Perry pops up in new impeachment transcripts Presented by Chevron

With help from Annie Snider, Bernie Becker, Gavin Bade and Anthony Adragna

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Quick Fix


— Energy Secretary Rick Perry handed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky a list of "trusted individuals" on energy sector reform at his inauguration and left out State Department staff of his ongoing energy diplomacy, according to a new deposition in the impeachment inquiry.

— Senators are expected to advance several nominations today, including Dan Brouillette for Energy secretary and James Danly for FERC.

— House lawmakers are set to unveil a clean energy tax package as soon as today that is expected to include key credits for renewable energy and electric vehicles.

WELCOME TO TUESDAY! I'm your host, Kelsey Tamborrino. Check out the new 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 at politico.com/energy-podcast.

NEI's Robert Powers gets the trivia win for correctly identifying Richard Nixon as the last presidential candidate to carry all states along the Mississippi River, in the 1972 election. Today's question: Who were the first two people ever elected to the Senate all the way back in 1788? Send your tips, energy gossip and comments to [email protected].

Driving the Day

PERRY’S HANDOFF: Perry bypassed the State Department as he pressed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to overhaul its energy sector, according to the deposition of David Holmes, the political counselor at the U.S. embassy in Kyiv. Holmes told impeachment investigators that he saw Perry hand Zelensky a list of "trusted individuals" to consult, at the Ukrainian's May 20 inauguration, although he did not see the list of names. The Energy Department told POLITICO last month that Perry suggested two Texans to advise the Ukraine government on energy matters.

State cut out of the loop: Holmes also said that, beginning with preparations for a June 5 party in Brussels hosted by Ambassador to the EU Gordon Sondland, Perry's staff was "very aggressive" and excluded State Department personnel from meetings with Ukrainians "without giving explanations." They began conducting their own dialogues with senior Ukrainian officials over WhatsApp. When embassy staff asked to discuss meetings, DOE staff became terse. "It was clear they knew what they wanted to do and were not — they were not giving us explanations for it," Holmes testified.

In this May 20, 2019 file photo, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Energy Secretary Rick Perry share a joke during their meeting in Kyiv, Ukraine. (Mykola Lazarenko/Presidential Press Service Pool Photo via AP)

Background: Holmes told lawmakers he understood Perry's list included "some individuals who were involved with energy issues in Texas." DOE had told POLITICO earlier that the two men, Richard Bleyzer and Bob Bensh, were on a list of names that Perry had suggested to the Ukrainians as potential advisers to the state-owned Naftogaz, though others said that Perry had intended the men join the board of the state-owned natural gas company. They later won potentially lucrative oil and gas drilling leases from the Ukraine government after Perry's recommendation, according to the Associated Press. Holmes added in his testimony that Perry had his chief of staff Brian McCormack and "at least two other" staffers present with him during the inauguration. No one from DOE has testified as part of the inquiry, and Perry and McCormack have defied subpoenas.

The other deposition: David Hale, the under secretary of state for political affairs, said in his deposition he understood following a May 23 Oval Office meeting with President Donald Trump that the other two members of the "three amigos" — Sondland and former U.S. special representative for Ukraine Kurt Volker — would spend more of their time on the "irregular channel" of Ukrainian diplomacy than Perry. "I concluded from looking at the names that, de facto Secretary Perry was unlikely to be able to spend his full-time on this matter," he said.

Out in public: Public hearings as part of the House's impeachment probe continue today with Tim Morrison, a top White House national security aide; Jennifer Williams, a top national security aide to Vice President Mike Pence; Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, a top Ukraine aide on the NSC; and Volker. Morrison already told investigators Perry was present during a bilateral meeting where Sondland told one of Zelensky's top aides that military aid would be conditioned on announcements of investigations — something also backed up by Williams.

FROM JOHNSON'S RECOLLECTION: Perry objected to Zelensky's choice of chief of staff during the May trip to the Ukrainian inauguration he led, according to a recollection released Monday by Sen. Ron Johnson. "The delegation viewed [Andriy] Bohdan's rumored appointment to be contrary to the goal of fighting corruption and maintaining U.S. support," said Johnson, who also went on the trip. "Without naming Bohdan, Secretary Perry made U.S. concerns very clear in his remarks to Zelensky." Zelensky did ultimately name Bohdan as his chief of staff.

On the Hill

THE MOMENT HAS COME: Democratic tax writers in the House have been pointing toward this week as the time to release their green energy package for much of this month, and were even briefed on the package last week via a one-page summary. The word around K Street is that the full draft could be circulated as soon as this morning — but, even with all the groundwork that has been laid in recent weeks, there is still some suspense about its exact contents.

