HAPPY MONDAY! Welcome to Overnight Energy, The Hill’s roundup of the latest energy and environment news. Please send tips and comments to Rebecca Beitsch at rbeitsch@thehill.com. Follow her on Twitter: @rebeccabeitsch. Reach Rachel Frazin at rfrazin@thehill.com or follow her on Twitter: @RachelFrazin.

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Virtual Event Announcement: 1:00 ET Tuesday 12/8 — Conservation & US National Security

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Zoonotic diseases, natural disasters, and regional instability caused by food and water scarcity anywhere in the world could cause ripple effects here at home. Could many of our national security challenges be preempted with strong international nature conservation? What role is the US currently playing in preserving our natural world and are additional efforts needed? Reps. Raúl Grijalva, Jeff FortenberryJeffrey (Jeff) Lane FortenberryOVERNIGHT ENERGY: EPA declines to tighten key air pollution standards | Despite risks to polar bears, Trump pushes ahead with oil exploration in Arctic | Biden to champion climate action in 2021 OVERNIGHT ENERGY: EPA proposes reapproving uses of pesticide linked to brain damage in children | Hispanic caucus unhappy with transition team treatment of Lujan Grisham | Schwarzenegger backs Nichols to lead EPA OVERNIGHT ENERGY: Trump admin to sell oil leases at Arctic wildlife refuge before Biden takes office |Trump administration approves controversial oil testing method in Gulf of Mexico | Rep. Scott wins House Agriculture Committee gavel MORE, Chrissy Houlahan and Adam KinzingerAdam Daniel KinzingerCongress dares Trump to veto defense bill OVERNIGHT ENERGY: EPA declines to tighten key air pollution standards | Despite risks to polar bears, Trump pushes ahead with oil exploration in Arctic | Biden to champion climate action in 2021 The Hill’s Morning Report – Presented by Facebook – So many questions about COVID-19 vaccines MORE join former Interior Secretary Sally JewellSarah (Sally) Margaret JewellOVERNIGHT ENERGY: EPA declines to tighten key air pollution standards | Despite risks to polar bears, Trump pushes ahead with oil exploration in Arctic | Biden to champion climate action in 2021 OVERNIGHT ENERGY: EPA proposes reapproving uses of pesticide linked to brain damage in children | Hispanic caucus unhappy with transition team treatment of Lujan Grisham | Schwarzenegger backs Nichols to lead EPA OVERNIGHT ENERGY: Trump admin to sell oil leases at Arctic wildlife refuge before Biden takes office |Trump administration approves controversial oil testing method in Gulf of Mexico | Rep. Scott wins House Agriculture Committee gavel MORE and Philippe Cousteau. RSVP here.  

WHEELER ARGUES THE CURRENT STANDARD NAAQS IT OUT OF THE PARK: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has declined to tighten air quality standards for the pollutant soot despite studies showing stricter standards could save thousands of lives. 

EPA Administrator Andrew WheelerAndrew WheelerOVERNIGHT ENERGY: EPA declines to tighten key air pollution standards | Despite risks to polar bears, Trump pushes ahead with oil exploration in Arctic | Biden to champion climate action in 2021 EPA declines to tighten key air pollution standards Reversing rollbacks in the post Trump-era is not enough MORE announced during a virtual press conference Monday the agency would retain current air quality standards for both fine and coarse forms of particulate matter (PM), which is commonly known as soot. 

The EPA in April proposed keeping the current standards despite staff questioning whether they were adequate.

Findings reviewed by the agency have linked long-term exposure to fine particle pollution to as many as 52,100 premature deaths and suggested that stricter standards could save thousands of people. 

In particular, particulate matter has been linked to heart and lung issues, according to the agency. 

The current standards were put forth by the Obama administration in 2012 and limits particulate matter in the air to 12 micrograms per cubic meter, which was tighter than a previous standard. 

