RIFT GROWS IN GOP OVER CLIMATE CHANGE: Republicans who support combating climate change were shaking their heads Friday after a “wild day” during which members of the GOP expressed divergent views on the subject.

“Thursday was a wild day that shows us that most GOP representatives’ views on climate science are informed more by their ideological commitments than empirical fact or careful study,” Joseph Majkut, director of climate policy at the Niskanen Center, a free-market think tank, told Josh.

• Rock and a hard place: Early Thursday, Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Ala., said that rocks falling into the ocean are causing sea levels to rise, preaching climate denial during a hearing focused on technologies that can help address global warming.

Brooks, a Tea Party Republican, said rocks from the California coastline and the White Cliffs of Dover tumble into the sea every year, contributing to sea-level rise.

"Every time you have that soil or rock or whatever it is that is deposited into the seas, that forces the sea levels to rise, because now you have less space in those oceans, because the bottom is moving up," Brooks said from his perch on the Science, Space and Technology Committee.

Steve Valk, director of communications of the Citizens’ Climate Lobby, a group focused on inspiring Republicans to take climate action, called Brooks’ remark the “hand-slapping-forehead moment of the week.”

• ‘Put politics aside’: Later in the day, Rep. Carlos Curbelo, R-Fla, a moderate whose state is already feeling the effects of sea level rise, boasted in an enthusiastic press release that the Climate Solutions Caucus that he heads had added five new members, including three Republicans.

The new GOP entrants, Reps. Erik Paulsen of Minnesota, Peter Roskam of Illinois, and Tom MacArthur of New Jersey, bring the climate caucus membership to 78, half of whom are Republicans, showing that Congress can “put politics aside” to combat climate change, Curbelo said.

• ‘Major way’: But politics surely affected the calculus of former House conservative lawmaker Jim Bridenstine of Oklahoma, who expressed denial of humans’ role in climate change before becoming the new administrator of NASA last month.

Now that he heads an agency that studies the changing climate, and doesn’t represent a conservative district in Congress, Bridenstine is expressing new views.

"I fully believe and know that the climate is changing. I also know that we, human beings, are contributing to it in a major way," Bridenstine told NASA employees at a town hall-style meeting Thursday.

Majkut and Valk hope the actions of Bridenstine and the Climate Solutions Caucus’ Republicans send a message to other conservatives.

• Patience please: “Low information beliefs are malleable,” Majkut said. “Look what happened with Mr. Bridenstine. As soon as he started working with a bunch of experts down the hall, his rhetoric shifted substantially. I hope his leadership demonstrates that one can fully embrace climate science, or even think climate change is bad, without surrendering his membership in the Conservative movement.”

Added Valk: “Progress is being made. Patience will eventually be rewarded.”

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GREENS CELEBRATE ENDANGERED SPECIES DAY: Endangered Species Day is Friday, and with it comes big environmental campaigns against the Trump environmental agenda.

The Natural Resources Defense Council started an Internet ad campaign, with a video circulating on social media showcasing Trump’s antagonistic policies against bears, whales, and elephants.

• Voted to kill elephants? “We don’t remember anyone voting to kill elephants, bears, and whales in the 2016 election, but that’s become part of Trump’s agenda,” NRDC tweeted. “These iconic species shouldn’t die in the name of big-game hunters and corporate interests.”

• Email campaign: The group is directing supporters to send an web-based letter to lawmakers, prodding them to oppose the Trump agenda.

Rolling back federal protections for species is part of the deregulatory agenda that the administration released last year.

• Trophy imports: One of the most controversial items is a proposal to allow big game hunters to import African elephant trophies to the United States, which was seen as supporting hunting of the endangered elephant species.

President Obama had banned ivory imports to the U.S., while supporting protections for the large African mammals. Public outcry over Trump’s proposal forced him to stop and conduct further review.

• Bills, bills, bills: Environmental groups have been raising alarm bells over a number of authorization bills making their way through the House, all of which include attempts to remove protections under the Endangered Species Act.

Farm Bill Friday: The Farm Bill, which is expected to be voted by the House on Friday, is no exception.

