EPA to assess climate report Presented by National Clean Energy Week

With help from Emily Holden and Alex Guillén

EPA TO GRADE THE CLIMATE REPORT: Scott Pruitt says EPA will review the upcoming federal climate change research report compiled by 13 agencies "and evaluate the merits and demerits and the methodology and accuracy of the report." Emily Holden reports that the EPA chief told a Texas radio show on Thursday the scientific section of the upcoming National Climate Assessment "ought to be subjected to peer-reviewed, objective-reviewed methodology and evaluation. Science should not be politicized. Science is not something that should be just thrown about to try to dictate policy in Washington, D.C."


Pruitt also dismissed the discussions in Washington about carbon emissions and the links to climate change as "political," but said his planned debate over climate science was good for the country. Asked by the radio show host why there's a "preoccupation with CO2" in Washington, Pruitt said because it "serves political ends."

"Frankly, the last several years the past administration used the CO2 issue as a wedge issue, and that's why we talked about it this much," he said. "Why aren't we celebrating what we're achieving with respect to CO2 ... why do we continue to engage in this political football?"

A draft of the science assessment Pruitt was referring to was cited this week by The New York Times, which said some of the report's authors were worried the Trump administration would suppress its findings. That draft brought together peer-reviewed work of dozens of scientists within the federal government and concluded it is "extremely likely" human activity is the main cause of global warming since the mid-20th century, and it projects more intense heat waves, extreme droughts and severe flooding.

Pruitt's comments came just as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued a separate report Thursday confirming that 2016 was the warmest year on record, surpassing the records set in each of the two previous years.

EPA TO INCLUDE 2021 AUTO EMISSIONS IN 2022-25 MODEL YEAR REVIEW: EPA will expand its review of 2022-2025 model year vehicle greenhouse gas emissions standards to include 2021 model year standards, Alex Guillén reports. The move mirrors a reconsideration of that year's fuel economy standards by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which must set its Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards in blocks of up to five years, meaning it is only just starting to write rules for 2022-2025. EPA announced earlier this year that it will reopen the midterm review of the 2022-2025 standards after the Obama administration, in its final days in office, certified those standards as achievable. EPA has until April 1, 2018, to decide whether to weaken or keep the Obama administration levels. Any change to EPA's standards would require a formal rulemaking.

METHANE STAY REJECTED AGAIN: The full D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday shot down renewed attempts to revive EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt's 90-day stay of the methane rule for new oil and gas wells, Alex reports. A three-judge panel last month said Pruitt's stay was unlawful and the full court later reinstated the rule. With a vote of 8-3 Thursday, the court denied requests by industry groups and Republican state officials for a full court review of the decision. The court has effectively squashed hopes of further appeals since seeking Supreme Court review would take more time than would have been left on the stay, which would have expired Aug. 31. However, Pruitt is likely to have a longer-term stay in place soon.

TRUMP SCOFFS AT CLIMATE CHANGE: President Donald Trump on Thursday responded to questions about the nation's nuclear posture toward North Korea by somewhat strangely reiterating his disagreement with the past administration on climate change. Speaking at his New Jersey golf course, Trump told reporters that “Nuclear to me, number one, I would like to ‘de-nuke’ the world. I know that President Obama said global warming is the biggest threat. I totally disagree…I’d like to de-nuke the world. I would like Russia, the United States and China and Pakistan and many other countries that have nuclear weapons get rid of them. But until such time that they do, we will be the most powerful nuclear nation on earth, by far."

