Document Z0gZ1RwQDaQVX430kr06B1dp

To: From: Sent: Subject: Jackson, Ryan[jackson.ryan@epa.gov] Bloomberg BNA Mon 6/26/2017 7:41:07 PM June 26 - Daily Environment Report - Afternoon Briefing Daily Environment Report Afternoon Briefing - Your Preview of Today's News The following news provides a snapshot of what Bloomberg BNA is working on today. Read the full version of all the stories in the final issue, published each night. The Bloomberg BNA Daily Environment Report is brought to you by EPA Libraries. Please note, these materials may be copyrighted and should not be forwarded outside of the U.S. EPA. If you have any questions or no longer wish to receive these messages, please contact Josue Rivera-Olds at riveraolds.iosue@epa.gov, 202-566-1558. Correction Posted June 26, 2017, 03:34 P.M. ET The June 16 story, "Less Use of Flame Retardant Lessens Impact of California Rule," was updated to reflect the proper name of the chemical group Methylene Diphenyl Diisocyanates. The online version has been corrected. Pruitt Could Turn To Superfund Alternative Posted June 26, 2017, 6:31 A.M. ET By Sylvia Carignan The Environmental Protection Agency may turn to a contentious alternative in its effort to streamline the Superfund program. When applied to a contaminated site, the "Superfund Alternative Approach" uses the same standards and investigation process as sites going through the conventional Superfund program. But the site isn't added to the National Priorities List--a designation some companies, such as SaintGobain, strive to avoid. The designation sometimes comes with a stigma for communities that don't want to publicize their contaminated site, and for companies that don't want to pay more for EPA-led cleanups. In May, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt asked his new Superfund task force to find ways to "utilize alternative and non-traditional approaches for financing site cleanups." The agency is declining to state specifics about the task force's recommendations for Superfund reform, which were due to the administrator June 21. As of the end of 2014, the most recent year for which figures are available, about 60 sites had alternative approach agreements, according to the agency. About 1,300 sites were on the National Sierra Club v. EPA, 1:17-cv-01906 ED_001523_00004304-00001 Priorities List as of May 16. Mixed Signals The Superfund Alternative Approach can't be used at every site, and feedback on the approach has varied. "Overall, it has a limited use on a few sites, but not a broad-based approach to cleanup," said Mathy Stanislaus, former assistant administrator of the EPA's Office of Land and Emergency Management, which handles Superfund. He told Bloomberg BNA the Superfund Alternative Approach has been efficient in a few instances. "There have been others where disagreement--because of the absence of enforcement provisions--has been caught in extended conversation," he said. The EPA's official stance on the alternative approach notes that benefits may include "a community's good will at not having the site listed on the [National Priorities List], a [potentially responsible party's] willingness to negotiate a good-faith agreement, and the opportunity to start cleanup work more quickly than waiting for listing on the NPL." Superfund alternative sites are not eligible for federal cleanup funds drawn from taxpayers and rely on funding from potentially responsible parties--companies that may have discharged contaminants at sites. "Orphan" sites--often complex contamination cleanup projects where potential responsible parties have not been identified or are unable to pay--would not be able to benefit from the alternative approach. If a potentially responsible party fails to meet its obligations, the EPA may still consider adding the site to the National Priorities List. Avoiding Listing In a recent case, a company involved an elected official in its efforts to keep a contaminated site off the National Priorities List. A former Democratic state representative in Alabama admitted June 22 that he accepted $360,000 in donations to advocate against expanding a northern Birmingham Superfund site and adding it to the National Priorities List. An Alabama law firm, Balch and Bingham LLP, represented two potentially responsible parties for the site's contamination and paid the representative, Oliver L. Robinson Jr., according to Robinson's plea agreement. Robinson testified to a state commission that expanding the Superfund site would hurt the community's business opportunities. In New York, Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics opposes National Priorities List designation for the its facility in the Village of Hoosick Falls, where perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) has contaminated the water supply. Sierra Club v. EPA, 1:17-cv-01906 ED_001523_00004304-00002 If the site is listed, Saint-Gobain branding and communications director Dina Pokedoff said in a statement to Bloomberg BNA, "The process could be detrimental to the positive remediation efforts already taking place in the village if the EPA were to take the lead role." Listing the site, and getting the federal government further involved, could slow the company's water remediation work, Pokedoffs statement said. Possible Benefits For sites where potentially responsible parties are willing to enter into cleanup agreements, the alternative approach can be more efficient than National Priorities List consideration. Bart Seitz, a partner in the Washington, D.C., office of Baker Botts LLP, said a client found the approach "very effective." "It did allow for significant streamlining, particularly on the technical side," Seitz told Bloomberg BNA. But, Seitz said, the decision to take the alternative approach depends somewhat on what EPA region the site is in. Some regional directors are more receptive to the alternative approach than others, he said. Regions 1,2,6, and 7 have not had alternative approach agreements from sites in their geographic boundaries, according to EPA data from 2002 to the present. Regions 3 and 5 have the most alternative approach agreements, though some sites may share agreements and other sites may have multiple agreements. Regions 4, 8, 9, and 10 also had alternative approach agreements. A Superfund Substitute? Doug Arnold, an environmental law partner in the Atlanta office of Alston and Bird LLP, said the alternative isn't likely to replace the conventional Superfund site investigation and listing process. "There's recognition or consensus that Superfund, or what it's intended to do, is important, but [there is a need] to step back and figure out why these sites on the list are so far from finished," Arnold told Bloomberg BNA. Justices Reject Challenge to EPA Equipment Malfunction Rule Posted June 26, 2017, 9:38 A.M. ET By David Schultz The U.S. Supreme Court will not review an EPA regulation that requires industrial facilities to comply with air pollution limits even when equipment malfunctions. The decision may give the Trump administration, which had opposed Supreme Court consideration, more latitude to potentially repeal or revise the rule in the future. The court announced its decision in its June 26 orders list. Sierra Club v. EPA, 1:17-cv-01906 ED_001523_00004304-00003 The Environmental Protection Agency rule at issue was enacted during the Obama administration. It stripped a federal air pollution exemption that allowed some facilities to avoid penalties when their equipment suffers unavoidable malfunctions. A group of companies and industry associations, including U.S. Sugar Corp, and the American Petroleum Institute, challenged this rule but lost in U.S. Sugar Corp, v. EPA at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court not to hear this case. Attorneys following this issue have said that the administration wants to preserve its ability to change the rule in the future, potentially giving states more flexibility in enforcing it. Cheniere's LNG Market Share Expands as Korea Contract Starts Posted June 26, 2017, 02:23 P.M. ET By Ryan Collins and Naureen S. Malik Add South Korea to the growing list of regulars buying America's shale gas. Cheniere Energy Inc., the sole exporter of liquefied natural gas from U.S. shale basins, commenced a 20-year supply agreement with Korea Gas Corp, at a ceremony in Louisiana on June 25. Under