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“We believe that the current standard is protective of public health,” Wheeler said at the time that retaining the Obama-era standard was proposed. 

However, in January, EPA staff concluded that scientific evidence and air quality analyses “can reasonably be viewed as calling into question the adequacy of the public health protection afforded by the combination of the current … standards” for fine particulate matter.

“A conclusion that the current … standards do provide adequate public health protection would place little weight on the broad body of epidemiologic evidence reporting generally positive and statistically significant health effect associations,” they wrote. 

In recent months, studies have also linked higher exposure to pollution to worse coronavirus outcomes. 

Clean air advocates raised opposition to Monday’s decision, saying the EPA should have adopted stricter standards. 

“More people will die because we are continuing to expose individuals to elevated levels of pollution,” Paul Billings, the senior vice president of advocacy for the American Lung Association, told The Hill. 

“People of color [and] people of low income already bear a disproportionate burden of exposure to PM pollution and so by failing to set a more protective standard, these communities are going to continue to suffer disproportionate impacts,” Billings added.

Read more on the standards here. 

COULD LEAD TO AN ACTUAL POLAR PLUNGE: The Trump administration is pushing ahead to greenlight oil exploration in the Arctic, allowing companies to use seismic testing that will disturb polar bears in their dens.

The proposal, if finalized, would allow the oil exploration technique in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to begin as soon as Jan. 21 — the day after President-elect Joe BidenJoe BidenTrump Jr. cuts ad for Loeffler, Perdue in Georgia Biden to tap Vilsack for Agriculture secretary: reports Georgia elections official: Trump should ‘act more responsibly’ MORE takes office. 

There are roughly 900 southern Beaufort Sea polar bears left in the Arctic.

“On the way out, the Trump administration is still pandering to its oil industry cronies and jamming through an unpopular push to drill in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge,” Robert Dewey, vice president for government relations at Defenders of Wildlife said in a statement, warning that “polar bear dens are hard to pinpoint in the snowy Arctic.”

The Fish and Wildlife Service proposal would allow “harassment” of polar bears, determining that seismic testing would disturb wildlife in the area, “causing disruption of behavioral patterns, including, but not limited to, migration, breathing, nursing, breeding, feeding, or sheltering.”

The late-filed notice gives the Trump administration little time to take comment and finalize the process before the Biden administration enters, requiring a much-hastened pace over a process that typically lasts several months at a minimum.

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“Do they have the ability to rush this out the door? Probably. But is it legal or easily defensible in court? I highly doubt it,” said Aaron Weiss, deputy director of the Center for Western Priorities, a public lands watchdog group.

The announcement follows an unusual move by the government to open its own study on the risks to polar bears to public comment.

Experts said it’s highly unusual for any branch of the Interior Department to post one scientific study for comment rather than a body of peer-reviewed research that accompanies a policy decision.

“What it looks like to me is they’re giving industry the opportunity to negate the study,” Andrew Rosenberg, director of the Center for Science and Democracy at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said when the study was first opened for comment in February.

The story is here. 

AND SPEAKING OF THE ARCTIC: Three Democratic lawmakers are raising legal questions about the rapid timeline the Trump administration is using to advance oil and gas development at a wildlife refuge in the Arctic. 

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) stated in a federal register notice that was published Monday that it must receive bids for land leases by Dec. 31, though they won’t be opened until Jan. 6. 

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In a letter to Interior Secretary David Bernhardt, whose department oversees the BLM, Democratic Reps. Raúl Grijalva (Ariz.), Jared HuffmanJared William HuffmanOVERNIGHT ENERGY: EPA declines to tighten key air pollution standards | Despite risks to polar bears, Trump pushes ahead with oil exploration in Arctic | Biden to champion climate action in 2021 Democrats question legality of speedy Arctic refuge oil lease sales Bickering Democrats return with divisions MORE (Calif.) and Alan LowenthalAlan Stuart LowenthalOVERNIGHT ENERGY: EPA declines to tighten key air pollution standards | Despite risks to polar bears, Trump pushes ahead with oil exploration in Arctic | Biden to champion climate action in 2021 Democrats question legality of speedy Arctic refuge oil lease sales Progressive lawmakers call for United Nations probe into DHS ‘human rights abuses’ MORE (Calif.) argued that requiring bids 23 days after the notice of sale likely goes against the bureau’s regulations. 

