Overnight Energy: Zinke marks last day at Interior | House Dems formalize climate panel plans | Halliburton chairman retires

by Timothy Cama - 01/02/19 6:01 PM ET

ZINKE BIDS FAREWELL TO INTERIOR: Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke formally left his position Wednesday, tweeting that it has been a “high honor” to serve President Trump and the American people.

Zinke announced his plan to resign last month amid numerous investigations into whether he violated ethics standards.

Zinke, whose 22-month tenure was marked by rollbacks of environmental policies and a push to boost fossil fuel production, had planned Wednesday as his departure date from the outset.

{mosads}Zinke’s letter came the day before Democrats take the majority in the House, which would have given the party and incoming Natural Resources Committee Chairman Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.) the power to subpoena him and compel him to testify in hearings.

“We’ve restored public lands ‘for the benefit & enjoyment of the people,’ improved public access & shall never be held hostage again for our energy needs,” Zinke said in the statement handwritten in red marker on his official letterhead, scanned and posted at noon on Twitter.

The quote is from the 1872 law that created Yellowstone National Park as the nation’s first national park. It is also inscribed in the Roosevelt Arch, a monument at an entrance to Yellowstone that honors President Theodore Roosevelt, to whom Zinke frequently compared himself for his conservation legacy.

“God bless America & those who defend her,” Zinke wrote. Read more on his exit here.

Bernhardt takes over: Deputy Interior Secretary David Bernhardt, a former department solicitor and lobbyist for industries like energy and water, appears to have taken over as acting secretary after Zinke’s departure.

He attended Trump’s Cabinet meeting Wednesday at the White House and his name plate said “Acting Interior Secretary.” But Interior didn’t respond to requests for comment on the transition and the website still lists Zinke as secretary, likely stemming from the government shutdown.

Quite a time to leave: Zinke’s departure comes in the middle of a partial government shutdown, which is affecting all of Interior except the Bureau of Reclamation.

The Trump administration actively chose to leave national parks open as much as possible, even without staff present. It was, in part, a response to the Obama administration’s decision to block park entrances during the 2013 shutdown, which the GOP criticized harshly.

But the decision is wreaking havoc on some parks, leading to crises of trash, human waste, illegal fires and other problems. Read more about those problems here.

Happy Wednesday! And Happy New Year! Welcome to Overnight Energy, The Hill’s roundup of the latest energy and environment news.

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HOUSE DEMS FORMALIZE CLIMATE COMMITTEE PLANS: House Democrats have formally proposed creating a new committee on climate change, without many of the main factors that progressives wanted in the panel’s structure.

Democratic leaders unveiled the plans for the “Select Committee on the Climate Crisis” late Tuesday as part of a package of rules to govern House proceedings for the next two years.

The proposed rules, which the House will vote to adopt Thursday when Democrats formally take the chamber’s majority, say the select committee is instructed “to investigate, study, make findings, and develop recommendations on policies, strategies, and innovations to achieve substantial and permanent reductions in pollution and other activities that contribute to the climate crisis which will honor our responsibility to be good stewards of the planet for future generations.”

As has been reported in recent weeks, the panel will not have many of the features that Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), dozens of other Democrats and hundreds of activists have asked for to lead to a “Green New Deal.”

{mossecondads}The panel will not have the power to subpoena or depose, nor will it have the authority to vote on legislation and send it directly to the House floor for a vote.

It also is not being explicitly charged with developing Green New Deal legislation, which supporters envision bringing the county to 100 percent renewable electricity and decarbonizing major industries over 10 years, as well as a universal jobs guarantee and other ideas. Read more.

HALLIBURTON CHAIRMAN ALSO OUT: In addition to Zinke, news also came Wednesday that David Lesar, chairman of oilfield services company Halliburton Co., is also out.

Lesar retired effective Monday, Halliburton said, as he had planned to do since at least May 2017. He is a figure in the Montana land deal with Zinke that is under investigation by Interior’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG), although the probe focuses on allegations against Zinke, and Lesar is not a subject of it.

Halliburton said Wednesday that Jeff Miller, the current president and CEO, will also serve as chairman going forward.

Zinke, through a nonprofit he used to head, negotiated the deal with a development backed in part by Lesar regarding a plot of land the nonprofit owned in Zinke’s hometown of Whitefish, Mont. The deal was first reported by Politico last year.

The OIG has since referred the probe to the Justice Department for potential criminal prosecution. The office, which is closed as part of the ongoing partial government shutdown, didn’t respond to a request for comment Wednesday. Read more.

ON TAP THURSDAY:

New members of the House and Senate will be sworn into office, and Democrats will formally take control of the House. The House will also vote on its new speaker and the rules for the coming two years, including on forming the climate committee.

OUTSIDE THE BELTWAY:

Dominion Energy Inc. completed its acquisition of South Carolina’s Scana Corp. Wednesday, the State reports.

New Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) signed her first executive directive Wednesday, a move to stop future problems like the Flint water crisis, the Detroit Free Press reports.

U.S. oil prices rose 2.5 percent Wednesday on expectations that exports from Saudi Arabia will fall, CNBC reports.

FROM THE HILL’S OPINION SECTION:

Carolyn Kissane, academic director and a clinical professor of global affairs at the Center for Global Affairs at NYU School of Professional Studies, explains all of the major changes OPEC has seen over the last year.

Bennett E. Resnik, assistant counsel and manager of government relations for Cardinal Infrastructure, argues that Congress should not fear raising the gas tax.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

Check Wednesday’s stories …

– Zinke departs from Interior post

– Norway sets world record with electric cars sold last year

– House Dems formalize climate committee plans without Green New Deal language

– Halliburton chairman retires amid probe into land deal with Zinke

– Russian oil output hit record high in 2018

– Bill Gates-backed nuclear project stalled by US restrictions on China

And a few from the holidays …

– New Interior FOIA rule could make it harder to get public documents

– Republicans push ‘innovation’ as climate change solution

– Ocasio-Cortez, progressives express disappointment with climate panel