the deal originally signed in 2012, Cheniere will make available for delivery about 3.5 million tons of the supercooled fuel annually to South Korea, the world's second-biggest buyer last year, representing at least $548 million of revenue per year. Just last year, the first cargo of LNG from the lower 48 states sailed from Cheniere's Sabine Pass terminal in Louisiana. Now, buyers including South Korea, Mexico, Chile and Japan have set the U.S. on a path to becoming a net gas exporter for the first time in decades. As the surge in production from America's shale reservoirs transforms the nation into a global gas powerhouse, the U.S. may surpass Australia and Qatar to becoming the world's largest LNG supplier by 2035. LNG may play an even bigger role in meeting South Korea's energy demand after the election of Moon Jae-in as president in May. Moon has promised to transition away from coal and nuclear power, favoring natural gas and renewables. With the Korea Gas supply agreement in place, Cheniere is in a position to capitalize on the policy shift. "This guy is not into coal, and he's also said no new coal-fired generation. And on the nuclear front, he shut down Korea's oldest reactor," Madeline Jowdy, senior director of global gas and LNG at Pira Energy Group in New York, said in a phone interview June 23, referring to Moon. "What that means is that it's directionally good for the U.S" for LNG exports. South Korea has already received eight cargoes loaded with Sabine Pass gas as of June 21, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. But the vessel that will arrive early next month will be the first to be received under the long-term supply deal. The SM Eagle departed Cheniere's Sabine Pass June 3 and is headed for South Korea, according to vessel tracking data compiled by Bloomberg. "The two countries are undergoing occasional disputes on issues of unbalanced trade and I'm personally so glad to see the bright future on this matter since today's event can be the beginning of a significant rise in the Korean imports from the United States," Lee Seung-Hoon, chief executive Sierra Club v. EPA, 1:17-cv-01906 ED_001523_00004304-00004 officer of Korea Gas, said at the event June 25. South Korea bought 34.19 million tons of LNG last year, according to the International Group of Liquefied Natural Gas importers, the second most after Japan. Cheniere is already the biggest U.S. buyer of physical natural gas. And once all seven trains the company's building at Sabine Pass and a Corpus Christi, Texas, terminal are online, it expects to be two to three times bigger than the second-largest consumer. 2017 Bloomberg L.P. All rights reserved. Used with permission Former Environmental Justice Official's Records Sought in Lawsuit Posted June 26, 2017, 11:31 A.M. ET By Andrew Childers A free-market advocacy group wants to know if a former EPA official has unduly influenced the agency's environmental justice work since leaving the Obama administration. The Southeastern Legal Foundation is suing the Environmental Protection Agency to obtain communications between Lisa Garcia, a former senior environmental justice adviser to the EPA administrator under the Obama administration who is now at Earthjustice, and the agency's Office of Environmental Justice. The Southeastern Legal foundation in its June 26 lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia said the EPA has not yet responded to its Freedom of Information Act requests seeking those communications (Se. Legal Found v. EPA, N.D. Ga., No. 1:17-cv-02365-AT, 6/26/17). The Southeastern Legal Foundation did not say what specific decisions it thinks Garcia may have influenced, but it said in its complaint that it is seeking information on "the relationships between the Office of Environmental Justice and outside advocacy organizations" such as Earthjustice. The foundation is seeking records of Garcia's communications with Earthjustice from December 2009 to March 2014, when she served in the Obama administration. The lawsuit also seeks any communications between Earthjustice and the EPA's Office of Environmental Justice from January 2014 to Sept. 26,2016. Neither the Southeastern Legal Foundation nor Garcia could be reached for comment. House Panel to Mark Up Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Bill Posted June 26, 2017, 10:45 A.M. ET By Ari Natter The House Energy and Commerce Committee will mark up legislation this week that would restart efforts to make Yucca Mountain the U.S. permanent repository for nuclear waste, committee spokesman Dan Schneider said in an email. The draft bill, known as Nuclear Waste Policy Act Amendments of 2017, would advance licensing efforts that the Obama administration put on hold. The bill would also authorize the Energy Department to enter into contracts with private interim storage facilities before a permanent Sierra Club v. EPA, 1:17-cv-01906 ED_001523_00004304-00005 repository is developed. Energy and Commerce's Energy and Environment Subcommittee approved a draft Yucca bill on June 15. Among the three Democratic amendments that were all introduced and eventually withdrawn was one from Rep. Scott Peters (D-Calif.). It proposed removing language linking Energy Department agreement on interim storage with the final decision on Yucca Mountain. He wanted the interim storage to be able to move forward without Yucca authorization. Yucca Mountain, located 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, is opposed by Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval (R) and most of the state's congressional delegation. EPA Seeks Experts for Several Advisory Committees Posted June 26, 2017, 10:39 A.M. ET By Catherine Douglas Moran The EPA is seeking nominations for several advisory committees, according to a notice to be published in the Federal Register June 27. The call for scientific experts for the Environmental Protection Agency's Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee, Science Advisory Board, and six SAB committees comes after a shakeup in membership for the Board of Scientific Counselors in May. The six SAB committees are: Chemical Assessment Advisory Committee; Drinking Water Committee; Ecological Processes and Effects Committee; Environmental Economics Advisory Committee; Environmental Engineering Committee; and the Radiation Advisory Committee. Nominations are open up to 30 days after it is published. European Companies to Report Environmental Risks in 2018 Posted June 26, 2017, 02:07 P.M. ET By Stephen Gardner Companies operating in the European Union can lean on non-binding guidance published by the European Commission June 26 when meeting an obligation to begin reporting environmental and social information starting in 2018. For many large companies, which already report non-financial information, the EU obligations will not be new. For companies that do not track environmental or social information, the EU rules require them to explain why they have not adopted relevant policies. Sierra Club v. EPA, 1:17-cv-01906 ED_001523_00004304-00006 According to the commission, the EU's executive arm, the disclosure obligations will affect about 6,000 companies. Under a 2014 EU law on non-financial reporting (Directive 2014/95/EU), listed companies with more than 500 employees must detail in their corporate disclosures their policies on environmental, social, and human rights issues, and the potential harm to their business from environmental risks such as climate change. European Commission Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis said in a June 26 statement that the guidelines would be relevant for companies in all sectors and would help "investors, lenders and society at large" to understand how environmental risks could affect corporations. The commission added that the guidance would enable companies to report relevant information in the context of the Paris Agreement on tackling climate change and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, which are intended to put the planet on an environmentally sustainable track by 2030. The EU financial reporting rules do not require companies to adhere to the commission's guidance, and companies are free to make non-financial disclosures in line with other standards, such as the United Nations Global Reporting Initiative or the International Organization for Standardization's ISO 