“The agreement announced on the HFCs phasedown is welcome news and will make a good addition to our already bipartisan energy innovation bill,” Senate Energy Committee Chairman Lisa Murkowski told Josh. “I’m working with colleagues on both sides of the aisle to bring our bill back to the floor as soon as possible, but also recognize that given the calendar, that will require cooperation and good faith from members and stakeholders alike.”

Energy bill politics: The legislation, the American Energy Innovation Act, contains pieces of more than 50 bills that have already cleared the Senate Energy Committee. It includes provisions to boost technologies such as advanced nuclear, energy storage, carbon capture, energy efficiency, geothermal power, and emissions-cutting technologies in the industrial sector.

After seeming to have a path to passage, the bill was derailed just before the pandemic by a dispute over whether to allow a vote on a bipartisan amendment to limit HFCs.

Wyoming Republican John Barrasso, who chairs the Senate Environment Committee, objected to holding a vote on the HFC amendment, arguing it could leave the door open for states such as California and New York to set stricter coolant limits than federal standards.

What’s in the HFC deal: As part of the new agreement, Barrasso won language that would prevent the timelines for state phaseouts from becoming more stringent than federal rules.

The new plan would direct the EPA to regulate HFCs consistent with a global deal limiting the refrigerants, known as the Kigali Amendment. Meeting the agreement’s targets could avoid around half a degree Celsius of global warming, according to scientists’ estimates. HFCs account for a small percentage of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, but are considered more powerful than carbon dioxide.

Industry strongly backs the global deal, and for the first two years of the Trump administration unsuccessfully lobbied the White House to support it.

“This amendment would spur billions of dollars of economic growth in domestic manufacturing and create tens of thousands of new jobs, all while helping our planet avoid half a degree Celsius in global warming,” said Democrat Tom Carper, who reached the deal with Barrasso and Republican John Kennedy.

One more note about timing: Murkowski has touted the energy bill as a way to reinvigorate the clean energy industry as it struggles to recover from the pandemic.

“As we are looking to assist our economy with recovery, this is ready made fresh,” she said in June.

Top Energy Committee Democrat Joe Manchin said the onus is on Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

“I hope leadership steps forward and say enough is enough,” he recently told Josh.

Welcome to Daily on Energy, written by Washington Examiner Energy and Environment Writers Josh Siegel (@SiegelScribe) and Abby Smith (@AbbySmithDC). Email jsiegel@washingtonexaminer.com or asmith@washingtonexaminer.com for tips, suggestions, calendar items, and anything else. If a friend sent this to you and you’d like to sign up, click here. If signing up doesn’t work, shoot us an email, and we’ll add you to our list.

MURKOWSKI DEFENDS CRITICAL MINERALS MEASURE IN GOP COVID-19 RELIEF BILL: Murkowski on Thursday rebuked attacks by Democrats, including Bernie Sanders, who said Republicans are “providing corporate welfare” to the coal industry by including a measure to boost domestic production of critical minerals in the GOP “skinny” pandemic relief bill.

The Republican bill, introduced this week, contains a provision sponsored by Murkowski and Manchin to spend millions for research into extracting rare earth metals from coal.

The inclusion comes as Republican lawmakers in both chambers have raised increasing concerns about U.S. reliance on other countries, especially China, for critical minerals used in everything from military equipment to electric cars. Murkowski’s American Mineral Security Act, introduced last year, seeks to speed permitting for critical minerals mining, identify U.S. critical mineral deposits, and invest in research and development of recycling and alternatives.

“I was a little bit bemused, I guess, when I saw that this particular provision was the object of partisan scorn,” Murkowski said on the Senate floor. “It was actually the Obama administration that helped fund the research to examine the potential of these technologies.”

“When you think of what we’re doing here, we’re seeking to recover rare earths from coal waste. It’s a little bit like turning your trash into treasure. It is the ultimate in recycling…It could ironically add to our domestic supplies without necessitating new mines.”

TRUMP’S OFFSHORE DRILLING MOVE TRICKLES TO DOWN-BALLOT RACES: Democrat Joe Cunningham last year sponsored a bill that passed the House to forever ban offshore oil and gas drilling off the Atlantic Coast, aimed at protecting the tourism economy of South Carolina’s 1st District.

But President Trump just handed a gift to Cunningham’s re-election opponent, Republican Nancy Mace, who is making the case that she is more opposed to offshore drilling than Democrats in order to swipe one of the most closely contested 2020 House races, Josh writes in a story posted this morning.

In a speech in Florida this week, with Mace in the audience, Trump announced he would extend an existing moratorium on offshore drilling in the eastern Gulf of Mexico and expanding it to Florida’s Atlantic coast, Georgia — and South Carolina.