Some of the larger clean energy priorities, like electric vehicles, wind, solar and energy storage, are all expected to be addressed in the package. The tax package will include a five year extension for the 30 percent investment tax credit for solar energy, as well as a new ITC for standalone energy storage, according to two industry sources with knowledge of the bill. Of course, the bigger question is what proposals in the draft could make it into a year-end tax bill, should that materialize.

TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS: The Energy and Natural Resources Committee today is expected to advance Brouillette's bid to replace Perry — just one month after his nomination. The vote today comes as part of a massive committee business meeting. The Energy panel will also vote on Danly for the open Republican spot at FERC and Katharine MacGregor to be deputy secretary at Interior.

Bills, bills, bills: The committee will also consider close to 20 different bills covering a wide variety of topics, Pro's Anthony Adragna reported. The bills include an effort to create a dedicated stream of funding to address the nearly $12 billion in maintenance backlogs in the National Park System, S. 500 (116) and another bill, S. 1081 (116), guaranteeing $900 million in annual funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund.

PFAS, PIPELINES AND NUCLEAR WASTE, OH MY: While congressional negotiators continue to hammer out the differences between the House and Senate versions of the NDAA, including provisions on PFAS, lawmakers on the House Energy and Commerce Committee will take up their own legislation to tackle the toxic chemicals. The panel will hold an 18-bill markup this morning that includes a backup plan of sorts, should defense negotiations fall through on including PFAS measures in the annual defense bill.

The E&C package before the committee today goes further than the PFAS provisions in the House and Senate versions of the NDAA — it includes a ban on the incineration of waste containing the chemicals (H.R. 2591 (116)) and would block the manufacture of new PFAS (H.R. 2600 (116)).

The panel will also mark up newly introduced pipeline safety legislation (H.R. 5120 (116)); a closely watched measure to ban the production, use and importation of asbestos (H.R. 1603 (116)); and a nuclear waste bill to kick-start construction of the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository (H.R. 2699 (116)). The asbestos legislation comes on the tails of a court ruling that could force EPA to study the health risks posed by asbestos.

CLIMATE ACTIVISTS KEEP UP PRESSURE: Extinction Rebellion activists say they plan to return every day this week to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's Longworth office to continue their occupation and hunger strike, which are part of a coordinated international effort across 22 countries, Pro's Gavin Bade reports. A dozen activists from the group launched the hunger strike inside Pelosi's congressional office on Monday, demanding that she meet with them for an hour to hear their demands for aggressive action on climate change.

STATES FACE OFF OVER CWA: The Republican governors of Wyoming and Oklahoma will go up against a senior attorney in the Washington state Attorney General's office this morning at a hearing on states' Clean Water Act authority before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. The states are embroiled in a battle over a major proposed export terminal along the Columbia River that would have shuttled Wyoming coal to hungry Asian markets if Washington hadn't denied it a water quality certification in 2017. Trump, EPW Chairman John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) and other Republicans have blasted such moves by blue states to block energy infrastructure.

DEMS CALL FOR KEYSTONE REVIEW: House Transportation Chairman Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), E&C Chairman Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), Transportation Subcommittee Chairman Dan Lipinski (D-Ill.), and E&C Subcommittee Chairman Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) requested the U.S. Government Accountability Office review TC Energy, the operator of the Keystone Pipeline system, as well as Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, the federal agency that oversees it, following a recent crude oil spill in North Dakota.

Around the Agencies

TIME TO SAY GOODBYE: Nearing the end of his tenure as Energy secretary on Dec. 1, Perry is expected to make one of his final speeches as the head of the department today. Perry will address members of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on the "past, present and future of energy in the United States." After the speech, the secretary will participate in a "fireside chat" with Marty Durbin, president of the Chamber's Global Energy Institute.

At 3 p.m., Perry will address Energy Department employees in a farewell speech at the Secretary's Honors Awards program. (Watch the livestream.)

Beyond the Beltway

NAVAJO COAL STATION OFFICIALLY SHUTTERS: One of the largest coal plants in the Southwest has officially shut down, burning its last bit of coal on Monday, according to the Salt River Project. SRP permanently shut down all three units of the Navajo Generating Station coal-fired power plant Monday, after the mine supplying the plant closed in August.

And in New York: Somerset Operating Company LLC, the operator of New York's last remaining coal power plant, filed paperwork to shut down the plant before year's end, Pro's Marie J. French reports. Somerset filed a 90-day deactivation notice with the state's independent grid operator on Friday.

The Grid

— "Congress strikes stopgap funding deal, postpones border wall fight," via POLITICO.

— "Land affected by Keystone pipeline leak bigger than thought," via Associated Press.

— "EPA delays advisers' review of 'secret science' rules," via The Hill.

— "This energy expert was on Perry's list for Ukraine," via E&E News.

— "Psychologists from 40 countries pledged to use their jobs to address climate change," via Quartz.

— "Scientists are weighing radical steps to save coral," via The Washington Post.

THAT'S ALL FOR ME!

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