26000 standard on social responsibility. China Indicates Tougher Water, Soil Pollution Laws on Horizon Posted June 26, 2017, 8:16 A.M. ET By Michael Standaert China's top legislative body is considering tougher penalties for those who pollute the country's water, and indicated it could prohibit the building of homes or schools in areas with contaminated soil. The possible changes are part of proposed amendments to the country's water pollution law and a draft of what would be the country's first soil pollution law, according to statements June 23 on the website of the National People's Congress standing committee. Maximum penalties for water pollution would be increased across the board, including penalties up to 1 million yuan ($146,000) for the most serious infractions, like falsifying water quality data. Currently, the highest possible penalty is 200,000 yuan, or about $29,000. The pending soil pollution law as currently drafted would prohibit building of residential units, schools, hospitals or nursing homes in contaminated areas; restrict where crops could be grown or livestock grazed; and establish a directory of contaminated lands, and a classification system to indicate contamination levels. Cadmium Contaminated Rice China has dealt with major soil pollution problems, including cases where schools and homes have been built on contaminated sites, leading to illnesses. It also has had cases of rice grown in some areas being contaminated with high concentrations of the health-damaging heavy metal cadmium. Sierra Club v. EPA, 1:17-cv-01906 ED_001523_00004304-00007 A detailed soil pollution survey, required under a soil pollution action plan released last year, will not be finished until around 2020, Qiu Qiwen, an official from the department of soil and environmental management of the Ministry of Environmental Protection, said last week. Qui asked the Chinese people for "patience" in what is expected to be a long process in dealing with soil pollution. The draft of the water law is "broadly positive and moving in the right direction," said Debra Tan, head of China Water Risk, a think tank in Hong Kong that follows China water policy. Tan especially pointed to the "increased fines, around five times the upper limit" currently. No timelines were announced for further action. China Says Qinghai Province Beats Portugal's Clean-Power Record Posted June 26, 2017, 9:34 A.M. ET By Bloomberg News The Chinese province of Qinghai in the nation's northwest set a record by using clean energy for seven continuous days, surpassing the previous title-holder Portugal. Electricity consumption in the province reached 1.18 billion kilowatt-hours for the week ending June 23, with 72 percent of the power from hydro plants and the rest from solar and wind, State Grid Corp, of China, the nation's biggest power distributor, said in an emailed statement June 24. The move set a record for clean energy delivery by duration. Portugal, where maximum power load is relatively equivalent to Qinghai, set the previous record last year when it got all its electricity from renewable energy for 107 hours, or less than five days, according to State Grid. As of the end of May, renewable energy accounted for almost 83 percent of all the installed capacity in Qinghai, State Grid said. In the record-breaking week, the company used 67 million kilowatt-hours of electricity from new energy sources from other northwestern regions. State Grid said it used systems that provide ultra-short forecasts for renewable energy output, analyze available sources and send alerts when clean power is available for purchase. "Qinghai has good conditions to become a national integrated power base for renewable energy," Xu Honghua, vice chairman of China Renewable Energy Society, said in the statement. The province could be a pioneer in deriving all power and heating from local renewable energy, he said. Qinghai had 6.9 gigawatts of total solar capacity at the end of the first quarter, the third-most in the nation, according to National Energy Administration. This is roughly equal to the entire solar market in France at the end of 2016. The province is also seeking integrated uses ofclean energy and plans 3,300 megawatts of wind power for 2017, requiring an additional 330 megawatts of storage, according to the Chinese Wind Energy Association. 2017 Bloomberg L.P. All rights reserved. Used with permission China `Future Proofing' for Climate Change, Researcher Says Sierra Club v. EPA, 1:17-cv-01906 ED_001523_00004304-00008 Posted June 26, 2017, 5:01 A.M. ET By Michael Standaert China is among the few countries preparing for a day when some coastal populations may need to move inland due to rising sea levels, according to a Cornell University study. Most governments with long coastal areas have yet to adequately plan for resettling populations due to climate change, the study said. But China, which is among the top five countries with the most people living in low-elevation coastal zones, is "future proofing" through some of its policies, study author Charles Geisler told Bloomberg BNA June 23. The study applauded some of China's infrastructure developments. And it noted that China has built excess inland housing in areas that don't yet have the population to fill all residential units. It also cited China's efforts to halt desertification in northern and western areas of the country, an attempt to increase the amount of arable land, as a positive strategy. The study claimed that by 2100 as many as 2 billion people--out of an estimated global population of 11 billion--will have been forced to move because of climate-related rises in sea levels. Tariffs on Solar Panels Seen Slowing Industry Growth by 66% Posted June 26, 2017, 8:37 A.M. ET By Joe Ryan A trade complaint asking the Trump administration to impose tariffs on solar panels could devastate the U.S. industry, wiping out two-thirds of solar systems forecast to be installed over the next five years, according to a Jund 26 report by GTM Research. The case, filed by bankrupt panel manufacturer Suniva Inc., would cause equipment prices to spike in the U.S. and prompt installations to fall to as low as 25 gigawatts from 2018 to 2022, down from GTM's current forecast of 72.5 gigawatts, GTM said. The report is the first on how tariffs may affect the industry. Suniva, based in Georgia, brought the case to the U.S. International Trade Commission in April after filing for Chapter 11, saying tariffs are necessary for domestic manufacturers to compete with a surge of cheap panels from Southeast Asia. It's asking for duties of 40 cents a watt for solar cells, which now sell for 25 cents to 33 cents a watt. Much of the solar industry has objected, saying cheap panels have been the key to growth in the U.S. "Suniva's new trade dispute would strike a devastating blow to the U.S. solar market," Cory Honeyman, GTM's associate director of U.S. solar, said in an email. "Shock waves will be felt across all segments." Utility Scale Suniva is "heartened" that the GTM report acknowledges the damage to the U.S. solar Sierra Club v. EPA, 1:17-cv-01906 ED_001523_00004304-00009 manufacturing industry and disappointed that it fails to quantify the risks in connection with the petition's proposed remedy, Christian Hudson, an attorney for Suniva, said in a statement. A second company, SolarWorld AG's U.S. unit, joined the case in May. GTM found the biggest impact of tariffs would likely be on large-scale unity solar farms, which compete as an alternative to natural gas. Residential rooftop installations are less apt to take a hit. Solar installations in the U.S. have soared in recent years, largely because of low-cost panels imported from Asia. The price of photovoltaic cells within these panels has declined nearly 50 percent since 2012, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance. The ITC will conclude its investigation by Sept. 22, and send its recommendations to President Donald Trump for a decision later this year. 2017 Bloomberg L.P. All rights reserved. Used with permission Peru Makes Water Access Constitutional Right, Sets Up Sewage Plan Posted June 26, 2017, 03:11 P.M. ET By Lucien O. Chauvin Peru is taking steps to implement President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski's pledge to vastly increase water and wastewater coverage, including modifying the country's