current shortfall from its own reserves and would not need any oil from America's Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

Where prices stand: The price of Brent crude, the global benchmark, initially rose as much as 18% to $70.98 per barrel before settling down to about $64 per barrel Wednesday morning.

U.S. gas prices have increased to $2.66 per gallon on average as of Wednesday morning, according to GasBuddy, compared to $2.59 per gallon the day before, and $2.57 per gallon one week ago.

The increase in the national average from Tuesday to Wednesday was the third largest single day price rise in the last decade, GasBuddy data shows.

TRUMP DISPATCHES POMPEO TO GULF TO COORDINATE RESPONSE: Trump has dispatched Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to coordinate the response to Saturdays missile and drone strike. According to his public schedule, Pompeo will be in Jeddah today, where he meets with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and then travels to Abu Dhabi to meet with UAE Prince Mohammed bin Zayed. His mission is to coordinate efforts to counter Iranian aggression in the region.

Turki al-Maliki, a spokesman for the Saudi defense ministry, said Wednesday the attacks were unquestionably sponsored by Iran, in comments reported by Bloomberg.

Trump tweeted Wednesday morning that he just instructed the Secretary of the Treasury to substantially increase Sanctions on the country of Iran! without providing further details.

The Trump administration has already imposed strict sanctions on Iran, denying waivers to countries that buy the countrys oil.

PENCE OUTLINES PLAN TO DETER IRANS REGIONAL ATTACKS: Vice President Mike Pence briefed Senate Republicans in a closed-door meeting Tuesday on the oil attacks in Saudi Arabia and how the U.S. could respond, calling for America to restore deterrence of Irans attacks in the region.

Senior lawmakers with access to classified information about the attack said they feel confident it was carried out by Iran. Pence told lawmakers Trump is weighing the options about what to do next, the Washington Examiners Susan Ferrechio reports.

The most salient point, among many, that the vice president and others made is, we are going to respond appropriately and do whats in the best interest of America, and it has nothing to do with any economic pressure brought on in the rise of the price of oil, because thanks to our private sector, America is pretty much energy independent, Louisiana Republican John Kennedy said after the meeting.

MURKOWSKI NOT HOLDING BREATH OVER FERC NOMINEE: Senate Energy and Natural Resource Committee chairwoman Lisa Murkowski is not expecting the White House to nominate a new commissioner of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission this week.

Murkowski on Tuesday dismissed a report by Politico that Trump as soon as this week will nominate James Danly, FERCs current general counsel, as a Republican commissioner.

I dont believe it, the Alaska Republican told Josh and other reporters after a committee hearing Tuesday. We have been told there is going to be a Republican named imminently, and that has been going on for 10 months now.

Murkowksi added she has not heard anything directly about a pending FERC nomination.

FERC is operating with two vacancies: Danly, if nominated and confirmed, would give FERC three Republican commissioners and one Democrat.

The sitting commissioners are Democrat Rich Glick and two Republicans, Chairman Neil Chatterjee and Bernard McNamee. Former Republican Chairman Kevin McIntyre died of cancer in January, while Democrat Cheryl LaFleur retired this summer after Senate Democrats indicated they would not support her for a third term.

Questions on Trumps nomination process: Utility industry sources tell Josh the White House is not likely to pair the likely eventual nomination of Danly with a Democrat to replace LaFleur, going against FERC custom.

Joe Manchin of West Virginia, the top committee Democrat, has urged Trump to rise above the political fray and simultaneously nominate one Republican and one Democrat.

Not pairing this nomination would significantly erode a long-standing practice of pairing nominees, particularly when two seats are open, a former FERC staffer told Josh. That will just add to the politics around FERC and make it harder, not easier, for the agency to do its job.

Murkowsi said she is eager to see the White House nominate a commissioner soon, and would not commit to holding up confirmation votes if the president only nominates a Republican.

It has always been my preference to get FERC to full complement, she said. The president has to name these individuals. I would prefer we get a name so I can get started.

