With help from Annie Snider, Alex Guillén, Gavin Bade and Anthony Adragna
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— A flurry of action on PFAS and climate change is slated for the House this week amid ongoing impeachment hearings.
— On the impeachment front, new testimony from a top White House national security aide said Energy Secretary Rick Perry was at a meeting where the EU ambassador tied military aid to Ukraine investigations.
— Activists are staging a hunger strike today in the office of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to try to garner an on-camera meeting with her to discuss what they say is her inaction on climate change.
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Driving the Day
PFAS EXTRAVAGANZA COMING SOON: With the window quickly closing for House and Senate negotiators to broker a deal on the annual defense bill, along with provisions relating to PFAS, advocates for action will again put the spotlight on the toxic chemicals this week.
Advocates of action on the House Energy and Commerce Committee will mark up a sweeping series of measures to regulate PFAS on Tuesday. Rep. Paul Tonko (D-N.Y.), who chairs the Environment and Climate Change Subcommittee, acknowledged that the defense measure remains the most promising vehicle. But, he said, "we're trying to work out something because the NDAA is failing, or at least stalled, and if that's going to take forever, let's get back to the PFAS."
The E&C package goes further than the PFAS provisions in the House and Senate versions of the defense bill — it includes a ban on the incineration of waste containing the chemicals (H.R. 2591 (116)) and would block the manufacture of new PFAS (H.R. 2600 (116)).
Actor Mark Ruffalo and the unassuming lawyer he plays in a forthcoming PFAS film, "Dark Waters," will storm Washington, D.C., on Tuesday. Ruffalo and attorney Rob Bilott's day begins with a live event at The Washington Post, and includes a press conference with the leaders of the House's PFAS Task Force as well as testimony before the House Oversight Environment Subcommittee.
Ukraine
ANOTHER PERRY TIDBIT: Tim Morrison, a top White House national security aide, told congressional investigators Perry was present during a bilateral meeting in Warsaw where U.S. Ambassador to the EU Gordon Sondland told one of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's top aides that military aid would be conditioned on announcements of investigations. A separate deposition of Jennifer Williams, a top national security aide to Vice President Mike Pence, backed up Perry's presence in that September meeting. The testimonies were released Saturday.
And on Sunday, The Wall Street Journal reported that Sondland kept top officials, including Perry, apprised of his effort to get Ukraine to launch investigations that President Donald Trump would later discuss in a July call with Zelensky, according to emails reviewed by the Journal. On July 19 — one day before the president was initially scheduled to speak to Zelensky — Sondland emailed administration officials including Perry to say that Zelensky was prepared to assure the president that he would open investigations, according to the Journal. Perry has said he's never heard anything about specific investigations.
Buckle up: Morrison and Williams are due to give public testimony on Tuesday, along with Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, a top Ukraine aide on the NSC, and Kurt Volker, the former U.S. special envoy for Ukraine negotiations. Sondland is slated to appear Wednesday. Perry has refused to cooperate in the impeachment probe, despite being one of the "three amigos" with Sondland and Volker on Ukrainian policy and his presence at many of the events at the heart of the inquiry.
In his testimony, Morrison said he never discussed with Perry the push to get Ukraine to commit to investigate Burisma, an energy company that employed former Vice President Joe Biden's son, Hunter. Morrison said he also never discussed Trump personal attorney Rudy Giuliani's interest in Ukraine with Perry, but they did discuss Nord Stream 2, a pipeline that would carry Russian natural gas to Germany.
And Sondland? Morrison said he discussed Sondland's efforts in Ukraine with Perry but only concerning a negotiated "trilateral memorandum of understanding on energy security" between the U.S., Ukraine and Poland that Sondland was claiming some credit for. It's consistent with the account of former NSC official Fiona Hill, who said Perry stuck to his "usual talking points" on energy security during many of the meetings at the heart of the impeachment inquiry.
On the Hill
CLIMATE CHANGE A FOCUS IN THE HOUSE: Several committees will hold hearings this week on climate change. An Armed Services subcommittee hearing is scheduled for Wednesday with Defense and Intelligence officials on "climate change in the era of strategic competition." The Select Committee on the Climate Crisis will hold a hearing the same day on how the government can support the development of climate risk data and resilience standards. Another Wednesday hearing from the Appropriations Energy-Water subpanel will look at the Energy Department's role in addressing climate change with former Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz.
PROTESTERS TARGET PELOSI'S OFFICE: Activists from the group Extinction Rebellion plan to occupy Pelosi's office today to stage a weeklong hunger strike to protest what they say is her role in delaying a climate emergency resolution and Green New Deal legislation.