Constitution to make water access a constitutional right. The government in the final days of June approved two new mechanisms outlining its plans for water and sewage services as part of a broader effort for the country to join the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which represents most of the world's wealthy economies, including the U.S. The president also signed Law 30588 (June 22) modifying the country's 1993 Constitution to make access to water a constitutional right--a move that public advocacy groups have demanded for years. The designation will provide rural communities more leverage in dealing with the state and extractive companies that are developing mining and oil and gas projects. Peru in May registered about 50 conflicts over water use. The executive orders lay out the need to improve services to guarantee the population's health, safeguard water resources, and improve standards of living. "The lack of sanitation services restricts the possibilities people have to carry out income-generating activities, contributing to the perverse cycle of water-health-poverty," the plan said. The government published the National Sanitation Plan 2017-2021 (Executive Order 018-2017VMENDA) June 25. It followed this on June 26 with Executive Order 019-2017-VMENDA, which includes the implementing bylaws for the Framework Law for Management and Provision of Sanitation Services. The framework law was presented through Legislative Decree 1280 published Dec. 16,2016. Right Track "The administration is on the right track by placing access to water and sewage on the national agenda. It is a complex issue for Peru, where the economy expanded above 6 percent for a decade, Sierra Club v. EPA, 1:17-cv-01906 ED_001523_00004304-00010 yet there are still many households that lack indoor plumbing," said Gonzalo Delacamara, a water specialist at Spain's IMDEA-Water, a scientific research group. The National Institute of Statistics & Information reported at the end of 2016 that 94.5 percent of urban households had access to potable water, while 88.3 percent had access to sewage service. The numbers dropped considerably in rural areas, with 71.2 percent of households having access to water and only 24.6 percent having access to sewage service. Of the 81,231 rural and urban areas with 2,000 or fewer inhabitants, 54,318 did not have water or wastewater systems. The targets in the national plan are 100 percent coverage for water and sewage services in urban areas by 2021. In rural areas, the aim is to achieve an 84.6 percent rate for water and 70 percent for sewage. Two-thirds of the investment, approximately $10.5 billion, will be used to expand sewage wastewater treatment. The plan also calls for all wastewater to be treated, up from 68 percent in 2016. It will increase to 40 percent in rural areas. No data exists for rural areas. The plan calls for full coverage for rural areas by 2030. Fragmentation According to Delacamara, the government needs to pay particular attention to zones--including urban areas--where water service is unregulated. About 35 percent of the population lives in areas not covered by a regulated waterworks. Peru has 50 water companies, but only one--the waterworks for Lima, the capital--is profitable. The Lima water company, Sedapal, had net earnings of $28 million in the first quarter of this year. The existing waterworks are plagued by management and planning problems. Peru's Housing, Construction and Sanitation Ministry, which will be in charge of implementing the plan and new regulations, listed at the end of 2016 more than 100 projects, with investments around $300 million, that were stalled because of faulty technical studies. "The system is too fragmented. There are many places with populations of more than 15,000 people where the regulator has no information on quality of water provided," he said. The 238-article bylaws for the framework set out to tackle this problem, specifying the roles of the national, regional, and local governments, as well as regulatory agencies. Chapter III of the legislation establishes procedures for merging services as a way of creating economies of scale. Article 26 specifies state incentives for integrating municipal services. The national plan not only sets out goals, but also establishes investment levels. It concludes that $15.2 billion in investment is needed to increase service. Investment this year will be $1.8 billion, increasing annually until it reaches $4.1 billion in 2021, the final year of Kuczynski's five-year presidential term. Financing will come from the Treasury, but the government also is planning to turn to multilateral organizations, such as the World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank, as well as national development banks such as Germany's KfWto cover investment needs. Loans will likely cover up to one-fifth of the investments. Privacy Policy | Terms of Service | Manage Your Email | Contact Us 1801 South Bell Street, Arlington, VA 22202 Sierra Club v. EPA, 1:17-cv-01906 ED_001523_00004304-00011 Copyright 2017 The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc.. Daily Environment Report for EPA Sierra Club v. EPA, 1:17-cv-01906 ED_001523_00004304-00012 To: Jackson, Ryan[jackson.ryan@epa.gov] From: Anna Palmer Jake Sherman Daniel Lippman Sent: Sun 11/12/2017 4:04:55 PM Subject: POLITICO Playbook, presented by Morgan Stanley: TOOMEY says Moore should drop out, and Strange should mount a write in - STRAUSS in Alabama: Republicans sticking with Moore - TRUMP ABROAD: Getting along with Russia is a good thing - VP's new editor View ojJinjiw | Add MLfflAQMaxLQPK^ your address book. Today's POLITICO Playbook presented by Morgan Stanley anna@politico.com; @apalmerdc), JAKE SHERMAN (sherman@politico.com: @JakeSherman) and DANIEL LIPPMAN (daniel@politico.com; @dlippman) Driving the Day Visit the online home of Playbook Good Sunday morning. QUESTIONS FOR REPUBLICANS -- If Roy Moore wins, do Republicans allow him in the Senate Republican Conference? Do they put him on prime committees? Will there be a movement to expel Moore? And with Steve Bannon on the warpath, do they have the ability to sideline other candidates who are out of step with the party? -- THE SENATE is a club. Friendships run deep. Moore is going to be an outsider in a place where relationships are the only thing that matter. KELLYANNE CONWAY to MARTHA RADDATZ on ABC'S "THIS WEEK" about ROY MOORE: "I said very early in this process that the conduct as described should disqualify anyone from serving in public office and I'll stand by that. The president and others in the Republican Party have made clear that if the allegations are true this man should step aside. But I've gone farther than that, and I reflected something the vice president said as well, which is everyone should know that conduct is disqualifying. And Mr. Moore has denied that conduct. I think you've got other people out there talking about what did or did not happen many years ago." - SEN. PAT TOOMEY (R-PA.) to Chuck Todd on NBC'S "MEET THE PRESS": "I have to say, I think the accusations have more credibility than the denial, I think it would be best if Roy would just step aside. ... I think a write in is something we should certainly explore. I think Luther Strange would be a strong candidate for a write in." - W.H. LEG AFFAIRS DIRECTOR MARC SHORT to Chuck: "I think that there's a special place in hell for those who actually perpetrate these crimes, and I think Roy Moore has to do more explaining than he has done so far. But I think we here in Sierra Club v. EPA, 1:17-cv-01906 ED_001523_00004306-00001 Washington have to be careful as well in this. Roy Moore is somebody who graduated from West Point, he served our country in Vietnam, he's been elected multiple times statewide in Alabama. The people in Alabama know Roy Moore better than we do here in DC, and I think we have to be very cautious, as Senator Toomey said of allegations that are 40 years old that arise a month before election day.... There's no Senate seat more important than the notion of child pedophilia Chuck, I mean that's reality. But having said that, he has not been proven guilty. We have to afford him the chance to defend himself." ON THE GROUND IN ALABAMA -- "Moore backers stand by their man," by Daniel Strauss in Birmingham: Roy "Moore denied the allegations before an audience of about 100 at the Mid-Alabama Republican Club in Vestavia Hills, drawing applause while casting the accounts as part of a conspiracy between the media, Democrats and the Republican establishment. With the report still just days old, it is still unclear if unwavering loyalty from some supporters will be enough to bring Moore a victory on Dec. 12, even in deeply Republican Alabama. "But in the meantime, the response has shielded Moore against the demands of top Washington Republicans that he exit the race, and his base is prepared to fight on. 