BUTTIGIEG RELEASES FIRST IN THE FIELD PROPOSAL ON DISASTER PREPARDNESS: Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Ind., released Tuesday what he called the first plan to address disaster preparedness among the presidential field.

Climate change has only exacerbated the need to improve our disaster preparedness, Buttigieg said in a Medium post.

Buttigieg says he would create a Disaster Commission to make recommendations to streamline the process for disaster preparedness and recovery, which he says is currently hampered by poor information-sharing between federal agencies. That makes people recovering from disasters unsure about where to turn for help.

Hed also launch a National Catastrophic Extreme Weather insurance program.

Buttigieg vows to create a national culture of disaster resilience by promoting better planning, providing funding for modernizing infrastructure, and making smart choices about where to build.

Hed fund community volunteer programs that are often the first to respond to disasters.

And he would reinstate building standards to protect federally funded infrastructure projects from future flood risk that the Trump administration revoked.

WE CAN FINALLY DECLARE THE CLEAN POWER PLAN LAWSUIT DEAD: Four years and seven hours of oral arguments later, the D.C. Circuit has finally closed the door on the lawsuit over the Obama administrations Clean Power Plan.

The full panel of judges who heard marathon oral arguments over the power plant carbon limits in September 2016 ordered the lawsuit dismissed as moot Tuesday.

Republican and Democratic state attorneys general, utilities, industry trade groups, environmental groups, and more had been fighting over what to do with the Clean Power Plan lawsuit now that the Trump EPA officially repealed the rule and replaced it with its version.

The new EPA rule known as the Affordable Clean Energy rule sets much narrower limits for existing power plants, based solely on what facilities can achieve through efficiency improvements on site. The Obama administrations rule went beyond that to also encourage utilities to switch from coal to natural gas and renewable energy, a step its critics say unlawfully stretched the agencys authority under the Clean Air Act.

The legal issues live on: And not just in our hearts. Legal battle lines have already been drawn over the Affordable Clean Energy rule. The scope of the EPAs authority to set greenhouse gas limits for power plants will be the core question judges will again grapple with in that lawsuit, just starting to make its way through the D.C. Circuit.

VIRGINIA GOVERNOR WANTS TO JOIN THE 100% CLEAN ELECTRICITY CLUB: Governor Ralph Northam of Virginia signed an executive order Tuesday requiring his government to develop a plan to produce 30% of the states electricity from renewable sources by 2030 and 100% from carbon-free sources by 2050.

Northam, a Democrat, says the plan should include a mix of increasing use of solar and wind (onshore and offshore), improving energy efficiency, and integrating energy storage technologies onto the grid. The electric power sector represents 30% of the carbon emissions in Virginia.

The executive does not have the force of law. Virginia has a divided legislature.

In recent months, Democratically-controlled New York, Nevada, Washington and Maine have passed laws mandating 100% clean or zero-carbon electricity by 2050 or earlier, joining Hawaii, California, Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico.

New York Times Inside conservative groups effort to make dishwashers great again

Washington Post Billions spent on US weapons didnt protect Saudi Arabias most critical oil sites from a crippling attack

Associated Press Brazils environmental workers tell of decline before fires

Financial Times: BHP to increase CEO compensation linked to climate change

THURSDAY | SEPTEMBER 19

10 a.m. 2318 Rayburn. EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler testifies in a hearing before the House Science Committee.

10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. 37th & O Streets, N.W. Georgetown University, MSNBC, Our Daily Planet, and New York Magazine host the first day of Climate Forum 2020 with presidential candidates from both parties.

FRIDAY | SEPTEMBER 20

9 a.m. to 3 p.m. 37th & O Streets, N.W. Georgetown University, MSNBC, Our Daily Planet, and New York Magazine host the second day of Climate Forum 2020 with presidential candidates from both parties.

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Daily on Energy: Escalating fuel economy fight could force carmakers to choose sides - Washington Examiner