Welcome to debate day

With help from Zack Colman, Alex Guillén, Anthony Adragna and Daniel Lippman

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Quick Fix


— President Donald Trump and Joe Biden will square off for the first time tonight, but neither energy issues nor climate change are likely to be a major flashpoint during the first debate.

— Last week's court order blocking William Perry Pendley from exercising power as the head of the Bureau of Land Management could threaten to unravel some major Trump administration policy moves.

— Trump's offshore drilling ban covering several Atlantic states also blocks offshore wind energy, the administration said Monday.

WELCOME TO TUESDAY! I'm your host, Kelsey Tamborrino. FTI Consulting's Steve Everley gets the win for knowing Venus is the brightest planet in the solar system. For today: What journalist, once called the "dean of moderators," has moderated the most presidential debates? Send your tips, energy gossip and comments to [email protected].

Check out the POLITICO Energy podcast — all the energy and environmental politics and policy news you need to start your day, in just five minutes. Listen and subscribe for free here. On today's episode: A major setback for Trump's BLM work.

Driving the Day

IT'S DEBATE DAY: President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden will face off this evening for the first 2020 presidential debate. A previously released list of six topics for the showdown omits climate change or energy issues as a focus of the debate — despite calls for moderators to do so.

Tonight's debate, moderated by Fox News' Chris Wallace, instead will be broken into six, 15-minute topic sections on the candidates' records, the Supreme Court, the coronavirus pandemic, race and violence in cities, election integrity and the economy.

A stand-in for President Donald Trump participates in a rehearsal for the first presidential debate between Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden at Case Western Reserve University and the Cleveland Clinic. | Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images

What you'll hear: POLITICO's Natasha Korecki and Alex Isenstadt interviewed more than a dozen campaign aides and outside allies about the candidates' preparations and expectations for tonight. They report Biden plans to stick to Covid-19 and the economy, and won't waste time fact-checking the president, except perhaps on some of the more egregious falsehoods. Biden is expected to portray himself as the candidate of unity and healing, much like he tried to do in the Democratic debates.

Where you may see some action on green policies: Trump's plan is to tie Biden to the radical left. The president has already pushed this stratagem in several campaign appearances, attempting to link Biden to the Green New Deal and to blue states' renewable shifts. Trump aides who spoke to Natasha and Alex said they want to use the debate to draw out Biden on some of his more liberal positions, in hopes of softening the former vice president's support among moderate voters.

Going to commercial: Despite the expected absence of climate change during the debate, viewers might see two ads for the American Petroleum Institute's multimillion-dollar Energy for Progress campaign during the commercial break. The trade group will be running ads in key battlegrounds and on cable, including Fox News and CNN, as well as on digital platforms.

Around the Agencies

PENDLEY UNDER THE MICROSCOPE: Chief Judge Brian Morris' ruling on Friday to block William Perry Pendley from serving as the acting director of Bureau of Land Management could ensnare some of the Trump administration's major policy moves, your host and Ben Lefebvre report for Pros. "It has huge implications on decisions on his watch and personnel decisions for more than a year," said Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond. "I do think there's lots of initiatives that he touched that could now be invalidated."

Morris' ruling stated that any "function or duty" of the BLM director that was performed by Pendley "would have no force and effect and must be set aside as arbitrary and capricious," and he gave both Interior and Montana Gov. Steve Bullock 10 days to compile any such acts under Pendley. Now, conservation groups are lining up actions that could be set aside, including the decision to move BLM's top office to Grand Junction, Colo., and opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling, according to a list compiled by Western Values Project, a liberal group that has opposed Pendley.

How's it playing in the Big Sky state: Morris' decision could also affect the tight race between Bullock and Republican Sen. Steve Daines in Montana. Maintaining access to public lands is a priority for voters in the state, but Barrett Kaiser, a Montana Democrat campaign strategist, said the controversy over Pendley and the Federal Vacancies Reform Act, which is central to the lawsuit, is an inside-the-Beltway issue that won't matter to the majority of Montana's voters. But Bullock's success in the case could inspire conservationist donors in the state to donate to Bullock in a race that's already breaking records in money raised, Kaiser added.

WHEELER QUESTIONS CALIFORNIA EV ORDER: EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler on Monday blasted California Gov. Gavin Newsom's executive order seeking to ban the sale of internal combustion engines in the state by 2035, Pro's Alex Guillén reports. In a letter to Newsom, Wheeler raises questions regarding the order's "legality and practicality," writing that since EPA has revoked a waiver allowing California to enforce its zero-emissions vehicle program, the state would have to obtain a new one to enforce any regulation related to Newsom's order.

"While the EO seems to be mostly aspirational and on its own would accomplish very little, any attempt by the California Air Resources Board to implement sections of it may require California to request a waiver to U.S. EPA," Wheeler wrote. Legal experts agree California would face almost certain rejection from the Trump administration but could succeed if Biden is elected in November.

Wheeler also questioned how, given recent rolling blackouts "unprecedented in size and scope," California would "expect to run an electric car fleet that will come with significant increases in electricity demand, when you can't even keep the lights on today."

