Overnight Energy: Congress opens Arctic refuge to drilling | Mistrial in Bundy case | Trump looks to boost domestic mineral production

View in your browser     LAWMAKERS SEND ANWR DRILLING MEASURE TO TRUMP: The House voted Wednesday to pass the GOP's tax overhaul bill, complete with a provision to open Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and natural gas drilling. The House's 224-201 vote, mostly along party lines, capped of more than four decades of congressional debate on whether to drill in the remote northeastern Alaska area. Once President Trump signs the legislation, Alaska leaders, Republicans and the oil industry will have accomplished a goal at the top of their energy priorities. "After decades and decades in this chamber, we are opening up a small non-wilderness area of the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge for responsible development. That is the most ambitious step we have taken in years to secure our own energy future," House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said before the vote. Trump brought Republican lawmakers to the White House for a celebratory ceremony, and let ANWR drilling proponents speak. "Now it doesn't feel like it right now, but the Winter Solstice is the shortest day -- the darkest day," said Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), one of the Senate's most outspoken drilling supporters. "And for us, in Alaska, we've had some pretty dark days recently. But with passage of this tax bill, with passage finally, almost 40 years later, to allow us to open up the 1002 area -- this is a bright day for Alaska. This is bright day for America," she said. The ANWR legislation also marks a major defeat for environmentalists, who had fought off numerous attempts since the 1970s to allow drilling there. ANWR drilling has long fueled greens, helping to organize some of the first environmentalists in the movement. While ANWR was largely overshadowed through the congressional debate by the larger tax overhaul -- the most significant change to the tax code since the 1980s -- it was of central importance to the lawmakers who care the most about it. Democrats and environmentalists struggled throughout the ANWR debate to rile up opposition to drilling, with their base often focused on the larger tax bill or other GOP or Trump policies. But they still put up a significant fight. "Drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is nothing more than a Big Oil polar payout," said Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), a leading lawmaker opposing pro-fossil fuel policies. "This isn't about drilling for oil; it is about drilling for votes. This isn't about crude oil; it is the crudest of politics," he said. Read more here.   JUDGE DECLARES MISTRIAL IN BUNDY CASE: The judge overseeing the trial of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy and other defendants from the 2014 Bunkerville standoff declared a mistrial Wednesday. Judge Gloria Navarro said that the federal government improperly withheld key evidence from the defense, in violation of the defendants' constitutional right to due process, the Las Vegas Review Journal reported. The withholding "undermined the confidence of the outcome of the trial," Navarro said. Navarro's declaration does not necessarily mean the evidence would have helped prove the defendants' innocence, but it likely would have changed how attorneys questioned witnesses. "The defense has a right to information so it can provide it to the jury so the jury can decide," she said. Bundy's supporters took the mistrial as a major victory for their longstanding argument that the government has it out for him. But Navarro quickly scheduled a new trial, which will begin Feb. 15. Read more here.   TRUMP SEEKS MINERAL STRATEGY: Trump signed an executive order Wednesday to develop a national strategy to boost domestic production of critical minerals and reduce dependence on foreign imports of them. The order directed toward Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke came a day after Zinke released an in-depth report concluding that the United States dependents entirely or almost entirely on foreign imports for many important non-fuel minerals like titanium, fluorine, cobalt and manganese. Some of the minerals are essential to national security needs or common commercial products. Trump's order could lead to new policies to streamline or reduce barriers to mining projects for the minerals. "This executive order will prioritize reducing the Nation's vulnerability to disruptions in our supply of critical minerals safely and responsibility for the benefit of the American people," Trump said in a statement. Read more here.   AROUND THE WEB: Steel giant ArcelorMittal agreed to pay a $1.5 penalty to state and federal regulators over air pollution violations, StateImpact Pennsylvania reports. Wyoming has lost more than 6,500 residents since the start of the energy bust, more than any time since 1989, the Casper Star Tribune reports. The company that planned to operate an LED lightbulb factory in upstate New York is walking away, after the state spent $90 million to build the facility, Syracuse.com reports. Stephen Ezell and David M. Hart of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) make the case for a Department of Energy Foundation to boosT energy research and development, in an op-ed for The Hill.   IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Check out Wednesday's stories ... - Trump calls for strategy to boost domestic mineral production - Poll: National park fee hikes likely to reduce visits - Judge declares mistrial in Nevada Bundy case - Congress votes to open Alaska refuge to oil drilling - Court asks EPA when it will move forward with smog rule compliance - France to ban oil and gas production by 2040     Please send tips and comments to Timothy Cama, tcama@thehill.com. Follow us on Twitter: @Timothy_Cama, @thehill         Did a friend forward you this email? 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Overnight Cybersecurity: House plan for long-term surveillance bill 'dead for now' | North Korea expands money-making hacks | Five arrested in ransomware bust