'There was kind of a shock of 'oh my goodness, these accusations.' And then the second reaction is, 'Why now?' said Ed Henry, a Republican state representative. 'It just stinks to high heaven. ... It's intended to demoralize and cause Republicans not to vote in December.'" "Paul Reynolds, a Republican National Committee member from Alabama who attended the Moore event, said he has seen Republicans dividing into two categories since the Moore story broke. 'There are going to be those who want to wait and see,' Reynolds said. 'There will be others that are going to double down and try harder.'" http://politi.co/2zEWfaS -- "Roy Moore Didn't Deny Kissing Teenagers as 30-Year-Old in Call With Lawmaker," by Washingtonian's Elaina Plott: "He couldn't deny relations with underage women in a phone call with a U.S. senator [on Friday], According to three sources briefed on the call, Moore could not deny 'kissing' or 'dating' teenagers while in his thirties. The Republican senator encouraged Moore to drop out of the race, the sources said. A spokesman for Moore declined to comment on an account of the phone call." http://bit < M BL --Alexander Marquardt (@MarquardtA): "Fmr Dep. DA Theresa Jones, who worked alongside Roy Moore, tells CNN: 'It was common knowledge that Roy dated high school girls, everyone we knew thought it was weird...We wondered why someone his age would hang out at high school football games and the mall...'" THE CIVIL WAR CONTINUES - MCCONNELL ON BANNON, via NYT's Sheryl Stolberg: "Stephen K. Bannon, President Trump's former chief strategist, is vowing to depose him, telling The New York Times that 'I have an objective that Mitch McConnell Sierra Club v. EPA, 1:17-cv-01906 ED_001523_00004306-00002 will not be majority leader, and I believe will be done before this time next year.' Mr. McConnell, he added, 'has to go.' "To that, Mr. McConnell laughed. 'You can write that down,' he said in an interview on Friday. 'I laughed. Ha-ha. That's a perfect response.'... 'Mitch will be very calm, he'll be very strategic, he'll be very surgical and he will eventually eviscerate Mr. Bannon, and Bannon won't even know what happened to him,' said Bill Stone, a former chairman of the Republican Party in Louisville who is close to Mr. McConnell. 'Bannon is dealing with a man of intellect and a man of experience and a man of patience and resolve like he's never met in his life.'" http://nyti.ms/2zuY64i WAPO'S DAN BALZ: "Trump dominates the GOP base. Party leaders live with the consequences": http://wapo.st/2jkT6IQ SPOTTED: Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump last night having dinner at Casa Luca MOVEMENT IN THE MIDDLE EAST - NYT A1, "Trump Team Begins Drafting Middle East Peace Plan," by Peter Baker: "President Trump and his advisers have begun developing their own concrete blueprint to end the decades-old conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, a plan intended to go beyond previous frameworks offered by the American government in pursuit of what the president calls 'the ultimate deal.' After 10 months of educating themselves on the complexities of the world's most intractable dispute, White House officials said, Mr. Trump's team of relative newcomers to Middle East peacemaking has moved into a new phase of its venture in hopes of transforming what it has learned into tangible steps to end a stalemate that has frustrated even presidents with more experience in the region. ... "Mr. Trump's team has collected 'non-papers' exploring various issues related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and officials said they expected to address such perennial dividing points as the status of Jerusalem and settlements in the occupied West Bank. Although Mr. Trump has not committed to a Palestinian state, analysts said they anticipated that the plan will have to be built around the so-called two-state solution that has been the core of peacemaking efforts for years. ... '"There's nothing new under the sun when it comes to Middle East peace,' said Philip Gordon, a White House Middle East coordinator under Mr. Obama. 'When you get into these details, that's when you come up against the strong objections of the two sides. If they don't want it to be dead on arrival, they may wind up with vague principles, but as we've seen, even vague principles are beyond what the parties are willing to embrace.'" http://nyti.ms/2zRyZJJ ****** & message from Morgan Stanley: A new industrial revolution: Quantum computing's advanced abilities could redefine business. Read more from Morgan QlHrtirix/ ****** CATCHING YOU UP ON TRUMP ABROAD ... Sierra Club v. EPA, 1:17-cv-01906 ED_001523_00004306-00003 - TRUMP TO VIETNAMESE PRESIDENT TRUONG TAN SANG ON SOUTH CHINA SEA DISPUTE, per pooler AFP's Jerome Cartillier: "If I can help mediate or arbitrate, please let me know (...) I am a very good mediator." - TRUMP ON PUTIN SAYING HE DID NOT MEDDLE IN U.S. ELECTIONS: "What I said there is that I believe he believes that, and that's very important for somebody to believe. I believe that he feels that he and Russia did not meddle in the election. "As to whether I believe it or not, I'm with our agencies , especially as currently constituted with their leadership. I believe in our intel agencies, our intelligence agencies. I've worked with them very strongly. There weren't seventeen as was previously reported; there were actually four. ... Now, at the same time, I want to be able - because I think it's very important -- to get along with Russia, to get along with China, to get along with Vietnam, to get along with lots of countries, because we have a lot of things we have to solve. And, frankly, Russia and China in particular can help us with the North Korea problem, which is one of our truly great problems. "So I'm not looking to stand and start arguing with somebody when there's reporters all around and cameras recording and seeing our conversation. I think it was very obvious to everybody. I believe that President Putin really feels -- and he feels strongly - that he did not meddle in our election. What he believes is what he believes. ... "[I] feel that having Russia in a friendly posture, as opposed to always fighting with them, is an asset to the world and an asset to our country, not a liability. And, by the way, Hillary Clinton had the reset button. She wanted to get back together with Russia. She even spelled 'reset' wrong. That's how it started, and then it got worse. President Obama wanted to get along with Russia, but the chemistry wasn't there. Getting along with other nations is a good thing, not a bad thing -- believe me. It's a good thing, not a bad thing." - TAKING ADVANTAGE OF 280 CHARACTERS: @realDonaldTrump last night at 7:16 p.m.: "Met with President Putin of Russia who was at #APEC meetings. Good discussions on Syria. Hope for his help to solve, along with China the dangerous North Korea crisis. Progress being made."... at 7:18 p.m.: "When will all the haters and fools out there realize that having a good relationship with Russia is a good thing, not a bad thing. There always playing politics - bad for our country. I want to solve North Korea, Syria, Ukraine, terrorism, and Russia can greatly help!"... ... at 7:43 p.m.: "Does the Fake News Media remember when Crooked Hillary Clinton, as Secretary of State, was begging Russia to be our friend with the misspelled reset button? Obama tried also, but he had zero chemistry with Putin."