Welcome to Friday! I'm your guest host, Esther Whieldon, congratulating Dwight Miller of Parametrix Inc., who was the first to answer that Lavinia "Vinnie" Ream was the first female artist commissioned by the government to sculpt a statue. Ream was hired as a teenager in 1866 to sculpt the standing statue of President Abraham Lincoln, which resides in the Capitol building's rotunda. Ream, who is buried in Arlington Cemetery, also has another claim to fame: She may have convinced Sen. Edmond G. Ross, who boarded at her house, to cast the vote that saved President Andrew Johnson from being removed from office. Today's trivia question returns to Arlington Cemetery where yours truly spent many college summer days giving tours on TourMobile buses: Name the Pulitzer Prize-winning female journalist who covered World War II and the Korean and Vietnam wars and is buried in Arlington Cemetery. Send us your guesses, tips, energy gossip and comments at [email protected] and [email protected] and follow us on Twitter @esthernow, @aadragna, @bjlefebvre, @Morning_Energy, and @POLITICOPro.

JUDGE SENDS MURRAY-OLIVER CAT FIGHT BACK TO STATE COURT: Coal magnate Bob Murray’s lawsuit against comedian John Oliver has been sent out of federal court and back down to a state court. There was some debate about whether the lawsuit over Oliver’s June TV segment about Murray and his coal companies was a dispute between parties from different states, but it turns out both Murray’s companies and HBO and its affiliates are all incorporated in Delaware, which means technically there is no interstate battle. However, the case will not be heard in the First State; instead, it will move forward in the Circuit Court of Marshall County, W. Va., where some of Murray's coal interests are located.

REPORT PROBES IMPACT OF SHALE BOOM ON EDUCATION: Economic research organiziation Resources for the Future is out with a new report that concludes that the oil and gas boom in recent years has had mixed results, but has generally not hurt student learning. Based on existing literature and interviews with teachers and others across six oil and gas producing states — Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, North Dakota, Montana and Colorado — the paper found the impacts of the boom had different effects in each region. For example, student enrollment was statistically higher in boom districts in North Dakota, but Marcellus Shale districts saw a decline in student enrollment compared to neighboring areas.

NORTHERN PASS LINE ONE STEP CLOSER TO GREEN LIGHT: DOE issued its final environmental impact statement Thursday for Eversource's 192-mile-long high-voltage transmission line that would deliver more than 1,000 megawatts of hydropower from Canada to New England. The move queues up the agency to potentially issue a presidential permit for the project later this year, although Northern Pass is still awaiting approvals from the Forest Service and Army Corps of Engineers. The project's route through New Hampshire calls for adding another 52 miles of underground line to the original proposal to reduce the chances of it spoiling the view along the Appalachian Trail. That change that will add about $1.41 billion to the project's cost. Eversource aims to bring the project online in 2020.

COMPANY PROPOSES SOLAR PROJECT ON BLM LAND: Utility-scale developer SolarReserve has filed for a right-of-way grant with the Bureau of Land Mangement for its proposed 1,600 megawatt Sandstone Solar Energy project in Nevada, the company said in a notice to Nevada utility regulators. The company, which declined to provide a copy of its BLM filing, ultimately aims to use about 20,000 acres for eight solar towers in Nye county and hopes to finish the project by 2022. Sandstone project's is not inside any of the solar energy zones BLM created several years ago in the state, according to a company spokeswoman. The Sandstone project appears to be among the first proposed following the rule BLM issued last year that allows the agency to seek competitive bids for leases.

EPA STAFFER AMONG CYBER EXPERTS LEAVING GOVERNMENT: Sean Kelley, EPA's chief information security officer, is one of four senior cybersecurity officials that are leaving U.S. government posts, according to BuzzFeed. The article says the exodus of top leaders raises concerns they could be leaving agencies more vulnerable to cyber attacks. Kelley is taking a job in the private sector after working at EPA for just a few months.

Quick Hits:

— British Columbia Vows to Block Pipeline Expansion, Wall Street Journal

— Polluter fines drop 60 percent under Trump, Washington Post

— Special Report: How Engineers Are Preparing for Sea-Level Rise, Engineering News Record

— Energy storage gets ready for its close-up, San Diego Union-Tribune

— Tesla is turning Kuaui into a renewable energy paradise, Wired

That's all for ME!

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