Overnight Energy: Pruitt weathers ethics controversy | Two Republicans call for him to go | Trump offers support | EPA pushes ahead with revising Obama car emissions rule

EPA HEAD FACES CALLS TO RESIGN: Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt is facing a number of calls to step down from his position including, two from Republican members of Congress.

The calls for Pruitt to step aside come amid growing news reports related to his rental of a $50 a night condo owned by the wife of a top energy lobbyist.

Rep. Carlos Curbelo (R-Fla.) became the first member of the GOP to call on Pruitt to resign, tweeting Tuesday afternoon that Pruitt’s “corruption scandals are an embarrassment to the Administration, and his conduct is grossly disrespectful to American taxpayers.”

“It’s time for him to resign or for [Trump] to dismiss him,” he added. Curbelo has clashed with Trump numerous times, and is facing a tough reelection battle this year.

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Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) agreed with Curbelo.

“When scandals and distractions overtake a public servant’s ability to function effectively, another person should fill that role,” she said in a statement.

Democrats also upped the pressure. On Tuesday, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (R.I.), Rep. Don Beyer (Va.) and Rep. Ted Lieu (Calif.) all called for the EPA’s inspector general to investigate the circumstances surrounding Pruitt’s condo rental.

Beyer and Lieu wrote that Pruitt’s rental cost “is far below market value and, as such, would constitute an impermissible gift under federal regulations.”

They warned that if the low prices were set by the wife of the lobbyist  “with the intent to curry favor with him on an issue important to” their interests, than it could be illegal.

A spokeswoman for Inspector General Arthur Elkins said the office had received the lawmakers’ requests and would consider them.

 

BUT TRUMP OFFERS SUPPORT: In contrast, over at the White House, there is continued support for Pruitt. Referring to Pruitt at a rare press conference Tuesday, President Trump told reporters, “I hope he’s going to be great.”

The comments follow news that the president and his chief of staff, John Kelly, each phoned Pruitt earlier this week to offer him support and words of advice. Trump rung Pruitt late Monday night, the White House confirmed to The Hill. During the call Trump reportedly told the EPA chief, “Keep your head up, keep fighting” and, “We have your back.”

Kelly gave Pruitt a similar call Tuesday, according to reports.

 

Why it matters: For now it appears that Pruitt’s role at EPA is safe as long as he continues to uphold the Republican agenda of rolling back Obama-era regulations. But, as any Trump administration official knows, that could always change at the drop of a tweet.

 

PRUITT TOUTS CAR RULE ROLLBACK: Pruitt didn’t let the scandals get in the way of an EPA event to celebrate his determination that the upcoming auto emissions rules should be eased.

At an invitation-only event at the EPA headquarters, Pruitt promised automakers and dealers that he would keep listening to their objections to the Obama administration’s rules and rewrite them in a way that the industry would see as more palatable.

“We will get this right going forward, this year,” Pruitt said. “But it is very right for us to be here to recognize that what was done in 2011-12, as we evaluate it now, was not appropriate going forward, and we’re going to get it right as we address it this year.”

Pruitt endorsed the industry’s view that the previous regulations pushed manufacturers to make cars that consumers wouldn’t buy, thus depriving the country of the reduced emissions those newer cars would deliver.

“I think the focus in the past has been on making manufacturers in Detroit, making manufacturers in various parts of the country, make cars that people aren’t going to buy. And our focus should be on making cars that people purchase actually more efficient,” he said.

“To have arbitrary percentages of our fleet made up of vehicles that aren’t going to be purchased,” Pruitt said, would be counterproductive.

Pruitt officially ruled Monday that the greenhouse gas rules set to take effect for 2022 through 2025 are not achievable and should be changed. The actual revision involves another regulatory process that Pruitt said would take place this year.

 

Rollback? What rollback?: Mitch Bainwol, head of the Auto Alliance, said at the EPA event that he took issue with the press for saying his group supports a “rollback” of emissions standards.

“There’s a lot of talk about rollbacks in the press coverage, and description is wrong,” he said.

“Automakers, to be precise, support targets rising year after year. No one — no one — is advocating a freeze or rollback from today’s numbers.”

Bainwol, whose group vocally supports Pruitt’s effort argued that the only plan that would be a “rollback” would be reducing future standards below the current standard, and anything other than that would not be a rollback.

He showed a chart of the current trajectory of efficiency under the Obama rules and a flat line at the current standard, saying anything under the flat line would be a rollback.

Bainwol also wrote a piece in Real Clear Politics declaring that a revision “is not a rollback.’

Pruitt, hours later, tweeted that he announced “plans to roll back Obama Admin fuel standards.”

 

REFINER GETS ETHANOL WAIVER: Andeavor, the major fuel refining company, has obtained an EPA waiver allowing some of its facilities to avoid complying with the federal ethanol mandate, Reuters reports.

The waiver was granted under a provision that is usually reserved for small refining companies who would face a “disproportionate economic hardship.”

The development raises the possibility that the EPA is granting waivers to other major refiners and not announcing it, the news service said.

 

OUTSIDE THE BELTWAY:

The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California is refusing to finance Gov. Jerry Brown’s planned $16.7 billion Delta tunnels project, the Sacramento Bee reports.

California’s northern coast may see the first floating wind farm in the United States, Bloomberg reports.

Early action on climate change could bring up to NZ$30 billion in economic benefits to New Zealand, Stuff reports.

 

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

Check out Tuesday’s stories …

-EPA staffer helped Pruitt search for housing on weekends: report

-Two Republican lawmakers call for Pruitt to step down or be fired

-House Dems urge EPA IG to probe Pruitt condo arrangement

-Pruitt rallies auto industry on emissions plan

-Trump backs Pruitt amid ethics controversies

-Pruitt raised pay of two aides after White House declined to approve application: report