Part of a global movement to highlight a dramatic uptick in plant and animal extinctions in recent decades, the activists plan to storm Pelosi's office, redecorate it and hold a "grief session" and climate policy talk. They say they want the speaker to meet with them on camera for an hour. "Meet with us or leave us to starve while you jet to your Thanksgiving feasts and cocktail parties in the glow of a burning world," they wrote to Pelosi last week. The protesters say their plan is part of a global hunger strike across 22 countries to bring attention to how climate change and human activity are pushing the world toward a global mass extinction event.
DOWN THE PIPELINE: Chairmen of the E&C and Transportation committees unveiled pipeline safety legislation on Friday that aims to address climate change by reducing emissions and preventing pipeline leaks. The Safe, Accountable, Fair, and Environmentally Responsible Pipelines Act of 2019 would in part require gas pipeline operators to use the best technology to capture gas that's released while performing maintenance, and require automatic shutoff or remote-controlled valves on existing, new and replaced pipelines.
Around the Agencies
WHEELER IN ISRAEL: EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler is in Israel this week to meet on issues spanning water, technology and contamination cleanup. The EPA chief began the visit Sunday with bilateral meetings with Israeli government officials and private partners, according to EPA. Wheeler visited the Apollonia National Park that overlooks the Nof Yam remediation site and attended a working lunch hosted by Minister of Environmental Protection Ze'ev Elkin to "discuss further opportunities for cooperation between the two countries."
Wheeler also met with Israeli Foreign Affairs Minister Israel Katz, who tweeted the pair discussed "possibilities for increased cooperation with U.S. on environmental issues, especially in the field of water." The trip is the first from an EPA administrator to Israel since Lisa Jackson in 2012. Former EPA head Scott Pruitt planned to visit the country in early 2018 but canceled amid scrutiny of his travel spending.
HOUSE SCIENCE DEMOCRATS SUBPOENA EPA OVER DOCS: Science Chairwoman Eddie Bernice Johnson subpoenaed the Trump administration Friday for documents and testimony related to a decision by EPA to drop the Integrated Risk Information System program's assessment of formaldehyde, Pro's Annie Snider reported. "It has been over two decades since the World Health Organization first labeled formaldehyde a probable carcinogen," the Texas Democrat wrote in a letter to Wheeler accompanying the two subpoenas. Johnson called it "disgraceful" that EPA hasn't been able to complete its own assessment since then.
In a statement, EPA attacked the move as "reckless and unjustified," saying it "threatens the well-established norms for accommodating the legislative branch." Agency spokesperson Molly Block said the agency "is still in the process of reviewing" the subpoenas and would not say whether the agency will comply with them.
Beyond the Beltway
EV COALITION BACKS UP CALIFORNIA IN PREEMPTION FIGHT: A coalition of electric vehicle-friendly companies has filed a motion to help California fight the Trump administration's revocation of the state's Clean Air Act waiver. The National Coalition for Advanced Transportation's members include EV-makers Tesla and Rivian, utilities like Exelon and Edison International, and charging companies ChargePoint and EVgo. The Trump administration's action "adversely affects the marketplace for transportation electrification and deployment of advanced vehicle technologies across the country," NCAT argued in a Friday brief.
CALIFORNIA TO STOP BUYING CARS FROM TRUMP-BACKED AUTOMAKERS: A new policy unveiled Friday from Gov. Gavin Newsom's administration would require California agencies to buy cars from manufacturers that back the state in its fight with the Trump administration over vehicle emissions standards, Pro's Debra Kahn reports. Starting in January, they can only buy from automakers that recognize the state's authority to set greenhouse gas and zero-emission vehicle standards, which the Trump administration is attempting to revoke.
The Grid
— "Top climate hawk bashes first big offshore wind project," via E&E News.
— "Pembina Oregon Jordan Cove LNG export terminal passes environmental test," via Reuters.
— "Cummins' most ambitious environmental plan yet targets net-zero emissions by 2050," via IndyStar.
— "In Chicago and across the Midwest, Trump's EPA inspecting polluters less, cutting staff," via Chicago Sun-Times.
— "Steyer's fortune fuels underdog 2020 campaign," via Associated Press.
— "The world's only $100 billion utility owes its rise to wind power," via Bloomberg.
— "Cap and trade is supposed to solve climate change, but oil and gas company emissions are up," via ProPublica.
THAT'S ALL FOR ME!
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