They noted that a regulation requires the notice to be published 30 days before the sale date. 

Read more on the legal hangups here. 

WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN YOU’RE EXPECTING…A NEW ADMINISTRATION: Climate change is poised to receive a much bigger spotlight in 2021 as President-elect Joe Biden’s incoming administration puts a renewed focus on tackling various environmental and energy issues.

Biden has made combating climate change one of his top priorities when he enters office and has set a goal to make the U.S. carbon neutral by 2050 while pushing different ways to reduce emissions.

While Biden’s focus on climate change is set to mark a drastic shift in U.S. policy compared to the Trump administration, complexities in the rulemaking process and pushback from a likely divided government could slow some of his moves.

Read more on what to watch on environmental policy in 2021 here. 

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WE’RE NO. 2! Nissan became the second automaker to withdraw from a suit challenging California’s right to set tougher emissions standards Friday, following General Motors in abandoning their support of the Trump administration argument in the case. 

The automaker, like GM, referenced the incoming Biden administration as a factor in the decision to leave the suit.

“We are confident that productive conversations among the auto industry, the Biden administration and California can deliver a common-sense set of national standards that increases efficiency and meets the needs of all American drivers,” Nissan said in a statement.

WHAT WE’RE READING:

Biden is making the case for deficit spending on climate, E&E reports

Nearly 30% of FEMA Employees Say They’ve Experienced Workplace Harassment, Earther reports

Exxon Holds Back on Technology That Could Slow Climate Change, Bloomberg reports

Officials: Flint makes progress toward ending water crisis, The Associated Press reports

ICYMI: Stories from Monday…

Democrats question legality of speedy Arctic refuge oil lease sales

GAO finds lack of funding, aging equipment plague national air pollution monitoring system

Despite risks to polar bears, Trump pushes ahead with oil exploration in Arctic

EPA declines to tighten key air pollution standards

November 2020 was warmest recorded, EU program says

Biden to champion climate action in 2021

A federal judge on Friday ordered the Trump administration to fully restore the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which protects undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as minors from deportation, scoring a key win for immigrant advocacy groups.

The ruling from U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garaufis, a Clinton appointee, restores the Obama-era program and also mandates that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) post a public notice by Monday saying it is accepting new applicants.

It would mark the first time since 2017 that the government has admitted new immigrants into the program.

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Approved applicants will also receive two-year work permits under the ruling, as opposed to the one-year permits the administration had proposed.

Garaufis’s ruling centered around a memo acting Homeland Security secretary Chad WolfChad WolfAppeals court OKs White House diverting military funding to border wall construction Judge orders Trump administration to restore DACA, accept new applicants Former cyber official condemns Trump attorney for threats against Krebs, details ouster MORE issued in July that curtailed DACA recipients’ work permits to a year and banned new applicants. The court ruled last month that Wolf had ascended to the post in violation of the Homeland Security Act of 2002, and said Friday that the memo was void. The order mandates the White House administer DACA under the guidelines that were in place when the program was first created during the Obama administration.

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“The court believes that these additional remedies are reasonable,” Garaufis wrote. “Indeed, the Government has assured the court that a public notice along the lines described is forthcoming.”

Roughly a million undocumented immigrant teens and young adults will now be able to apply for the program following the order, according to some estimates. About 640,000 immigrants are currently enrolled in the DACA program.