... at 7:48 p.m.: "Why would Kim Jong-un insult me by calling me 'old,' when I would NEVER call him 'short and fat?' Oh well, I try so hard to be his friend - and maybe someday that will happen!" ON THE WORLD STAGE -- "Duterte to ask Trump to return historic spoils of war Sierra Club v. EPA, 1:17-cv-01906 ED_001523_00004306-00004 taken in 1901," by CBS News' Jillian Hughes and Jackie Alemany: "When Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte sits down for his first face-to-face bilateral meeting with President Trump on Monday in Manila, he will come to the table with an unusual request. Duterte wants the United States to return war trophies seized more than 100 years ago: three historic church bells that were taken from the Philippine village of Balangiga after a bloody clash during the Philippine-American War." http://cbsn. ws/2i9p J WR -- "How Saudi Arabia turned on Lebanon's Hariri," by Reuters' Samia Nakhoul, Laila Bassam and Tom Perry in Beirut: "Sources close to Hariri say Saudi Arabia has concluded that the prime minister -- a long-time Saudi ally and son of late prime minister Rafik al-Hariri, who was assassinated in 2005 -- had to go because he was unwilling to confront Hezbollah. Multiple Lebanese sources say Riyadh hopes to replace Saad Hariri with his older brother Bahaa as Lebanon's top Sunni politician. Bahaa is believed to be in Saudi Arabia and members of the Hariri family have been asked to travel there to pledge allegiance to him, but have refused." http://reut.rs/2AzVBuy THE TRUMP LEGACY - NYT A1, "Trump Is Rapidly Reshaping the Judiciary. Here's How," by Charlie Savage: "In the weeks before Donald J. Trump took office, lawyers joining his administration gathered at a law firm near the Capitol, where Donald F. McGahn II, the soon-to-be White House counsel, filled a white board with a secret battle plan to fill the federal appeals courts with young and deeply conservative judges. Mr. McGahn, instructed by Mr. Trump to maximize the opportunity to reshape the judiciary, mapped out potential nominees and a strategy, according to two people familiar with the effort: Start by filling vacancies on appeals courts with multiple openings and where Democratic senators up for re-election next year in states won by Mr. Trump - like Indiana, Michigan and Pennsylvania - could be pressured not to block his nominees. "And to speed them through confirmation, avoid clogging the Senate with too many nominees for the district courts, where legal philosophy is less crucial. Nearly a year later, that plan is coming to fruition. Mr. Trump has already appointed eight appellate judges, the most this early in a presidency since Richard M. Nixon, and on Thursday, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted along party lines to send a ninth appellate nominee - Mr. Trump's deputy White House counsel, Gregory Katsas - to the floor." http://nyti.ms/2iRhuOv --"Trump Nominee for Federal Judgeship Has Never Tried a Case," by NYT's Vivian Wang: "A 36-year-old lawyer who has never tried a case and who was unanimously deemed 'not qualified' by the American Bar Association has been approved for a lifetime federal district judgeship by the Senate Judiciary Committee. The lawyer, Brett Talley, is the fourth judicial nominee under President Trump to receive a 'not qualified' rating from the bar association and the second to receive the rating unanimously." http://nyti.ms/2yvdcmC MISLEADING CONGRESS? -- "After new revelations, Sessions faces another Sierra Club v. EPA, 1:17-cv-01906 ED_001523_00004306-00005 grilling on Russia contacts in Trump campaign," by L A. Times' Joseph Tanfani: "For Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions, questions about the Trump campaign and Russia have become a nagging headache that won't go away. Three times, he has appeared before his former colleagues in the Senate and answered questions about what he knew about contacts with Russians during the campaign. Three times, Sessions stumbled, issuing denials that later proved to be incomplete or wrong. "On Tuesday, the nation's highest lawman will face another grilling on Capitol Hill, this time prompted by claims in court documents and congressional testimony that he was told of at least two aides' meetings with Russian officials - despite his claim last month that he was unaware of any such contacts. 'The facts appear to contradict your sworn testimony on several occasions,' all 17 Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee wrote to Sessions last week in advance of his appearance there." http://bit.lv/2hmzShP -- "Lawmakers question whether key CIA nominee misled Congress," by AP's Deb Reichmann: "Two former CIA employees are accusing the Trump administration's choice for CIA chief watchdog of being less than candid when he told Congress he didn't know about any active whistleblower complaints against him. Members of the Senate Intelligence Committee asked Christopher Sharpley, the current acting inspector general who's in line for the permanent job, about complaints that he and other managers participated in retaliation against CIA workers who alerted congressional committees and other authorities about alleged misconduct. 'I'm unaware of any open investigations on me, the details of any complaints about me,' Sharpley testified at his confirmation hearing last month." http://bit.lv/2ikSHGo AP in Berlin: "A list of heartbreak: Newspaper tallies 33,293 dead migrants": "The German paper Der Tagesspiegel has published a list of 33,293 people who it says died while trying to immigrate to Europe. The list is 46 pages long and covers the period from 1993 to May 29, 2017. The newspaper cites the victims' names, ages, countries of origin, circumstances, date of death and the source of information. Often, the names are not given because the dead were not identified." http://bit.lv/2zRXne3 SUNDAY BEST... - JAKE TAPPER talks with FORMER CIA DIRECTOR JOHN BRENNAN on CNN'S "State of the Union": TAPPER: "What is your response, Mr. Brennan, to what President Trump said about Vladimir Putin and U.S. intelligence agencies?" BRENNAN: "Well, I think Mr. Trump knows that the intelligence agencies, specifically CIA, NSA and FBI, the ones that really have responsibility for counterintelligence and looking at what Russia does, it's very clear that the Russians interfered in the election. And it's still puzzling as to why Mr. Trump does not acknowledge that and embrace it, and also push back hard against Mr. Putin. The Russian threat to our democracy and our democratic foundations is real. And I think his continuing to not say very clearly and strongly that this is a national security problem, and to say to Mr. Putin, we know you did it, you would have to stop it, because there are going to be consequences if you don't." Sierra Club v. EPA, 1:17-cv-01906 ED_001523_00004306-00006 - CHRIS WALLACE talks with HOUSE WAYS AND MEANS CHAIRMAN KEVIN BRADY (R-TEXAS) on FOX NEWS' "Fox News Sunday" about whether the House will pass tax reform by Thanksgiving: BRADY: "I believe it will. I feel there's strong support for this. We continue to make improvements at every step of the way." -- "Brady: House will not accept repeal of state, local tax deductions," by Zach Warmbrodt: http://politi.co/2AADcgO - JOHN DICKERSON talks with TREASURY SECRETARY STEVEN MNUCHIN on CBS'S "Face the Nation": DICKERSON: "Let me ask you about [lobbyists]. The president said he wanted to drain the swamp in Washington. What instruction has he given you, in putting this package together, to keep lobbyists' influence out of the process?" MNUCHIN: "Again, I'm not concerned about lobbyists. We've reached out to many, many trade groups to get lots of input, okay? Lots of people, lots of CEOs, have had input into this. But this is all about growth. And this is about an economic program that I've had the opportunity to work with the president since the campaign. And we're focused. We're so excited to get this done and to the President's desk in December." DICKERSON: "So no special instructions, though, about lobbyists, getting them out of this process." MNUCHIN: "I haven't had any lobbyists really involved with us. We've had trade groups that we've listened to input. But I'm not concerned about lobbyists at all." Playbook Reads PHOTO DU JOUR: Vice President Mike Pence cleans a portion of the wall at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on Veterans Day on Nov. 11. | Alex Brandon/AP Photo ALI WATKINS -- "Cold War Soviet technology studied in Cuba attacks": "U.S. intelligence officials are closely studying Cold War-era Soviet technology as they seek to determine whether an electronic weapon was used to disorient and injure 24 American officials in Cuba earlier this year. Two intelligence officials tell POLITICO they're confident that the attacks were conducted with an 'energy directed' or 'acoustic' device, possibly similar to one used by Soviet intelligence in Havana more than four decades ago, but remain unsure of its exact nature. "That has officials combing classified files and even contacting retired intelligence officers for clues to a mystery that has triggered a diplomatic crisis less than three years after President Barack Obama restored diplomatic relations with Havana. 