The Market, Energy, And Political Page, T+9 -- May 17, 2018 -- One-Year Mueller Anniversary; Grassley Tweets

Why? Why are we playing this video at 6:20 a.m. Thursday morning?

Stormy Waters, Jimmy Martin
Because a reader requested it. You heard it here first -- the first 2020 Democratic party ticket to be floated by the DNC -- the Stormy/Waters ticket. A match made in heaven. This is not fake news:

*******************************

Back To Energy

Trump energy official approved by US Senate committee:

President Donald Trump's nominee for the top U.S. State Department job dealing with matters related to energy and the global oil industry was approved by a Senate committee on Wednesday, as the United States gears up to re-impose sanctions on Iran's oil exports.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved Francis Fannon, a former head of corporate affairs at mining company BHP Billiton and senior director of Murphy Oil Corp , to head the department's energy bureau.

Sanctions bite: French Total stops Iran gas project as risk from sanctions too high.

Drop-dead date, May 31, 2018. Canada backstops Kinder Morgan for Trans Mountain delays. This is really an incredible story when you think about it. Justin Trudeau, Obama's doppelganger, "needs" the pipeline so badly he will cover KMI losses. Obama, on the other hand, did whatever he could to kill the Keystone XL which remains in pipeline purgatory.

Justin Trudeau’s government is prepared to reimburse Kinder Morgan Canada Ltd. for any financial losses incurred by “politically motivated” delays in its proposed pipeline expansion to the Pacific coast.

Canadian Finance Minister Bill Morneau said Wednesday he will “indemnify” the C$7.4 billion ($5.6 billion) Trans Mountain project, which faces fierce opposition from British Columbia’s provincial government. He added that Canada is prepared to backstop any other company willing to take on the project if Kinder drops out.

Isn't Grassley from Iowa? Republican senator says EPA chief must slow refinery waivers or resign.

Republican Senator Chuck Grassley on Tuesday said Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt must scale back the use of biofuels waivers for small refineries, or else he will join other lawmakers calling for Pruitt's resignation.

The demand ramps up pressure on the embattled EPA administrator, who is already under pressure from mostly Democratic lawmakers to step down over controversies that include high spending on travel and security.

Corn state senators like Iowa's Grassley have been infuriated by the EPA's decision to provide an unusually large number of waivers from the U.S. Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) to refineries in recent months, freeing them from their obligation to blend biofuels like ethanol into the nation's fuel.

"I’ve supported Pruitt but if he pushes changes to RFS that permanently cut ethanol by billions of gallons he will have broken Trump promise & should step down & let someone else do the job of implementing Trump agenda," Grassley wrote on Twitter.