Overnight Energy: Labor rift opens over green mega-donor

UNIONS UPSET ABOUT AFL-CIO’S STEYER ALLIANCE: Seven unions in the AFL-CIO are demanding that the labor confederation cut ties with Tom Steyer, the environmental activist and megadonor funding a new super-PAC with the organized labor group.

In a letter to AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, the officials protested Steyer’s opposition to the Keystone XL oil pipeline, and said they want none of their dues funneled toward the For Our Future PAC, a group backed by the AFL-CIO and Steyer that plans to raise $50 million to elect a Democratic president.

{mosads}The letter, signed by Sean McGarvey, the president of the AFL-CIO’s Building and Construction Trades Department, and the representatives of seven unions within the confederation, decried the AFL-CIO’s pattern of working with outside groups that sometimes oppose projects that would create jobs.

They accused the AFL-CIO of having “officially become infiltrated by financial and political interests that work in direct conflict to many of our members’ — and yes, AFL-CIO dues paying members’ lives.”

Steyer spent more than $70 million in the 2014 midterm elections, according to an analysis by Politico earlier this year. His top issue was fighting climate change and quashing the Keystone pipeline, which would have transported oil from Canada’s tar sands pits to the Texas Gulf Coast for international export.

Read more here.

A DIFFERENT TYPE OF DELAY FOR CLIMATE RULE: In case the Clean Power Plan litigation didn’t have enough surprises and unprecedented actions, the court hearing the case has delayed it until the fall.

The Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit also ruled the Sept. 27 oral arguments — pushed back from June 2 — will be an “en banc” hearing in front of nine judges, instead of the three originally scheduled.

The judges did not say why they decided to push the case back and assign nine judges. But the action precludes the inevitable appeal of a decision to the full panel.

The case is nearly certain to reach the Supreme Court. And if the court’s decision is a tie, then the D.C. Circuit Court’s opinion would stand.

Read more here.

STATES BACK EXXON IN CLIMATE PROBE: Attorneys general for Texas and Alabama on Monday joined a lawsuit from Exxon Mobil Corp. looking to block a Virgin Islands probe into the company’s climate change research.

In a statement, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said the investigation is an improper curb on the company’s First Amendment rights.

“This case is about abusing the power of the subpoena to force Exxon to turn over many decades’ worth of records, so an attorney general with an agenda can pore over them in hopes of finding something incriminating,” Paxton said in a statement.

Virgin Islands Attorney General Claude Walker in April joined a multi-state investigation into Exxon to determine whether it misled shareholders and consumers about the threat of climate change.

Exxon has sued to avoid turning over those documents. In a filing on Monday, the states agreed with the Irving, Texas-based oil giant, saying the probe goes against the First Amendment and calling into question the Virgin Islands’s work on the matter with a private law firm.

Read more here.

Conservative group asks court to fine Virgin Islands: Meanwhile, a conservative group also targeted by Walker’s probe asked a judge on Monday to fine the Virgin Islands for requesting information from them.

The Competitive Enterprise Institute received a subpoena in April connected to the Exxon probe. In a statement Monday, the group said Walker’s request was “illegal,” and that the court should fine his office for issuing it.

“Mr. Walker’s attempt to silence us and others who share our views is an unconstitutional abomination,” CEI President Kent Lassman said.

“CEI will not sit still with this illegal threat hanging over our head, which is why we are asking the court to fine AG Walker and end his abuse of the legal process to intimidate CEI.”

BISON CALF DIES AFTER TOURISTS TAKE IT FOR A RIDE: The National Park Service said Monday that it euthanized a bison calf in Yellowstone National Park after tourists put the calf in their car.

The death comes less than a week after President Obama signed a law making the American bison the United States’ national mammal.

The Park Service is using it as a teachable moment, reminding park-goers that touching or getting too close to wildlife can be dangerous for everyone involved.

Two tourists thought the young bison looked cold, so they put it in their SUV and drove it to a park facility, according to EastIdahoNews.com.

But the calf’s interactions with humans spurred its herd to reject it. And despite repeated attempts, park rangers could get the herd to take the calf back, leaving no option but euthanasia.

GREENS THANK OBAMA, EPA FOR METHANE REGS: The Natural Resources Defense Council on Tuesday will launch a six-figure digital ad buy thanking President Obama and EPA head Gina McCarthy for publishing regulations on methane emissions at oil and natural gas drilling sites.

“President Obama and EPA chief Gina McCarthy are starting to limit methane pollution to protect our kids and our climate,” the ad says. “We need their continued leadership to limit all methane and toxic air pollution from the oil and gas industry.”

The EPA issued its rules on methane leaks at new oil and gas wells last week. The agency also kicked off the process of regulating emissions from existing wells, something it plans to do next year.

ON TAP TUESDAY I: The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will meet to discuss advanced nuclear technologies.

ON TAP TUESDAY II: An Energy Committee subpanel will hold a separate hearing on five bills.  Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Estevan Lopez is slated to testify.

The rest of Tuesday’s agenda …

A House Agriculture Committee will consider environmental regulations’ impact on farming.

A House Natural Resources Committee will hold a hearing on President Obama’s ocean policies.

AROUND THE WEB:

Coal generated zero electricity at times last week in the United Kingdom, The Guardian reports, the first time that has happened there in more than a century.

Ontario is rolling out an ambitious four-year, C$7 billion plan to fight climate change that promises to affect every part of residents’ lives, the Globe and Mail reports.

Oklahoma-based oil and gas driller SandRidge Energy Inc. filed for bankruptcy protection Monday, the Associated Press reports.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

Check out stories from Monday and this weekend …

-Court showdown over Obama’s climate rule delayed until the fall
-AFL-CIO rift opens over green mega-donor Tom Steyer
-WATCH: Senator presses Trump on coal promise
-Supreme Court won’t hear Exxon appeal in groundwater contamination case
-Texas, Alabama back Exxon in climate change probe
-Top Dem slams new Flint answers from Michigan governor
-April sets new heat record
-Week ahead: GOP takes aim at offshore drilling plans
-Obama pressed to create new Grand Canyon monument 

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