'We're trying to talk to guys as far back as the 1960s,' said one of the intelligence officials. The sweeping, government-wide search for answers - spearheaded publicly by the State Department - has pulled in expertise from intelligence agencies, science and weapons development offices and health officials. Still, answers remain elusive. 'It's baffled the entire community,' the intelligence official said." http://politi.co/2AyE31 L Sierra Club v. EPA, 1:17-cv-01906 ED_001523_00004306-00007 KOCH WATCH -- "Libertarian billionaire Charles Koch is making a big bet on foreign policy," by WaPo's Greg Jaffe: "A foundation overseen by billionaire industrialist Charles Koch is making major investments in foreign policy programs at elite American universities, including a soon-to-be-announced $3.7 million grant to Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The latest grant... is part of a larger effort to broaden the debate about an American foreign policy Koch and others at his foundation argue has become too militaristic, interventionist and expensive. It follows about $10 million in similar grants the Charles Koch Foundation has given in recent months to Notre Dame, Tufts University, Catholic University and the University of California at San Diego." http://wapo.st/2zzefFz FOR YOUR RADAR - "Woman says she was harassed at defense agency over child-care issues," by WaPo's Rachel Weiner: "A female defense agency employee said in court this month that she was isolated and harassed at the office after asking to work from home one day a week because she could not arrange child care. Her bosses at the Defense Security Service say she is simply unhappy she was not given special accommodation. A jury in federal court in Alexandria is expected to decide in the next week which side they believe. Patricia Burke's suit against the Defense Department is the rare employment discrimination case against the federal government to go to trial." http://wapo.st/2yVkowq -- "At the SEC, Whistleblowers Blow Whistle on Watchdog," by WSJ's Jean Eaglesham: "The watchdog for the [SEC], who encourages staff at the top securities regulator to blow the whistle on misconduct and fraud, is himself the subject of complaints by several whistleblowers. Carl Hoecker, the SEC inspector general, is tasked with rooting out malpractice at the agency. His team investigates alleged misconduct by SEC officials, ranging from insider trading to expenses fraud. The office's website highlights protections for SEC employees who disclose evidence of waste, fraud or abuse. "At least two employees working for Mr. Hoecker have filed complaints to a different federal whistleblower-protection agency, alleging that he and his senior staff retaliated against them for calling out misconduct within the inspector general's office, according to people familiar with the matter and documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. Raphael Kozolchyk, a spokesman for the SEC Office of Inspector General, said 'a number of the claims contain significant factual inaccuracies, while others are grossly misleading.' He added that the office does 'not comment on ongoing personnel matters.' Mr. Hoecker didn't respond to a request for comment." http://on.wsi.com/2yuCVvt ****** a message from Morgan Stanley: The next generation of supercomputers appears to be at an inflection point-promising speed and processing power that could redefine business and trigger a new industrial revolution. Read more. MEDIAWATCH -- "Radhika Jones, a Times Books Editor, Said to Be Next Vanity Fair Editor," by NYT's Sydney Ember: "In a dramatic changing of the guard, Radhika Sierra Club v. EPA, 1:17-cv-01906 ED_001523_00004306-00008 Jones, the editorial director of the books department at The New York Times and a former top editor at Time magazine, is expected to be named the next editor of Vanity Fair, according to two people with knowledge of the decision. Cond Nast, which publishes Vanity Fair, plans to make the announcement as soon as Monday. Ms. Jones, 44, will succeed the 68-year-old Graydon Carter, who said in September that he was stepping down from the glossy general-interest magazine after a 25-year run at its helm." http://nyti.ms/2zwKaGU BONUS GREAT WEEKEND READS, curated by Daniel Lippman: --"The Stockholder in the Sand," by William D. Cohan in March 2013 in Vanity Fair: "[T]he private origins-and exact size-of his massive fortune are the subject of continued debate between [Alwaleed] bin Talal and prominent media outlets. So what's the truth? And does one of the richest men on Bloomberg's Billionaire Index-a calorie-counting cell phone addict who loves texting James Murdoch-really spend his free time throwing dwarves?" http://bit.lv/2iiEUiO 2012 Business Insider profile by Nicholas Carlson http://read.bi/2yQDhkq --"Donald Trump Movie Review - Orson Welles' 'Citizen Kane'" - From an interview Trump did with filmmaker Errol Morris for a project called "Movie Movie" -- 3-min. video http://bit.ly/2vOLCFh --"The Convert," by Abigail Pesta in Texas Monthly: "Tania Joya had been married to a jihadist from Texas for ten years, but she was tired of living like a nomad and unnerved by his increasingly extreme ideology. When he dragged their family to war-torn Syria, she knew it was time to get out." http://bit.ly/2ifXby6 --"In the Land of Vendettas That Go On Forever," by Amanda Petrusich in VQR: "In Northern Albania, vengeance is as likely a form of restitution as anything the criminal justice system can offer." http://bit.ly/2mgl2Px --"The Long, Bizarre Relationship Between Jann Wenner and Mick Jagger," by Joe Hagan in Vulture: http://bit.lv/2iq3eTc --"Disneyland with the Death Penalty," by William Gibson in the April 1993 edition of Wired -- per Longform.org's description: "On the sanitized wonderland that is Singapore." http://bit.ly/2zysdVS --"A Restaurant Ruined My Life," by Robert Maxwell in Toronto Life: "I was a foodie with a boring day job who figured he could run a restaurant. Then I encountered rats, endless red tape, crippling costs and debt-induced meltdowns, started popping sleeping pills, lost my house, and nearly sabotaged my marriage." http://bit.lv/2yOcPrs --"Under the Banner of New York," by Zadie Smith in the N.Y. Review of Books: "We can often be found screaming at strangers in the street but we just as frequently pick them up off the floor. We are every variety of human. Some of us are dopers and Sierra Club v. EPA, 1:17-cv-01906 ED_001523_00004306-00009 junkies. Some of us are preschool teachers and nuns. None of us deserve to be killed in the street. We are a multiplicity of humans in an elastic social arrangement that can be stretched in many directions. It's not broken yet." http://bit.lv/2vowji0 --"Inside Rodrigo Duterte's drug war - Part 1, the cycle of violence," by CBS News' Kylie Atwood: Hitman "Delo, 40, has two children under the age of 10. They do not know their father is a murderer. He worries most about getting killed and about his true work being revealed to his children. 'I do feel guilty,' he says. But he claims he can't get out, even though he would like to. 'If you try to get out, they might kill you,' he says. 