OVERNIGHT ENERGY: Trump says national parks to start reopening | Oil prices begin recovery amid pressure to finance struggling industry | Al Gore endorses Biden

OPENING ACT: President Trump said Wednesday that his administration would begin to reopen national parks as states relax restrictions meant to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

“Thanks to our significant progress against the invisible enemy, I am pleased to announce that in line with my administration’s guidelines for opening up America again we will begin to reopen our national parks and public lands for the American people to enjoy,” Trump said during a tree planting ceremony at the White House recognizing Earth Day.

The National Park Service (NPS) has closed many public sites across the country in accordance with state and local authorities to lessen the spread of the deadly virus, which has sickened more than 800,000 people in the U.S.

During his remarks Wednesday, Trump gestured to Interior Secretary David Bernhardt about a timeline for reopening parks. Bernhardt, who was among a small group of attendees at the event, indicated such decisions would be made in conjunction with governors’ plans to begin reopening.

“You have a lot of land to open up, too. People are going to be very happy,” Trump said.

Bernhardt also tweeted that he would “gradually reopen our National Parks in a safe manner.”

Details regarding plans for reopening specific parks will be provided in the coming days following guidance from the White House, according to an Interior Department official.

Read more about the announcement here.

 

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ON THE RISE: Oil prices rose nearly 20 percent Wednesday, a sign of a stabilizing market after trading went into negative pricing for the first time in history at the start of the week.

West Texas Intermediate settled at $13.78 per barrel, up from around $11 on Tuesday.

Those prices are a remarkable jump from Monday, when oil traded as low as negative $40 a barrel. The negative prices were caused by a drastic 30 percent cut in the demand for fuel that left companies effectively paying others to store their crude.

The uptick in pricing comes as traders shift to buying contracts for oil to be delivered in June, giving buyers more time to sort where they will store thousands of barrels of oil amid an unprecedented drop in demand.

A $14 barrel is still a far cry from prices in the mid $20 range seen for most of March.

The low prices have pushed President Trump to direct the secretaries of the Treasury Department and Department of Energy to look for solutions, which could involve financial assistance or creative solutions to boost storage space.

Republican lawmakers have been putting increasing pressure on Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to route coronavirus stimulus funding to oil companies.

“The prospect of once again becoming reliant on oil imports is an unacceptable situation and we should do all we can to avoid it,” lawmakers wrote in a letter spearheaded by Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) and signed by 10 other Republican senators.

Read more about Wednesday’s rebound here.

 

ENDORSE? OF COURSE: Former Vice President Al Gore (D) endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden’s (D) presidential candidacy on Wednesday during a climate change-focused livestream discussion on Earth Day. 

“We need policy changes, and that means we need to change some of the policymakers, particularly the one in the White House,” Gore said. 

He added that he would tell an undecided voter, “This is the most consequential choice in a presidential election that we’ve ever had in American history. Donald Trump is the face of climate denial globally. He is lifting the constraints on polluters.” 

Biden is the presumptive Democratic nominee following Sen. Bernie Sanders’s (I-Vt.) exit from the primary.

Gore said later that people should vote for Biden to “put us on the road to solving the climate crisis and creating a brighter future.”

But Gore isn’t the only environmental heavyweight to endorse Biden today…

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D), who centered his short-lived 2020 presidential campaign around climate change, said Wednesday he would endorse the former vice president’s White House bid after receiving assurances that the issue would be a major focus of a Biden administration. 

“I am convinced, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that this will be a major driving force of his administration,” Inslee told The New York Times in an interview. “I think what you’re going to see is an increased commitment to some shorter-term actions, and he’s been very open to that.”

Inslee echoed those comments during an appearance on “Here’s the Deal,” a new podcast broadcast by Biden’s campaign. In an interview with the presumptive Democratic nominee, Inslee said he couldn’t wait to have an “optimist” back in the White House. 

“Somebody who really believes in the American vision of growing your economy by getting out ahead and leading the world in technology,” he said, noting that he is confident Biden would have a concrete strategy to develop a clean energy plan within the next 10 years.

Biden acknowledged during the episode that he had called Inslee many times for his opinion on climate change policy. Citing the conversations, Biden said that he felt the U.S. could soon become a leader in wind energy while also becoming a top producer of green jobs worldwide.

Read more about Gore’s endorsement here and read more about Inslee’s endorsement here. 

 

AN UPSIDE: A harmful air pollutant dropped as much as 60 percent in some parts of the globe as cities have implemented strict lockdown orders due to the coronavirus pandemic.

A report released Monday by IQ Air, an air quality tracking firm, found that levels of soot dipped significantly as industrial operations and transportation slowed due to stay-at-home orders.

The report reviewed three-week periods in 10 major cities, relying on data gathered during either the strictest lockdowns or when the highest levels of coronavirus cases were reported. 

All saw a decline in levels of fine particulate matter PM2.5, a pollutant known to exacerbate heart and lung disease, but the effect was most severe in Delhi, India.

In the U.S., PM2.5 levels dropped 25 percent in New York and 31 percent in Los Angeles. 

Read more about the study here.

 

OUTSIDE THE BELTWAY:

U.N. head on 50th Earth Day: Climate change a ‘deeper’ crisis than COVID-19, UPI reports

Amazon is spending $10 million to expand forests and capture carbon, Bloomberg reports

Trump orders Chevron to halt oil production in Venezuela, CNN reports

ICYMI: Stories from Wednesday…

Florida aquarium makes breakthrough discovery that could save dying coral reefs

Arctic will have iceless summer by 2050: study

Oil prices begin recovery amid pressure to finance the struggling industry

Jay Inslee endorses Biden after conversations on climate change

Trump says national parks to start reopening as states relax coronavirus restrictions

Air pollution down in major cities amid coronavirus lockdowns

Al Gore endorses Biden for president

FROM THE HILL’S OPINION PAGES:

This Earth Day, let’s focus on global recovery — not special interests, writes Pinar Çebi Wilber, the executive vice president and chief economist for the American Council for Capital Formation.

Will crashing oil prices put American energy in its coffin? asks Simon Henderson, the director of the Bernstein Program on Gulf and Energy Policy at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.