Trump’s ban would last 10 years from 2022, short of the permanent ban that Cunningham sought. But the GOP Senate blocked Cunningham’s bill from becoming law.

Who has the edge?: Before the president’s election year change of heart, Mace had been trying to one-up Cunningham, criticizing the Trump administration’s support for offshore drilling.

“I am not just a ‘no’ on offshore drilling. I am a ‘hell no,’” Mace told Josh. “No one gets a free pass, not even the president of the United States.”

But Cunningham, who has a slight edge in race according to prognosticators, is attacking Mace for not linking her opposition to offshore drilling to the need to combat climate change.

Cunningham recently shared a clip of a local interview in which Mace says she is “mixed” on climate change science and recognizes “both sides of the issue.”

“This is downright disqualifying in the Lowcountry,” Cunningham tweeted, noting South Carolina’s vulnerability to floods caused by sea level rise. “The Lowcountry can’t afford a climate denier in Congress.”

Asked to clarify her position by Josh, Mace repeated she is “not a scientist” and acknowledged sea levels are rising, but whether it is caused by “manmade” climate change or natural reasons is “up for debate.”

CLIMATE CHANGE A DIVIDING LINE IN KEY FLORIDA RACE: Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell’s first reelection contest is proving to be much closer than expected in a Florida district that went for Hillary Clinton by 16 points in 2016, Abby reports in a story this morning.

Mucarsel-Powell, 49, flipped Florida’s 26th Congressional District blue in 2018, defeating centrist Republican Carlos Curbelo to help Democrats win the House majority.

But her reelection contest against Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez will be hard-fought, and climate change is emerging as one of the key issues of contrast.

Mucarsel-Powell and her 2018 opponent, Curbelo, had more similar views on those issues. Curbelo, while in Congress, bucked his party on climate change and introduced the first Republican-led carbon tax bill.

But Gimenez, whose county is especially vulnerable to effects of climate change such as sea-level rise, doesn’t support a price on carbon.

GREEN GROUP PLANS $100 MILLION ELECTION SPENDING SPREE: The League of Conservation Voters Victory Fund announced Thursday it along with state affiliates plans to spend $100 million this election cycle to help defeat Trump and down-ballot Republicans.

That breaks the environmental group’s previous record of $85 million spent in 2018.

LCV Victory Fund is launching a $10 million “Get Out The Vote” effort on September 14 to mobilize 2.5 million voters across Arizona, Florida, Maine, Michigan, Montana, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Iowa to turn out in the general election.

“Donald Trump went to Florida this week to greenwash his dangerous anti-environmental record because he knows voters want to see action on climate — and that’s exactly why we’re investing $100 million to get him and his climate denying evangelists out of office,” said Pete Maysmith, LCV Victory Fund Senior Vice President of Campaigns.

BROUILLETTE… ‘CHALLENGING’ TO COMPETE ON NUCLEAR EXPORTS: Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette acknowledged Friday how “challenging” it is for U.S. companies to compete with China and Russia in trying to export nuclear technologies overseas.

“There is no doubt China and Russia are very aggressive competitors,” Brouillette said in remarks at the Export-Import Bank’s virtual annual conference. “Their products are good. Their financing packages present a real challenge to the private sector in the U.S.”

U.S. officials are hopeful Ex-Im can partner with the Energy Department and the International Development Finance Corporation on making American exports more competitive.

The DFC recently lifted its ban on funding nuclear exports, with an eye toward promoting small reactors being developed.

China and Russia, with state-backed power, are already aggressively promoting their advanced nuclear technologies in developing countries. The DFC offers direct equity financing, loans, and political risk insurance, while Ex-Im can only offer credit or lending.

Brouillette predicted nuclear would be an attractive export option for countries that have strict carbon reduction targets.

“We want them to choose American technologies,” he said.

The Rundown

Wall Street Journal California utilities hope drones, AI will lower risk of future wildfires

New York Times These changes are needed amid worsening wildfires, experts say

Axios Obama energy secretary on blackouts, campaign scrutiny

Time As energy secretary, Rick Perry mixed Money and politics in Ukraine. The deals could be worth billions

Reuters Democrats unveil green alternative for US economic stimulus

Calendar

WEDNESDAY | SEP. 16

10 a.m. The House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Environment and Climate Change holds a remote hearing titled, “Building a 100 Percent Clean Economy: Opportunities for an Equitable, Low-Carbon Recovery.”

10 a.m. 366 Dirksen. The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee holds a confirmation hearing to consider Allison Clements and Mark Christie to be members of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

2:30 p.m. 366 Dirksen. The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee’s Subcommittee on Public Lands, Forests, and Mining holds a hearing to review various bills.