Overnight Energy: Trump energy adviser leaving for lobbying job | Zinke decides against lowering offshore royalty rates | Greens fight Coast Guard bill

WHITE HOUSE ENERGY ADVISER LEAVING: President Trump’s top adviser for domestic energy and environment policy is heading out the door.

Michael Catanzaro, who has headed domestic energy and environment issues at the White House’s National Economic Council (NEC), plans to leave next week and return to CGCN Group, the law and lobbying firm where he previously worked, the White House announced Tuesday.

“In just a short time on the job, I realized Mike was an integral member of the NEC team and played an important role in crafting domestic energy and environmental policy,” NEC director and top Trump economic adviser Larry Kudlow, who started in the job earlier this month, said in a statement.

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“His expertise and dedication to the Trump Administration’s energy independence priorities was greatly valued and he will be missed. We thank him for his leadership and we wish him well on his future endeavors.”

Greenwire first reported Catanzaro’s plan to leave earlier Tuesday. He has worked at the White House since February 2017.

Catanzaro was rarely the public face of the Trump administration’s policies, but he was a leading figure in the administration for carrying out Trump’s aggressive deregulatory and pro-fossil fuel agenda.

He played a significant role in the ongoing rollback of the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan and its Clean Water Rule.

“We are thrilled to welcome Mike back to CGCN,” Steve Clark, the firm’s managing partner, said in a statement.

“His experience in the White House will be an invaluable resource for current and future clients, and we will make every effort to ensure his work complies with all relevant ethics guidelines.”

The White House said Francis Brooke, currently a policy adviser to Vice President Pence, will take over Catanzaro’s job when he leaves.

 

Ebell: Catanzaro left under ‘continuing chaos’: Catanzaro had a fan in Myron Ebell, director of the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s center for energy and environment and head of the Trump administration’s transition team for EPA.

“Mike has done an outstanding job helping to implement the president’s ambitious environmental reform agenda. And he’s done it under difficult circumstances, amid continuing chaos in the White House and with many key political appointments in the agencies unfilled,” Ebell said in a statement.

“It will be hard to find someone as good as Mike and as committed as he is to the Trump agenda.”

 

Why it matters: Catanzaro has been a consistent conservative, pro-industry voice in the administration’s energy policy.

Much of the business community was on edge about Trump’s campaign, nervous about whether he would have the knowledge and the staff to carry out their priorities. Catanzaro brought a long history of Washington policy and advocacy experience.

Brooke, meanwhile, will bring with him some GOP policy credentials, having worked for Rep. Andy Barr (R-Ky.), Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Pence. He’s not likely to make any significant shakeups to Trump’s policy plans.

Read more.

 

INTERIOR REJECTS CALL TO LOWER ROYALTY RATES: The Interior Department will not be lowering the royalty rates from profits made from offshore drilling, despite a recommendation from an agency committee comprised largely of energy industry representatives.

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke announced Tuesday that he will not lower offshore oil & gas royalty rates from drilling on federally controlled waters, citing “record” energy growth.

“The pilot light of American energy has been re-lit by President Trump, and the President’s energy dominance strategy is paying off,” Zinke said in a statement.

“Right now, we can maintain higher royalties from our offshore waters without compromising the record production and record exports our nation is experiencing. The Administration is grateful for the Committee’s hard work on these significant energy issues.”

A department advisory panel voted in February to recommend the administration cut the royalty rates for offshore drillers by a third.

Under the panel’s suggestion, oil and gas produced offshore would be assessed at a 12.5 percent royalty rate, down from 18.75 percent, through 2024.

That recommendation came under scrutiny.

The Royalty Policy Committee comprises energy company representatives, state governments, tribes and Interior officials. The panel argued that the drop in rates would incentivize more production of oil and gas.

Advisers include representatives from Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Shell and the American Petroleum Institute.

Interior cited a number of new factors that led to Zinke’s ultimate determination to not raise the rates, including an “improving economy,” tax reforms, higher energy prices and improved “regulatory certainty.”

A number of Democratic lawmakers had pushed back at the proposal to drop the rates as a “giveaway” to the oil and gas industry.

Read more here.

 

Why it matters: The Interior’s decision to keep the offshore royalty rate pricing the same as it’s been, shows that the department may be backing off it’s push to expand offshore drilling. While the industry-lead advisory group hinted that drillers might have more interest if royalty rates were dropped, Zinke has also acknowledged that drillers are not very enthusiastic about expanding drilling into areas that are unlikely to yield much oil.

CNN scrutinizes Zinke’s claims of being a geologist: CNN is out with a new analysis about Zinke’s frequent claims that he is a geologist.

The news network counted at least 40 times that he’s cited his geology credentials, often when speaking about oil and natural gas.

“I can tell you, from a geologist, offshore mining of sand is enormously destructive environmentally, as in comparison to seismic,” he said at a recent House hearing.

But while the Interior secretary holds a bachelor’s degree in geology, CNN reports that he never had a job in geology.

Interior spokeswoman Heather Swift defended Zinke’s credentials.

“Ryan Zinke graduated with honors with a B.S. in Geology. His intended career path was underwater geology — and he had college jobs to support that career. Upon graduation he was recruited to be an officer in the US Navy SEALs where he proudly served for 23 years and retired with the rank of Commander,” she said.

Read more.

 

GREENS FEAR EFFECTS OF NEW COAST GUARD BILL: The Senate could vote on a Coast Guard bill in the coming days that environmentalists and Democratic attorneys general say would weaken water pollution standards.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) filed cloture on a bill to reauthorize Coast Guard programs late Monday and Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), chairman of the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, said the upper chamber will “hopefully” vote on it this week.

The bill includes a version of the Vessel Incidental Discharge Act (VIDA), which would exempt ships’ ballast water from Clean Water Act oversight under the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and stop most states’ attempts to regulate the ballast water.

Ships usually take in water at ports to help balance and provide stability on their journeys. Operators then discharge the water at other ports, potentially bringing invasive species or pollutants from the previous port.

Ballast water has been blamed for some of the worst invasive species cases, like zebra mussels in the Great Lakes and various algae species.

Read more here.

 

ON TAP WEDNESDAY:

Hearing on groundwater: The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee will hold a hearing on the roles of states and the federal government in protecting groundwater.

Budget hearing for Army Corps and Bureau of Reclamation: The Senate Appropriations Committee’s subcommittee on energy and water development will hold a hearing on the fiscal 2019 budget requests for the Army Corps of Engineers and the Bureau of Reclamation.

Budget hearing for military energy and environment: The House Armed Services Committee’s subcommittee on readiness will hold a hearing on the fiscal 2019 budget request for the Department of Defense’s energy, installations and environment programs.

 

OUTSIDE THE BELTWAY:

California’s Natural Resource Agency is considering various proposals that could revive an idea to fill the Salton Sea with outside water, the Desert Sun reports.

The governments of Boulder, Boulder County and San Miguel County in Colorado have sued Exxon Mobil Corp. and Suncor Energy for the companies’ roles in climate change, the Boulder Daily Camera reports.

The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative has caused $4 billion of economic activity in Northeast states since 2009, New Hampshire Public Radio reports.

 

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

Check out Tuesday’s stories …

-Duckworth calls for Pruitt to resign or be fired immediately

-Zinke refers to himself as a geologist despite never having worked as one: analysis

-Interior won’t lower offshore drilling royalty rates

-Top Trump energy adviser resigns

-EPA chief upgraded official car to one with bulletproof seat covers

-Coast Guard bill would weaken water pollution rules, environmentalists say