Energy companies get something in Russian sanctions deal Presented by Chevron

AGAINST RUSSIA WITHOUT LOVE: House lawmakers are ready to vote this week on a sweeping sanctions deal against Russia, Iran and North Korea that gave the energy sector at least some of the changes it sought from the Senate-passed version. The compromise package unveiled Saturday would bar U.S. companies from participating in projects in which sanctioned Russian entities have at least a 33 percent interest or a controlling stake. That’s lower than the 50 percent threshold the industry lobbied for but a major shift from the Senate-passed bill, which would have barred U.S. participation in any energy project with a Russian stake.

The bill heads to the floor Tuesday under suspension of the rules, meaning House leadership expects it will clear the two-thirds level of support for expedited passage. In a Saturday statement, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Foreign Affairs Chairman Ed Royce said the legislation would “bolster the energy security of our European allies by maintaining their access to key energy resources outside of Russia.” White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders indicated on ABC’s “ This Week” the White House would sign the package if it reaches President Donald Trump’s desk. “We support where the legislation is now, and will continue to work with the House and Senate to put those tough sanctions in place on Russia,” she said. But new White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci sent a different signal on CNN's " State of the Union": "[Trump] hasn't made the decision yet to sign that bill one way or the other."

Europe prepares to fight back: The European Commission intends to respond “within days” if the sanctions become law with Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker especially worried about the energy-related provisions in the package, POLITICO Europe’s Ryan Heath reports. In a note, Juncker said the Commission would seek a public declaration that discretionary powers in the sanctions wouldn’t be used against E.U. countries, utilize a regulation to state the U.S. law could not be enforced in Europe and consider possible WTO retaliatory measures. The biggest affected interest would be the mooted Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia to Germany.

RUSSIAN ALLEGATIONS REPUBLICANS LIKE: Amid the ongoing probe about the Trump administration’s ties to Russia, conservatives are pushing with renewed vigor a theory that Russia has funneled money to U.S. environmental groups to oppose fracking, Pro’s Ben Lefebvre reports. GOP House members and Energy Secretary Rick Perry are among those in recent weeks who have breathed new life into charges that Moscow has sought to discourage European countries from developing their own natural gas supplies as an alternative to Russian fuel and suggested that support for anti-fracking activism may have extended to U.S. green groups. There’s little but innuendo to base those allegations on, but Republicans hope the Treasury Department will look into the claims just the same.

Green groups blast allegations: Advocates like the Sierra Club and League of Conservation Voters, named in a letter from House Science Chairman Lamar Smith letter on the matter, slammed the charges as a move to distract from Trump’s own Russian troubles. “If congressional Republicans are so concerned about Russian influence, they should start seriously investigating that country’s interference in our election, not attacking long-standing environmental organizations,” said Melinda Pierce, the Sierra Club’s legislative director, said. For what it’s worth, Brenda Shaffer, an adjunct professor at Georgetown University’s Center for Eurasian, Russian and Eastern European Studies, said there’s no evidence that Russian money has gone to U.S. green groups nationally and even less evidence that any money would have been well spent given how hard it is to get fracking bans enacted. “It would be almost impossible to prevent fracking in the United States,” she said.

WELCOME TO MONDAY! It’s a busy sprint this week ahead of August! I'm your host Anthony Adragna, and API’s Khary Cauthen was first out of the gate to identify Fala as FDR’s dog. For today: Which senator claims to have been the sole ever recipient of an endorsement from Ronald Reagan in a Republican primary? Send your tips, energy gossip and comments to [email protected], or follow us on Twitter @AnthonyAdragna, @Morning_Energy, and @POLITICOPro.

MUST BE THE MONEY: DOE’s decision Friday to seek early retirements or buyouts from 35 employees in its Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy is due to a downward trend in congressional funding, Pro’s Darius Dixon reports. The part of the department’s budget used for salaries and benefits has declined from $170 million in 2011 to $153.5 million now. "In EERE's case, the program direction account decreased for the third year in a row and this adjustment through voluntary separations is necessary to match staffing levels with current appropriations," DOE said in an email.

HOUSE TAKES UP ENERGY APPROPS: Lawmakers today kick off consideration of a mini-bus appropriations package that includes the Energy and Water title. Amendments to the bill H.R. 3219 (115) are due today at 10 a.m. and the Rules Committee then gathers at 5 p.m. to figure out how to structure debate on the measure. House Appropriators cleared the a $37.56 billion fiscal 2018 package back on July 12 that would close out DOE’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy program and cut Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy funding in half. Look for potentially hundreds of amendments on the floor and a vote on final passage late in the week. And there's still plenty of work ahead to iron out big differences with the Senate, where energy and water appropriators want to protect ARPA-E and keep EERE's budget about level with this year.