President TrumpDonald John TrumpAppeals court OKs White House diverting military funding to border wall construction Pentagon: Tentative meeting between spy agencies, Biden transition set for early next week Conservative policy director calls Section 230 repeal an ‘existential threat’ for tech MORE has repeatedly taken aim at DACA during his administration as part of his efforts to curb overall immigration into the U.S., moving to completely end the program in September 2017. However, the program’s cancellation was paused by several federal courts, and the Supreme Court in June blocked the administration from ending the program.

President-elect Joe BidenJoe BidenAppeals court OKs White House diverting military funding to border wall construction Federal student loan payment suspension extended another month Pentagon: Tentative meeting between spy agencies, Biden transition set for early next week MORE had said before the ruling that he planned to fully restore the DACA program following his January inauguration.

Advocacy groups hailed the ruling, saying it will put undocumented immigrants” brought to the U.S. as minors at ease.

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“Thousands of young people who should have been eligible for deportation protection and work authorization have been waiting for over three years to access this life-changing program and live with peace of mind in the country they call home,” said Fwd.us President Todd Schulte. “It is well past time for DHS to finally follow the repeated judicial orders and begin to accept these applications.” 

“The ruling is a huge victory for people who have been waiting to apply for DACA for the first time,” added Veronica Garcia, staff attorney at the Immigrant Legal Resource Center. “Wolf’s decision to suspend the program was just another attempt by the Trump administration to wield its extremely racist and anti-immigrant views and policies.”

The Department of Homeland Security and the Justice Department, which can appeal the ruling, did not immediately respond to requests for comment from The Hill.

Updated: 7:30 p.m.

The Trump administration’s vaccine czar Moncef Slaoui addressed minority skepticism of the coronavirus vaccine, saying “Nobody’s being used as a guinea pig.”

CNN’s Jake TapperJacob (Jake) Paul TapperProgressive groups push Biden to pick Black woman for solicitor general Hillicon Valley: Senate Intelligence Committee leaders warn of Chinese threats to national security | Biden says China must play by ‘international norms’ | House Democrats use Markup app for leadership contest voting Biden aide seeks to ease concerns about Cabinet diversity MORE asked Slaoui on Sunday to react to minority populations’ hesitation with the COVID-19 vaccine, noting that the U.S. “has an ugly, racist history when it comes to science and medicine and Black Americans.”

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“How specifically does Operation Warp Speed intend to address this skepticism, especially the disproportionate skepticism in the Black community?” Tapper asked on “State of the Union.”

“It’s a very important and saddening situation that’s been worrying us all the time,” Slaoui responded.

Operation Warp Speed’s chief adviser noted that his team has worked with health leadership to urge minority populations, specifically Black and Latinx Americans, to participate in the clinical trials for the vaccine.

“That will be very important to helping us convey to the minority population the safety and the efficacy of these vaccines,” he said. “Nobody’s being used as a guinea pig.”

Slaoui highlighted that the coronavirus has impacted Black and Hispanic communities two to four times more than white communities, saying “We have to stop that.”

“It’s really very, very important that people take the time to listen to the data, listen to the people they trust that have some expertise,” he said. “Please don’t make your opinion outside of having listened to the data and experts you trust.”

“When that happens I feel confident you will agree to be immunized, and that can help save your life,” he added. 

The U.S. is preparing to send out its first batches of the vaccines later this month upong emergency authorization being granted by the Food and Drug Administration. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s independent panel recommends health care workers and residents of long-term care facilities be prioritized. 

Officials have noted that the hesitation among the Black community in particular could in part stems back to the Tuskegee experiment after a group of Black men with syphilis in an experiment were not told of their diagnosis for decades and denied treatment.

On Friday, WWE apparently announced, but for some reason quickly deleted a tweet on the official WWE U.K. Twitter account that announced former TNA star Bobby Roode for the NXT U.K. tour scheduled for June.

As noted, Roode was reportedly backstage at the most recent set of NXT television tapings, however he did not appear on camera.

Below is a screen shot of the tweet the WWE U.K. Twitter account sent out on Friday before it was deleted.

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