View in your browser       Welcome to OVERNIGHT CYBERSECURITY, your daily rundown of the biggest news in the world of hacking and data privacy. We're here to connect the dots as leaders in government, policy and industry try to counter the rise in cyber threats. What lies ahead for Congress, the administration and the latest company under siege? Whether you're a consumer, a techie or a D.C. lifer, we're here to give you ...   THE BIG STORY: --HOUSE FACING TIGHT DEADLINE AFTER DELAYING 702 RENEWAL VOTE: House Republicans' plans to vote on a stand-alone bill to renew a controversial surveillance authority are dead "for now," House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) told reporters less than 24 hours after lawmakers scheduled a Rules Committee vote on the measure. They are butting up against a tight deadline: The current law, which the intelligence community says is critical to identify and disrupting terror plots, is set to expire at the end of the year. FISA Section 702 allows for warrantless surveillance of non-citizens outside the country. Occasionally, note opponents, the systems to protect Americans fail and the surveillance sweeps up domestic or a citizen's chatter. GOP lawmakers will attempt to hash out stark divisions in a conference meeting later on Wednesday, but after a closed-door meeting with key lawmakers in Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy's (R-Calif.) office, no decisions had yet been made. "We're still working away on it," McCarthy said, but offered few other details. --...POSSIBLE SHORT TERM RENEWAL? Among the slate of options and unanswered questions: Will lawmakers try to attach a short-term renewal of the program to a stopgap spending measure at the end of the week, or try to push through a more long-term solution? "There's a very little chance that a long-term FISA reauthorization has support of the overall conference," said House Freedom Caucus leader Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), whose caucus is calling for stronger privacy protections to fix what it sees as systemic Fourth Amendment violations under the current program. The Rules Committee vote, scheduled for 4 p.m. Wednesday, has since been postponed. In the upper chamber, Majority Whip Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) has suggested lawmakers will try to insert a short-term renewal into its continuing resolution, effectively punting the issue at least into the new year. But it's unclear what leaders mean by "short-term." Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) on Wednesday threatened to mount a filibuster of any long-term extension of the law. To read the rest of our piece, click here.   A REGULATORY UPDATE: NEW YORK MAY SIDESTEP FCC ON SOME NET NEUTRALITY: New York State Assemblymember Patricia Fahy (D) is pushing a bill in an effort to protect the principles of net neutrality in her state in the wake of the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) vote to repeal the popular Obama-era regulations. According to Fast Company, Fahy has introduced a short piece of legislation that would prohibit state, county and city authorities from doing business with internet service providers that engage in business practices that were prohibited by the net neutrality rules, like blocking or throttling web content or making websites buy into internet "fast lanes." "If you are going to be a contractor and want to work with New York, then you must meet the principles," Fahy told the magazine. To read the rest of our piece click here.   A LIGHTER CLICK:  LIGHTNING WISHES YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS.   A REPORT IN FOCUS: LAZARUS RAISING MONEY... AGAIN: North Korea may be doubling down on its efforts to make money by hacking, according to new research by cybersecurity firm Proofpoint. The Lazarus Group, an industry name for the believed-to-be North Korean hackers that breached Sony Pictures and launched the disastrous WannaCry malware, has already been linked to several different attempts to generate revenue by hacking. The group was tied to a string of bank robberies using the SWIFT interbank transfer request system totaling hundreds of millions of dollars, as well as recent attempts to phish cryptocurrency exchanges.   Proofpoint explains in a new report that Lazarus has started infecting South Korean credit card terminals, called point of sale (POS) systems, to steal credit card information. The firm believes this would make North Korea the first known nation to steal credit cards this way. Lazarus is also now no longer just phishing cryptocurrency exchanges, but also individuals who appear to own bitcoin and other digital currencies. On Tuesday, the Trump administration blamed North Korea for the WannaCry malware that infected hundreds of thousands of systems in May. Such attributions from the executive branch have been extremely rare. The report outlines two new pieces of malware being used by the group. Both are updates to the group's old malware, known as Ratankba. To read the rest of our piece, click here.   WHAT'S IN THE SPOTLIGHT: ROMANIAN RANSOMWARE: Romanian authorities have arrested five suspects allegedly spreading the CTB-Locker ransomware throughout Europe and the U.S. The arrests were the summation of work in concert with Dutch, United Kingdom and U.S. authorities, with help coming from Europol and the cybersecurity firm McAfee. The five suspects are not believed to have designed the ransomware. Instead, they ran what amounted to a CTB-Locker franchise, paying the designers 30 percent of all of their proceeds To read the rest of our piece, click here.   IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Links from our blog, The Hill, and around the Web. The Coinbase cryptocurrency exchange is investigating insider trading. (The Hill) OP-ED: WannaCry demonstrates the defensive power of working together. (CNN) OP-ED: You might already be qualified for a cyber job. (The Hill) OP-ED: Don't regulate AI. (The Hill) A cybersecurity firm is suing a cybersecurity reporter over a story about security flaws in their product. (ZD NET) A British teen will avoid jail time despite running a DDoS service. (BankInfoSec) Chinese attackers are targeting think tanks. (FireEye) If you'd like to receive our newsletter in your inbox, please sign up here.           Did a friend forward you this email? 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Overnight Regulation: Labor board burns through Obama-era rules | European court deals blow to Uber | DeVos issues new rules to help defrauded students

View in your browser     Welcome to Overnight Regulation, your daily rundown of news from the federal agencies, Capitol Hill, the courts and beyond. It's Wednesday night in Washington, where Republicans passed a massive tax overhaul, and lawmakers have two days to fund the government and avoid a shutdown.   THE BIG STORY The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is delivering a flurry of wins to businesses now that it has a Republican majority under President Trump. The independent board tasked with enforcing fair labor practices and collective bargaining rights overruled three Obama-era rules last week in a series of 3-2 rulings. Employers had fought for years against the rules, including a controversial NLRB decision that changed the definition of a joint-employer. The joint-employer rule put companies potentially on the hook for labor law violations committed by their subcontractors if they have indirect or potential control over the terms and condition of employment. Companies that operate on a franchise model vigorously opposed the change. On Thursday, the labor board said it's returning to the standard that requires companies have "direct" and "immediate control" over labor conditions before they are liable for violations. The board also created a stricter test for determining when policies in employee handbooks will violate the rights of workers to bargain collectively. It also voted to prevent employees from being able to form so-called micro-unions. But worker rights advocates say the board is making the rulings in an unprecedented way. Lydia Wheeler has more here.   REGULATORY ROUNDUP Transportation: The European Court of Justice dealt Uber a major blow on Wednesday, declaring that the transportation company should be regulated like a taxi service instead of a technology company. The top European Union (EU) court said Uber and other similar technology companies are "inherently linked to a transport service" and should be "a service in the field of transport," according to The Associated Press. The decision could affect the way governments inside and outside of Europe regulate internet services like Uber that struggle to fit in with long-established laws. Julia Manchester has more here.   Education: The Department of Education on Wednesday announced new rules for providing aid to students claiming they were defrauded by their colleges that limits some student loan refunds according to income. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos said the new system "protects taxpayers from being forced to shoulder massive costs that may be unjustified." Under the new process, students' loan forgiveness will be determined by their income. Those making less than half of what their peers earn will receive full relief, the department said. "No fraud is acceptable, and students deserve relief if the school they attended acted dishonestly. This improved process will allow claims to be adjudicated quickly and harmed students to be treated fairly," DeVos said in a statement.  The new policy is a departure from Obama-era rules, which provided full loan forgiveness to defrauded students. Brett Samuels has more here.   Finance: The chief U.S. bank overseer on Wednesday called on the financial services industry to provide better ways to serve customers online or risk losing business. Comptroller of the Currency Joseph Otting said that banks have to offer customers easier access to lending and other critical services through mobile applications and websites to prevent losing ground to financial technology companies. "The old ways of doing a lot of things are evolving, and I think that the financial services industry has to evolve as well," said Otting, who was confirmed Nov. 16, in his first briefing with reporters. Financial technology companies, often called "fintechs," have exploded in popularity as smartphones proliferated throughout the U.S. Such companies offer loans, money transfers and payments using mobile apps or websites. Read more from Sylvan Lane here.   Environment: A federal court wants the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to report, with "precision and specificity," how it plans to take a key step in implementing a 2015 smog pollution rule. The demand from the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit came after the EPA in November shared which areas of the country comply with the regulation, but refused to say which areas do not comply. Both kinds of designations were due Oct. 1, two years after the Obama administration finalized its major ground-level ozone rule. Environmentalists and Democratic states have sued the EPA to force the declarations known as "nonattainment" designations. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt opposed the regulation in his previous job as Oklahoma's Republican attorney general and sued to stop it. Timothy Cama has the rest of the story here.   