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THIS IS HOW WE’LL DO IT: Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke's energy policy counselor, Vincent DeVito, sat down with Pro’s Esther Whieldon and said he’s “absolutely” committed to reducing the permitting process for oil and gas projects on public lands to as little as 30 days. “We do want to shrink it down to 30 days and to make all the processes as short as possible, but at the same time, making sure our environmental stewardship is not breached, all of which is completely doable,” he said. “We intend to be a better business partner ... by harmonizing the environmental review process across the board, the one-stop-shopping type of model.” DeVito also said he thinks Interior could shrink the timeline for developing the agency’s five-year offshore drilling plan as well.

Another theme for DeVito is returning Interior to being good partner “on the business side” without sacrificing environmental protection. He also reasserted the agency could collect billions more in revenues than it is now despite the current slump of the energy sector. “Punitive policies have caused a decline in energy production on federal lands,” he told Esther. “Folks can't say that revenues are down because the markets declined. No, they were investing elsewhere because nobody wanted to do business with the federal government anymore, so federal government revenues went down.”

Speaking of Zinke, in between remarks at the Western Conservative Summit and ALEC, he and Sen. Cory Gardner announced the release of $20 million in federal funds, along with $33 million in private funds, to fund high priority maintenance and infrastructure projects at 42 parks in 29 states. “Using public-private partnerships to help address the deferred maintenance backlog remains a priority for the Department and the Trump Administration,” Zinke said in a statement Saturday. He also posted some cute pictures of a visit to Rocky Mountain National Park with Gardner’s family.

Send in the reinforcements: Zinke will get a lieutenant later today after the Senate holds a final vote on the nomination of Dave Bernhardt at 5:30 p.m. The deputy secretary nominee cleared a key procedural hurdle last Thursday with seven members of the Democratic caucus backing his selection.

EPA CHIEFS TALK AGENCY WORK: EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt gave an interview with the Daily Caller News Foundation that went up Saturday. He scoffed at his critics, reasserted the Obama administration was very ineffective at environmental protection and said he was “optimistic” about his ability to work with career staff. Pruitt also touted his commitment to working with states and refocusing EPA's activities in the face of tighter budgets. “We’ve got to reevaluate how those regions are working. Are they working effectively? ... It’s good to go through these kinds of processes to reorganize and restructure," Pruitt tells interviewer Ginni Thomas (Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’ wife).

A NEW, BETTER DEAL? Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer cited the merger of Exxon and Mobil as an example of a merger Democrats will work to prevent as part of their new agenda to be unveiled today. “We have these huge companies buying up other big companies. It hurts workers and it hurts prices,” he said on ABC’s “ This Week.” “How the heck did we let Exxon and Mobil merge? And that was Democrats.”

MEET THE NEWEST DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATES: Scientists aren’t normally known for their political chops but frustrated with Trump’s hostility to climate science and other areas of research, many are launching bids for office for the first time, POLITICO California’s David Siders reports. Former New Jersey Congressman Rush Holt, a physicist and now chief executive of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, said he began fielding more calls from scientists considering running for public office. “It’s still not in the dozens [of prospective candidates]. But instead of two or three, it might be 12 or 15,” Holt said. “There seems to be a general sense that policy is being made without sufficient attention to scientific evidence.” There’s now a group called 314 Action, a political action committee, that helps people with scientific backgrounds run for office.

WHAT’S THE DEAL WITH EPA’S CLIMATE ‘DEBATE’? Three senior Democrats on the House Science Committee — Eddie Bernice Johnson, Don Beyer and Suzanne Bonamici — sent a letter to Pruitt Friday seeking details on his proposed “red team-blue team” debate of climate change science. “Your efforts seem to be divorced from reality and reason,” they wrote, while asking for information on the format of the review, a timetable for its execution and how participants in the exercise would be selected.

Speaking of the House Science panel, its Chairman Lamar Smith on Friday endorsed Rep. Mo Brooks in the heated Alabama Republican primary for Senate. "This is unusual," Smith said in Huntsville, Ala., according to AL.com, given he rarely gives endorsements in primaries. "But then again, Mo Brooks is an unusually good, strong candidate. I have no hesitation at all." Brooks is seen as locked in a close battle with incumbent Sen. Luther Strange and former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore for the two slots in a likely runoff.

MOVER, SHAKER: Kevin Bush, a long-time policy strategist for HUD, has been named Washington’s first Chief Resilience Officer by Mayor Muriel Bowser. He’ll oversee an office dedicated to increasing the city’s resilience to shocks and stresses as part of the 100 Resilient Cities initiative.

QUICK HITS

— OPEC Grapples With Growing Threats to Oil Deal. The Wall Street Journal.

— Regulators consider first major pipeline since DAPL. Bismarck Tribune.

— Fukushima disaster: Robot finds possible melted nuclear fuel. BBC.

— Cleaner than coal, but is natural gas pipeline through North Carolina worth cost, or needed? AP.

— Renewable energy contract case in Michigan could set precedent. Crain’s Detroit.

— Crackdown on East Chicago air polluter stalls under Trump EPA. Chicago Tribune.

THAT'S ALL FOR ME!

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