Overnight Energy: Greens seek methane rule restart | South Carolina nuclear project scrapped | Trump officials hail coal export deal

GREENS WANT METHANE RULE ENFORCED: Environmental groups are asking a federal court to reinstate the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) methane rule for oil and natural gas companies.

Friday was the deadline for the Trump administration to appeal a ruling from earlier this month in the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia finding that the EPA’s 90-day delay of the regulation was illegal.

With no appeal filed, the green groups, led by the Environmental Defense Fund, said the court’s judges should issue an order mandating that the EPA enforce the rule.

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“Every day that the stay remains in place, petitioners’ members and similarly situated Americans are exposed to excessive amounts of air pollution from more than 11,000 oil and gas wells — pollution that compliance with the rule would reduce or avoid,” the green coalition wrote in a Monday filing with the court.

Industry groups and a coalition of conservative states asked the full 11-judge court to rehear the case, which is the standard next level for appeal. But the EPA itself did not ask for such a rehearing.

The green groups said in their filing that the industry and state appeals for full-court review are “transparent attempts to seek further delay, and do not warrant any further withholding of the mandate.”

Read more here.

COMPANIES SHUTTER SOUTH CAROLINA NUCLEAR PROJECT: Two companies developing a new nuclear power plant in South Carolina pulled the plug on the project Monday.

State-run Santee Cooper and South Carolina Electric & Gas Co. (SCE&G) both said they would suspend their plan to build two new nuclear reactors at the V.C. Summer power plant northwest of Columbia.

The companies cited cost overruns and construction delays, as well as the bankruptcy of lead contractor Westinghouse.

The two companies applied to build the new units in 2008. Since then, however, energy demand has slowed, natural gas prices have fallen and the cost of the new units increased to $14 billion.

The developers conducted studies to determine the impact of Westinghouse’s bankruptcy on their plans, and Santee Cooper concluded it would significantly raise costs and delay the project’s opening until at least 2024.

Read more here.

ZINKE CALLS MURKOWSKI REPORTS ‘LAUGHABLE’: Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, for the first time, responded to reports that he threatened projects in Alaska if Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) didn’t work with the GOP to repeal ObamaCare.

Speaking to reporters in Nevada this weekend, Zinke said the reports were “laughable.”  

“I talk to Sen. Murkowski and Sen. Sullivan all the time,” Zinke said. “A lot’s been said about a lot of things. But I talk to them all the time. We get along well.”

Asked if he had threatened the Alaskans, Zinke replied: “The moon has been characterized as a threat, too, so I think it’s laughable.”

Zinke reportedly told Murkowski and Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) that the state could suffer if Murkowski didn’t get in line and support leadership’s plan to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Murkowski maintained her opposition and was one of three Republicans to vote against leadership’s so-called “skinny repeal” plan last week, dooming it.

Zinke was one of at least two Trump cabinet secretaries without healthcare oversight to push the Senate toward repeal last week. Energy Secretary Rick Perry also penned an op-ed on repeal plans.

Democrats and ethics experts say they’re concerned about secretaries’ outreach.   

Read more here.

TRUMP OFFICIALS HAIL COAL EXPORT DEAL: Trump administration officials are hailing a Pennsylvania coal company’s contract to export hundreds of thousands of tons of coal to Ukraine.

Xcoal Energy & Resources inked the deal to ship 700,000 tons of thermal coal — used to produce electricity — to Ukraine by the end of the year for use by Centrenergo PJSC.

The deal, which came about in part due to help from the Trump administration and the Ukrainian government, fits with President Trump’s goal of using energy exports as a geopolitical tool as well as Ukraine’s efforts to reduce Russia’s control over energy among its neighbors.

“In recent years, Kiev and much of Eastern Europe have been reliant on and beholden to Russia to keep the heat on. That changes now,” Energy Secretary Rick Perry said in a statement. “The United States can offer Ukraine an alternative, and today we are pleased to announce that we will.”

Read more here.

NY PLANT ADDED TO SUPERFUND LIST: The EPA designated seven new Superfund sites today, including a New York plant responsible for contaminating a town’s drinking water.

Adding the sites to the EPA’s Superfund National Priority List makes them eligible for federally overseen cleanups of contaminants. The program is a stated priority of EPA head Scott Pruitt.

The Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics facility in Hoosick Falls, N.Y., entered national news last year amid a fight over perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), a carcinogen, in the town’s water, caused by the plant that was previously owned by Honeywell International.

Saint-Gobain had advocated against Superfund designation and argued that it could handle cleanup and mitigation without it.

But local and state leaders cheered the EPA’s decision.

“Hoosick Falls residents need all hands on deck — and especially the EPA’s Superfund status — to hold accountable Saint-Gobain who created this PFOA mess and force them to clean up the pollution,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in a statement.

“I am glad that EPA has heeded our call to add this site to the Superfund list, because it gives the EPA leverage to make the polluters pay and to set a protocol for investigation and clean-up.”

ON TAP TUESDAY I: The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee will hold a hearing on the Superfund program.

ON TAP TUESDAY II: The EPA will host a public hearing to take comments on its 2018 biofuels targets under the Renewable Fuel Standard.

AROUND THE WEB:

Bloomberg chronicles the recovery of the bison, and its impact on climate change.

The Aliso Canyon natural gas storage facility near Los Angeles is free to restart operations, after it was briefly blocked on Friday, the Los Angeles Times reports.

Royal Dutch Shell shut down Europe’s largest refinery following a fire, Reuters reports.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

Check out stories from Monday and the weekend …

-Trump officials hail coal export deal with Ukraine

-South Carolina companies scrap $14 billion nuclear project

-Greens ask court to reinstate EPA methane pollution rule

-Zinke: Reports he threatened Alaska over Murkowski vote ‘laughable’

-Trump’s new weapon? His Cabinet  

Please send tips and comments to Timothy Cama, tcama@digital-release.digital-release.thehill.com and Devin Henry dhenry@digital-release.digital-release.thehill.com. Follow us on Twitter: @Timothy_Cama, @dhenry, @thehill