“#GOPFarmBill slashes protections for our public lands, clean water & endangered species. It's deplorable, to say the least,” Friends of the Earth tweeted.

Democrats took to the floor on Thursday to slam a series of riders to roll back protections.

TRUMP PUSHES ENERGY EFFICIENCY IN GOVERNMENT: President Trump is starting his own government-wide environmental sustainability and energy efficiency program through an executive order he signed Thursday evening.

• Cutting costs: The order directs federal agencies to manage their buildings, vehicles, and overall operations in order to "optimize energy and environmental performance, reduce waste, and cut costs.”

• Streamline: It also calls on the White House Council of Environmental Quality to streamline pre-existing environmental orders by "refocusing agencies on cost-effectively meeting mandates and goals" established by law, as opposed to executive fiat.

• Perry, Pruitt and Mattis: Energy Secretary Rick Perry, Environmental Protection Agency administrator Scott Pruitt, and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis all have deadlines to meet on reforming previous administration environmental directives and finding better ways to manage the large vehicle fleets they operate.

• Biggest user: The federal government is the largest consumer of energy in the nation.

TRUMP WANTS TO MAKE NATURAL GAS PART OF NATO DISCUSSIONS: Trump wants to make natural gas part of the negotiations on reforming the NATO alliance between Europe and the United States.

• Russia’s customers: Germany and other NATO members are "buying massive amounts of gas from Russia and paying billions and billions of dollars," Trump said Thursday before sitting down for talks with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at the White House.

• Natural gas part of discussions: "So, I think that's something we'll be discussing later and we'll be discussing that at our meeting," Trump said.

• Not clear what Trump wants: It wasn't clear how Trump wants to use natural gas in his discussions about European members paying their fair share of the alliance's military costs.

• Pro-growth policy is clear: However, the Trump administration has been clear that reliance on energy from Russia places Europe at risk of being manipulated through the threat of supply cuts.

TRUMP TELLS MERKEL TO STOP RUSSIAN GAS PIPELINE TO AVOID TRADE WAR: Trump is using Russia’s Nord Stream 2 pipeline as a bargaining chip, telling Germany Chancellor Angela Merkel at the White House last month that she should drop support for the pipeline in exchange for the U.S. starting talks with the European Union on a new trade deal, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.

• Double-barreled threat: The news comes as a U.S. official Thursday threatened to sanction Russia over the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which would transport natural gas from Russia to Germany, arguing the project could present a security risk.

Sandra Oudkirk, U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state for energy diplomacy, told reporters in Berlin that the project could be sanctioned under a bill passed last year in response to Russia’s intervention in Ukraine and its election interference.

The U.S. opposes the project because it would increase Europe’s reliance on Russian natural gas.

ZINKE MOVES TO PROTECT CRITICAL MINERALS FROM FOREIGN THREATS: Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke is listing 35 minerals used in aircraft, cellphones, and other important technologies as "vital" to national security in a move to wean the U.S. off foreign suppliers.

• Aluminum to uranium: The list includes such valuable metals as aluminum and titanium, as well as uranium, helium, lithium, platinum, potash, and strontium.

• U.S. foreign dependence: A final rule published Friday says the U.S. is "heavily reliant" on imports of the minerals. "This dependency of the United States on foreign sources creates a strategic vulnerability for both its economy and military to adverse foreign government action, natural disaster, and other events that can disrupt supply of these key minerals," the rule says.

President Trump directed Zinke to conduct a review of the nation's critical mineral assets and to create a strategy on how to handle vulnerabilities.

• Phase two begins: The final list begins phase two of Trump's executive order, with the Commerce Department developing a federal strategy to ensure supplies of the minerals remain reliable.

SENATE VOTES TO SET UP VOLCANO EARLY WARNING SYSTEM: The Senate passed a bill Thursday that would set up a 24-hour-a-day volcano early warning system to give population centers a heads-up of impending eruptions such as the current ones in Hawaii.

