| EPA WORKING ON LEAD RULE: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) kicked off the regulatory process Thursday for potential updates to 26-year-old standards meant to keep lead out of drinking water. EPA head Scott Pruitt reached out to groups representing states and municipalities in a letter, inviting them to meet next month about potential revisions the agency is considering to what's known as the Lead and Copper Rule. The Obama administration had kicked off the revision process for the rule in 2010, but it accelerated the process following the Flint, Mich., drinking water crisis, which started in 2014 when poorly treated drinking water corroded pipes and dramatically elevated lead levels in the city. "Despite lead contaminated sites being an environmental threat to our country, EPA has not updated the Lead and Copper Rule in decades," Pruitt said in a statement. "In keeping with our commitment to cooperative federalism, EPA is seeking input from state stakeholders on proposed revisions to properly address lead and ensure communities have access to safe drinking water." In an October 2016 white paper, the Obama EPA laid out options for revising the rule, with options ranging from improving sampling standards that water utilities use to monitor lead levels to dramatically ramping up the standards for replacing old lead pipes. Any revisions by the EPA are also likely to crack down on smaller uses of lead, like in pipe fittings and solder, and to increase the standards' focus on vulnerable people like children and pregnant women. Read more here. ZINKE PLEDGES 'ZERO TOLERANCE' ON INTERIOR HARASSMENT CLAIMS: A survey conducted for the Interior Department found that 35 percent of its employees say they were harassed or discriminated against in the last year. The department-wide findings come on the heels of a National Park Service-specific report released in October, which found that 38 percent of that agency's employees have been harassed or discriminated against. The survey results are spurring leaders at the department that oversees about a fifth of the nation's land to try to crack down on the causes of harassment. Department leadership claims their aggressive actions to change the culture are a shift from the previous administration. "All employees have the right to work in a safe and harassment-free environment," Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said in a statement on Thursday. "I've already fired a number of predators who other administrations were too afraid to remove or just turned a blind eye to," he said, placing blame on former President Obama's administration for the current culture. "Under my leadership we don't protect predators. When I say 'zero tolerance' I mean that these people will be held accountable for their abhorrent actions." Read more here. GREENS GO ON THE AIR AGAINST MONUMENT ORDER: A conservation group is launching a $1 million television and radio advertisement campaign targeting three House Republicans over Trump's decision to shrink monument protections in Utah. The Western Values Project's ads will go after Reps. Greg Walden (R-Ore.), Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-Wash.) and Martha McSally (R-Ariz.). The ads tell viewers about Trump's executive order shrinking the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments in Utah, and highlights potential public land policy changes in the three states it is set to air in. The group calls on viewers to tell Walden, Beutler and McSally to "stop the attacks on public lands because your American birthright is not for sale." Read more here. TRUMP TOUTS REG ROLLBACK: Trump announced plans for more deregulation in the coming year with the release Thursday of the administration's second regulatory agenda. At a ceremony in the White House, Trump said the federal agencies beat the goal he set when he took office to cut two rules for every new rule proposed and add no new regulatory costs to the economy. "Today I'm proud to announce we beat our goal by a lot," he said. "Instead of adding costs as so many others have done ... for the first time in decades, we achieved regulatory savings. Hasn't happened in many decades. We blew our target out of the water." The administration withdrew or delayed 1,579 planned regulatory actions in 2017, according to the semi-annual Unified Regulatory Agenda published by the White House Office of Management and Budget Thursday afternoon. The regulatory agenda acts as a policy blueprint of sorts for federal agencies. Read more here. Some important dates for energy and environmental rules or repeals: The EPA's rollback of the Obama administration's waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule is estimated to be finalized in April. The Trump administration's new WOTUS definition is due to be proposed in May and made final in June 2018. The Clean Power Plan repeal is on track to be made final in October 2018. The regulatory plan said the EPA was planning to gather input for a potential replacement rule in November, which has obviously passed, and to issue a formal proposal in June 2018. The agency plans to propose actions to reconsider its methane rules for oil and natural gas drillers in August 2018, and to finalize them in September 2019. In the Interior Department, the methane rule for oil and natural gas drillers on public land is due for a proposed repeal in January 2018. The fracking rule's final repeal is on track for January as well. Interior is planning to make changes to the Obama administration's blowout preventer and well control rule for offshore drilling, with a proposal by October 2018. Check out the whole agenda by agency here. A GOODBYE: This will be my -- Devin's -- last Overnight Energy newsletter at The Hill. Next week I'm moving back home to Minnesota to pursue new opportunities. I have had a great time covering one of the most underrated, but dynamic, beats in Washington. On this beat, I have covered Congress, the courts, two (very different) administrations, regulation, deregulation, protests, international diplomacy, a dramatically changing energy industry, Burning Man (once), and some of the most interesting characters in Washington and around the country. To those who have served as sources -- thank you. To those who have read along -- I hope my work has been of value. Follow me on Twitter. And Tim Cama is still your man on the energy beat. Drop him a line and say hello. AROUND THE WEB: Residents of Dunbar, Fla., say the decision to dump sludge in their city is racist, the News-Press reports. California's years-long drought made the Sierra Nevada mountain range grow by an inch, the Sacramento Bee reports. Six hundred coal miners in Kazakhstan have been on a four-day, underground strike against poor wages and working conditions, BBC News reports. IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Check out Thursday's stories ... -Trump touts deregulation by his administration -Conservation group launches $1M ad campaign hitting Trump monument decision -EPA moves toward updating lead water pipe standards -Zinke promises 'zero tolerance' after 35% of Interior employees report harassment -Green group steps up involvement in Texas elections -Trump's EPA chemical safety nominee withdraws nomination | 
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