Complying with a court order, newly confirmed EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt released nearly 7,000 emails this week from his time as Oklahoma Attorney General. The emails demonstrate a cozy relationship between Pruitt and energy companies, reaffirming a 2014 New York Times report on Pruitt's close ties to fossil fuel companies. His relationship with Devon Energy, which donated $10,000 between Pruitt's 2010 and 2014 campaigns, was apparent in the emails. In one exchange, a Devon Energy executive offered to draft a letter for Pruitt to sign about the Bureau of Land Management's proposed rule on hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. In another, a utility company executive sent an email thanking Pruitt after the EPA rescinded a federal compliance plan on Oklahoma for the EPA's regional haze rule.Trump for America, Inc., the non-profit formed to handle Trump's transition to office, raised approximately $6.5 million in private contributions, according to recently-released U.S. government fin...

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In a mostly party line vote, on Friday, the Senate confirmed Scott Pruitt as the next Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. Senators Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) broke with Democrats and voted for Pruitt, while Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) was the lone Republican who voted against him. (Senators Joe Donnelly (D-IN) and John McCain (R-AZ) did not vote.) Pruitt's vote comes on the heels of wave of protest by EPA employees and the day after a District judge in Oklahoma ruled the state's attorney general's office has until Tuesday to turn over thousands of documents related to Scott Pruitt's communications with oil, gas and coal groups. Pruitt refused to release the emails for more than two years and despite their imminent release, Senate Republicans ignored calls for additional time to consider Pruitt and pushed the vote through. With Pruitt in place, the White House is expected to issue several Executive Orders in the next week related to EPA and env...

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The Trump administration approved the final permit, a 30-year easement under Lake Oahe in North Dakota, to allow the completion of the Dakota Access Pipeline. The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, whose reservation sits less than a mile from the pipeline route, vowed to fight the decision in court. The tribe objects to the pipeline's path running through sacred lands and so close to the source of the tribe's drinking water, fearing that any spill would poison their drinking water and water downstream. Environmentalists and other activists gathered last year to protest the pipeline in North Dakota and around the country, and national protests are ongoing. Additionally, the cities of Seattle, WA, and Davis, CA, moved to cut ties with Wells Fargo, in part because of the bank's status as a financier of the pipeline.A group of Republicans led by former Secretaries of State James Baker III and George Schultz and former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, met with senior White House officials to pi...

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Last week, high-level changes occurred at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), where Trump named Commissioner Cheryl LaFleur acting chair of the Commission. Meanwhile, Commissioner Norman Bay, an Obama appointee, announced that he would step down on Friday, February 3. Commissioner Bay's exit leaves just two commissioners on the five-member commission. Without a quorum, FERC will not be able to issue rules and orders, assess penalties for market manipulation, issue show-cause orders to propose penalties, or approve settlements. No one knows when a new commissioner will be nominated or confirmed, with estimates ranging from weeks to several months.Highlighting FERC's problems in the absence of a quorum, Senators Warren and Markey submitted a letter asking the Commission to rescind a recently issued order approving a new pipeline construction project that spans New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. The senators raised concerns about the fairness of FERC's process in th...

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In its first week, the Trump Administration has taken a number of actions addressing energy and environmental issues, including efforts aimed at curbing the EPA's work, promoting oil pipelines, and potentially eliminating pending regulations.Shortly after being sworn into office, President Trump's White House removed almost all mention of climate change from its website and replaced it with an America First Energy Plan page that emphasizes increasing production of fossil fuels and eliminating climate change policies.Later that day, Reince Priebus issued a memorandum freezing pending regulations for further review. This delays 30 EPA actions, including numerous state air plan approvals.On Tuesday, President Trump issued a series of executive actions pertaining to climate and energy. These actions:Provided expedited and simplified procedures for the Dakota Access Pipeline;Invited TransCanada to resubmit their application for the Keystone XL Pipeline using streamlined procedures;Direct...

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