BROUILLETTE HEADS TO MICHIGAN: Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette is in Michigan today where he will deliver keynote remarks on the energy outlook during a virtual 2020 Shale Insight conference. The secretary will speak "about the evolution of U.S. energy and the growing consumption demands the U.S. is currently facing, while highlighting notable DOE investments in areas such as petrochemicals, manufacturing, power generation, and refinery revitalization," the Energy Department said. Brouillette will also participate today in a designation ceremony for the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams funded by DOE at Michigan State University. He'll be joined by Undersecretary for Science Paul Dabbar in East Lansing.

Spotted: Brouillette flying Delta from DCA to Detroit on Monday. He ate some peanut M&Ms and had security with him, ME is told. See it.

FIAT PAYS SEC $9.5 MILLION OVER EMISSIONS CHEATING: Fiat Chrysler will pay a $9.5 million securities penalty related to its diesel emissions cheating scandal, the Securities and Exchange Commission said on Monday. FCA stated in a 2016 press release and annual report that its internal audit confirmed its vehicles met federal emissions limits — but the company did not disclose that the audit was narrow, not comprehensive, or that EPA and California officials had already red-flagged emissions systems in FCA diesel vehicles, the SEC said. Those misleading assurances violated federal securities laws, the SEC said. The penalty is a drop in the bucket compared to the nearly $900 million FCA paid for violating environmental laws and to fix the 100,000 diesel vehicles in the U.S.

MAIL CALL: The Coalition to Protect America's National Parks — a group of current and former National Park Service employees — is urging Interior Secretary David Bernhardt to stop all oil and gas lease sales during the coronavirus pandemic. "Continuing to lease public lands in this environment not only prevents taxpayers from getting fair market value, but it also hinders efforts to manage those lands for other values that benefit the American people and local communities," the group wrote in a letter Monday.

On the Hill

TRY, TRY AGAIN: House Democrats unveiled the text of a roughly 2,152-page coronavirus relief bill on Monday, marking a scaled back version of the House's sweeping bill passed in May, which Republicans have already rejected. The chamber is expected to hold a vote on the bill as soon as Wednesday and then go home, guaranteeing that Congress won't send more help until after Election Day, POLITICO's Sarah Ferris, Heather Caygle and John Bresnahan report.

What's in it? Democrats included authorizations for a number of energy and environment aims in their $2.2 trillion bill. Chiefly, it calls for an additional $1 billion for FEMA firefighter funding to address the massive wildfires scorching the West. It also calls for $1.5 billion for drinking and wastewater grants for low-income households and $50 million for EPA environmental justice grants. The bill would also prevent entities that receive funds from shutting off utility services for customers in the event of nonpayment.

An American flag is placed on a fence outside of the Capitol building on Sept. 28, 2020 in Washington, D.C. | Photo by Al Drago/Getty Images

FOR YOUR RADAR: The Senate will vote this evening on the motion to invoke cloture on H.R. 8337 (116), the fiscal 2021 continuing resolution that would extend government funding through Dec. 11.

The House meanwhile is expected to pass legislation today effectively banning asbestos, a known carcinogen. The bill, H.R. 1603 (116), would prohibit the importation and use of asbestos — and products containing asbestos — one year after passage. Many uses of asbestos are still permitted in the U.S. even though more than 50 countries, including the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada, have banned it. The legislation enjoyed significant bipartisan support in committee where it passed the Energy and Commerce panel on a 47-1 vote in November 2019.

Beyond the Beltway

TRUMP DRILLING BAN EXTENDS TO OFFSHORE WIND: The Trump administration's offshore drilling moratorium off the coasts of Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas will also extend to renewable energy, Pro's Ben Lefebvre reports. The presidential memorandum Trump signed barring the Interior Department from offering oil and gas leases off the coasts of some Atlantic states "addresses all energy leasing, including conventional and renewable energy, beginning on July 1, 2022," said Tracey Moriarty, spokesperson for Interior's Bureau of Offshore Energy Management.

AMEREN SETS 2050 TARGET: The St. Louis-based utility Ameren released an integrated resource plan Monday setting a net-zero carbon emissions goal by 2050 across its Missouri and Illinois operations. Ameren said it would target a 50 percent reduction of carbon emissions by 2030 and an 85 percent reduction by 2040 from 2005 levels.

The utility said it would make its largest investments in solar and wind energy in its history, including committing to adding 3,100 megawatts of new renewable generation by 2030 — which it calculated as an investment of approximately $4.5 billion — and a total of 5,400 MW by 2040. The coal-heavy utility also said more than 75 percent of its current coal-fired energy generating capacity will be retired by 2039 and all coal-fired energy centers will be retired by 2042.

Movers and Shakers

— The National Biodiesel Board added Matt Herman as its new director of environmental science. Herman previously was director of policy at the Biotechnology Innovation Organization and manager of sustainability for Renewable Energy Group.

The Grid

— "Shale producers Devon Energy, WPX Energy announce merger," via The Wall Street Journal.

— "Trump tweets intent to issue permit for rail line connecting Alaska to Canada and Lower 48," via Anchorage Daily News.

— "Purging water system of brain-eating microbe to take 60 days," via Associated Press.

— "Palin hints at Senate run in Alaska if Lisa Murkowski opposes Trump's Supreme Court nominee," via Washington Examiner.

— "Colorado poised to take another major step in regulating oil, gas industry — this time on well setbacks," via The Denver Post.

— "China's top climate scientists map out path to 2060 goal," via Bloomberg.

THAT'S ALL FOR ME!