• Vivid reminders: "Volcanic eruptions, like the one in Hawaii and the one earlier this month at Cleveland Volcano in Alaska, are vivid reminders of why it is so critical to have continuous and reliable monitoring systems,” said Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, chairwoman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

• House up next: Murkowski said she hopes the House sees the need for the early warning system and "will move quickly to approve this timely legislation." The bill, which passed by unanimous voice vote, helps to ensure the U.S. Geological Survey has the resources to bolster the nation's volcano monitoring, warning, and response capabilities.

HAWAIIAN VOLCANO SPEWS 6-MILE HIGH PLUME OF ASH: Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano eruptions spewed a six-mile high plume of ash Thursday, with more powerful events expected in coming days.

“This has relieved pressure temporarily,” U.S. Geological Survey geologist Michelle Coombs said at news conference in Hilo, according to Reuters. “We may have additional larger, powerful events.”

Big Island residents were warned to take shelter because of high toxic gas levels from the ash in an area where lava has burst from the ground during the two-week eruption. The wind could carry the ash plume from Kilauea as far as Hilo, the Big Island’s largest city and a major tourism center, the County of Hawaii Civil Defense warned.

President Trump declared a "major disaster" in Hawaii last Friday, unlocking federal aid to help with local efforts dealing with the volcano which has been erupting for two weeks.

PRUITT PROPOSES REPEALING PARTS OF CHEMICAL SAFETY RULE: Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt proposed Thursday repealing major parts of a chemical safety rule finalized in the last days of the Obama administration.

• Disaster response: The rule is intended to toughen standards for chemical plants and other facilities to prevent and mitigate accidental chemical releases. It applies to about 12,500 facilities ranging from petroleum refineries, chemical manufacturers, water and wastewater treatment systems, food manufacturers, packing plants, and more.

The Obama administration finalized the rule in December 2016 in response to the 2013 explosion of ammonium nitrate at a fertilizer plant in West, Texas, that killed 15 people.

• Friend of industry: Pruitt had delayed the safety rule and began the process of repealing it, in response to complaints from industry groups, congressional Republicans, and 11 states, who argued the rule was too costly.

• Changes at play: Pruitt proposed to repeal requirements in the rule that audits of facilities be conducted by third parties and that investigators determine the “root cause” of an accident. The EPA cited uncertain environmental benefits from those provisions and added costs, when compared to existing requirements.

Pruitt also proposed to rescind other elements of the rule, including a 12-month completion deadline for investigative incident reports; employee training requirements; and a mandate that facility owners release chemical hazard information to the public upon request after accidents.

THE CARBON CACHE: The Idaho National Lab posted a video Friday on a way to use coal to produce electricity that makes it easier to control carbon dioxide emissions.

It’s through a technology called Carbon Cache that uses fuel cells, such as those used on deep space flights and hydrogen cars, to produce electricity using coal or biomass, but without all the mess that comes from burning the fuel directly.

Energy Secretary Rick Perry is pushing the national labs to find a way forward for coal, which is a top priority for the Trump administration. This could be it.

INL’s video said it has already attracted investors from the U.S. and Canada with the potential of licensing the U.S.-developed tech for commercial-scale projects.

ELECTRONS FLOW ACROSS THE BORDER: The electricity marketing firm Matador Power Marketing is asking for a permit to sell excess power generated in the U.S. to Mexico.

• Energy Department’s role: The permit request is published in Friday’s Federal Register, asking the Energy Department for permission to market American-made electrons south of the border.

• Why Mexico? Mexico has quickly become a huge source of demand for U.S. energy sources, and is seeking to burn more natural gas, instead of coal, to meet its climate goals under the Paris Agreement.

• Matador at the gate: Matador has been doing the same thing in Canada. It recently received permission to market and sell electrons to the United States.

• Owns nothing: Matador doesn’t own any power plants or transmission lines. It acts as a marketer for the excess electricity the U.S. produces and finds a market for it in Mexico during certain times of the day.

RUNDOWN

New York Times Oil sanctions on Iran and Venezuela may empower U.S, rivals

E&E News Zinke tells greens he'll make 'grand pivot' to conservation

Los Angeles Times Will Trump's pick to run EPA in California show up for work?

Bloomberg Oil rides best weekly winning streak since 2011 as risks mount

NBC News Study claims bitcoin uses as much energy as Ireland