Health care: The Department of Justice (DOJ) has dropped its appeal of a district court order that stopped it from blocking two young, unaccompanied immigrant women in federal custody from obtaining an abortion. DOJ was appealing the court order for only one of the two women, known as Jane Roe, but asked the court to dismiss the case late Tuesday after it was discovered that Roe was 19 years old, not 17 years old, as previously believed. The department said Roe was transferred from the Office of Refugee Resettlement to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and released on her own recognizance. An ICE spokesperson confirmed for The Hill that, under the national detention standards, a woman in custody can obtain an abortion. The woman must bear the cost of the procedure unless her life is endangered by carrying the baby to term, or if the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest. Read more from Lydia Wheeler here.   Technology: Tom Wheeler, the former chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) under President Obama, on Wednesday called for internet giants like Facebook and Google to be regulated. "It is time to recognize that the most powerful companies in the country should not be making their own rules," Wheeler wrote in a blog post for the Biden Forum. "These are not evil companies or malicious executives," he continued. "In the absence of ground rules, however, human nature and economic incentive take over. Aided and abetted by their powerful technological capabilities, the companies that control the internet are free to impose their will without permission or oversight." Harper Neidig has more here.   Courts: Nearly a third of President Trump's judicial nominees have records that demonstrate hostility towards the rights of LGBT people, according to a new analysis released Wednesday by Lambda Legal. The LGBT advocacy group said one-in-three, or 16 of the 59 nominees that Trump has put forth since taking office, have anti-LGBT records, including Leonard Steven Grasz who was recently confirmed to 8th Circuit Court of Appeals. Grasz was rated "not qualified" by the American Bar Association out of concern that he would be unable to be an impartial judge. Lambda Legal also pointed to Matthew Kacsmaryk, who has been tapped to serve as a district judge on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas. Lydia Wheeler has the rest of the story here.   Finance: The top United States bank overseer told reporters Wednesday that he supports moderate changes to the strict post-crisis rules placed on banks. Comptroller of the Currency Joseph Otting said during a roundtable with reporters that the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010 helped make banks more aware of their risk, but needed to be revised to loosen the burden on smaller firms. "The banking industry is in the best shape it's ever been," said Otting, a former bank CEO who was confirmed by the Senate on Nov. 16. "There were a lot of risks that a lot of institutions didn't know they had, or weren't cognizant of" before the crisis, Otting said, referring to the large national and international footprints. Read the rest Sylvan Lane's story here.   Technology: New York State Assemblymember Patricia Fahy (D) is pushing a bill in an effort to protect the principles of net neutrality in her state in the wake of the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) vote to repeal the popular Obama-era regulations. According to Fast Company, Fahy has introduced a short piece of legislation that would prohibit state, county and city authorities from doing business with internet service providers that engage in business practices that were prohibited by the net neutrality rules, like blocking or throttling web content or making websites buy into internet "fast lanes." "If you are going to be a contractor and want to work with New York, then you must meet the principles," Fahy told the magazine. Harper Neidig has more here.   Technology: The trading platform Coinbase is investigating potential insider trading involving the digital currency Bitcoin Cash. The company is looking into whether an employee profited off inside information Tuesday when the platform saw a dramatic rise in the value of Bitcoin Cash. Coinbase, the largest cryptocurrency trading platform, had just allowed live trading on Bitcoin Cash for the first time earlier that evening. The platform suspended trading of Bitcoin Cash after its value soared from $3,000 a coin to more than $8,500 a coin within an hour. In a blog post, the GDAX trading platform -- owned by Coinbase -- said it was suspending Bitcoin Cash trading because of "significant volatility" until Wednesday morning. Ali Breland has more here.   Elsewhere in the news: France to ban oil and gas production by 2040 (The Hill) US sanctions Chechen president under Magnitsky Act (The Hill) House passes bill to revamp criteria for 'systemically important' banks (The Wall Street Journal) FDA blesses blindness treatment that could cost $1 million (The Wall Street Journal) Uber's dismal 2017 ends in regulatory armageddon (Vanity Fair) Europe's financial regulation chief concerned about cryptocurrency volatility (Financial Times) US regulator downplays bitcoin fears (Reuters) Not just Mylan: misclassifications may have cost Medicaid more than $1B (Regulatory Focus)   Send tips, story ideas and pictures of puppies in the snow to nweixel@thehill.com and follow me on Twitter @NateWeixel         Did a friend forward you this email? Sign up for Regulation Newsletters     Forward Regulation Newsletters       Privacy Policy  |  Manage Subscriptions  |  Unsubscribe  |  Email to a friend  |  Sign Up for Other Newsletters   The Hill 1625 K Street, NW 9th Floor, Washington DC 20006 ©2016 Capitol Hill Publishing Corp., a subsidiary of News Communications, Inc.