'That it's my family who might be -1 might get killed and they might get killed.'" http://cbsn.ws/2zGabS1 --"How to sell a country: the booming business of nation branding," by Samanth Subramanian in the Guardian: "These days, every place in the world wants to market its unique identity - and an industry has sprung up to help put them on the map." http://bit.lv/2iJFtPA --"Meet The Riders Of The Sikh Motorcycle Club Of The Northeast," by Teresa Mathew in BuzzFeed: "Riding their bikes together offers this group of Sikhs an all American way to celebrate their faith, in a country where it often makes them targets." http://bzfd.it/2hrVWLQ --"Distaff Meeting: When sisterhood flowered in Detroit," by the Weekly Standard's Alice Lloyd in Detroit: "It is Rose McGowan, though, who steals the show. With an otherworldly cadence and a militant message, the reformed Hollywood vamp commands her troops: 'We are planet women, and you will hear us roar!"' http://tws.io/2hkJU3h --"Frequent Gunfire," by John Banville in The Nation -- per ALDaily.com's description: "The fake machismo, the boozing, the braggadocio -- Hemingway kept up the facade of the hairy-chested artist for as long as he was able. But who was he really?" http://bit.lv/2jiDBkP --"Could Rome Have Had an Industrial Revolution?" by Mark Koyama on Medium: http://bit.lv/2yO4iZI --"Mail-Order CRISPR Kits Allow Absolutely Anyone to Hack DNA," by Annie Sneed in Scientific American -- per The Browser's description: "You can buy a CRISPR kit by mail order for $130 and do some serious genetic engineering in the privacy of your own home. The starter pack shows you how to modify e coli. The rest is up to you. Are we handing rogue scientists the means to flood the world with mutant life-forms?" http://bit.lv/2ArOisH -- "Teen Girl Posed For 8 Years As Married Man To Write About Baseball And Harass Women," by Lindsey Adler in Deadspin: http://bit.lv/2hrKRKK Playbookers Sierra Club v. EPA, 1:17-cv-01906 ED_001523_00004306-00010 http://bit.lv/2yUag7i... ... Michael Jordan sitting at a table by the bar at Bourbon Steak last night before getting dinner at the restaurant... Ron Kaufman yesterday at Ophelia's Fish House ... Sens. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Jack Reed (D-R.l.) received the Panetta Institute for Public Policy's bipartisan Lincoln-Jefferson award in Pebble Beach, California. SPOTTED yesterday at Weekly Standard editor Steve Hayes' third annual chili cook-off at his family's house in Davidsonville, Maryland: Bill Kristol, Peter and Kari Boyer, Matt Labash, Jonathan and Betsy Fischer Martin, Andy Ferguson, Mike Warren, Jonathan and Shannon Last, John and Lauren McCormack, Richard Starr, Ethan Epstein, Adam Keiper, Alice Lloyd, Jenna Lifhits, Vic Matus, Jim Swift. WEEKEND WEDDINGS -- Kris Anderson, a partner at Prospect Strategic Communications, former RNC research director and a Romney and Huntsman alum, on Saturday married Natalie Ethridge, who works for the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. Pool report: The couple "were married in a beautiful sunset ceremony in Cabo on Saturday before family and friends. As one of the GOP's most prolific oppo researchers, the welcome party included a LexisNexis challenge. Kris and Natalie first met on the Schwarzenegger campaign in 2006 and started dating in 2008. After nearly a decade together, they chose the very apt #FoolsRushln hashtag to mark the occasion." Pic by Eric Draper/Eric Draper Photography SPOTTED: Webber Steinhoff, Ed Murphy, Matt David, Kirsten Kukowski, Jahan Wilcox, Tim Miller (who wore an 'Tm with her" shirt) and Tyler Jameson, Sarah Pompei, Joe Pounder, Alex Angel, Francis Brennan, Matt Gorman, Andy Hemming, Jim Bognet, John Wittman and Cait Meisenheimer, Drew Florio and Colleen McGowan, Katie Boyd, Ted Kwong, Tom Merwin, Peter Li, Darrel and Jessica Ng, Tim and Sarah Killeen, Webb Hubbell, Tim Killeen, Fran Brennan, Mason and Chelsea Harrison, Amanda Henneberg, Byron Koay. --Creigh Behnke, deputy finance director at the NRSC and NRCC alum, on Saturday married Michael Senich, a senior associate at Majority Strategies, at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, Colo. "The couple met at the NRCC when Creigh worked in the Finance Department and Michael worked for the political office of Speaker of the House John Boehner." Pic http://bit.ly/2iP4BV7 SPOTTED: Tommy Andrews, Katie Behnke, Megan Cummings, Leigh Tenewitz, Lucy Noell Croxton, Megan Becker, Krista Madaio, Chris Hansen, Tom Whatman, Grant Gardner, Seton Gardner, Michael Beach, Bryan Watkins, Lauren Toomey, Josh Penry, Sierra Club v. EPA, 1:17-cv-01906 ED_001523_00004306-00011 Kristin Strohm, Michael Calvo, Jordan Lieberman, Missy Lieberman and Marcus Rose. --Adam Kennedy, the new White House research director and an RNC alum, tied the knot with health care consultant Kim Wallace at Roofer's Union in Adams Morgan. The two are college sweethearts. Pic http://bit.lv/2hnMDJf SPOTTED: White House aides Raj Shah, Zach Parkinson, and Tyler Ross and RNC's Scott Parker and Eric Schulze. -Julia Krieger, deputy comms director for Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.), and Evan Vanderveer, co-founder of Vanshap Capital, had a wedding reception last night at the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia. The couple previously got married in August in Santorini in a private ceremony. Pic http://bit.lv/2ADHISc BIRTHWEEK (was yesterday): Edelman's Greg Romano and Michael Boisjolie BIRTHDAY OF THE DAY: Jeremy Skule, SVP and chief marketing officer at Nasdaq and alum of MF Global and Fleishman-Hillard. What he's reading these days: "'American Radical: Inside the World of an Undercover Muslim FBI Agent,' by Tamer Elnoury with Kevin Maurer. I'm fascinated by the work of our intelligence community and my brother is my hero and also in the FBI." Read his Playbook Plus Q&A: http://politi.co/2miookr BIRTHDAYS: Dr. Elena Allbritton ... Jeff Zients ... Tyrone Gayle, press secretary for Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), is 3-0 ... Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.l.) is 68 ... Eurasia Group president Ian Bremmer is 48 ... USA Today's Nancy Trejos ... former Transportation Sec. Norm Mineta is 86 ... Stephanie Kotuby and Rhana Natour of "PBS NewsHour" (h/t Nick Massella)... Facebook's Katie Harbath ... Rex Elsass ... Katie Stuntz ... Ryan Coyne, founder and CEO of Olympic Media, is 3-0 ... Mark SooHoo of Burson-Marsteller ... Politico's Bennett Richardson ... Jenn Ridder... Luca Spinelli... ThinkProgress' Kira Lerner... Leo DiBenigno ... Joe Johnston ... Dave Weinberg ... Takaaki Mizuno is 59 ... Kevin Gundersen, director of gov't relations at Huntsman, is 36 ... David Lawrence ... Alex Brown ... Michelle Perry ... Kamal Marell... Jay Lumpkins ... Amber Cottle ... Vinny Minchillo ... Harlan Hill... ... Ross Baird, executive director at Village Capital and author of the new book "The Innovation Blind Spot"... RNC's Steve Guest... Jessica Kahanek ... Maria Cardona, principal at Dewey Square Group ... Scott Beauchamp ... Josh Britton ... Alex Griswold of the Free Beacon ... Olivia Lange, a student at Stanford's GSB ... Erica Sackin, director of political comms at Planned Parenthood ... Laura Mandy Mszar... Columbia history professor Carol Gluck ... Neal Shusterman is 55 ... Naomi Wolf is 55 ... Nina Brosh ... Jake Orta ... Crozer Connor... Frank Mazza ... former Rep. Diane Watson (DCalif.) is 84 ... Gina Hill... Sheila O'Connell... Mica Strother... Pam Oatis (h/ts Teresa Vilmain) ****** a message from Morgan Stanley: The next generation of supercomputers appears to be at an inflection point-promising speed and processing power that could redefine business and trigger a new industrial revolution. Quantum computing's Sierra Club v. EPA, 1:17-cv-01906 ED_001523_00004306-00012 advanced abilities could open the door to dramatic innovation in a variety of industries. Chemical manufacturers and pharmaceutical companies, for example, could simulate the chain of chemical reactions needed to design new and far more complex compounds and materials. And just as past industrial revolutions created many of the sectors that form the core of today's global economy, quantum computing could give rise to new companies and sectors not yet imagined. Read more. ****** SUBSCRIBE to the Playbook family: POLITICO Playbook http://politi.co/2IQswbh ... Playbook Power Briefing http://politi.co/2xuOiqh ... New York Playbook http://politi.co/10N8bqW... Florida Playbook http://politi.co/1 OypFe9 ... New Jersey Playbook http://politi.co/1 HLKItF ... Massachusetts Playbook http://politi.co/1 Nhtq5v ... Illinois Playbook : p : i j R California Playbook '0: wju... London Playbook \tp://politi.co/2xfDPuK ... Brussels Playbook p / Jr / ... All our political and policy tipsheets To change your alert settings, please go to hHpsttAecure.polhuiMMmi/setriHg^ This email was sent tojackson.ryan@epa.gov by: POLITICO, LLC 1000 Wilson Blvd. Arlington, VA, 22209, USA Please click here and follow the steps to unsubscribe. Sierra Club v. EPA, 1:17-cv-01906 ED_001523_00004306-00013