Manchin eyes ‘good adjustments’ to methane fee

Senate Democrats continue to negotiate changes to the proposed methane charge to please Senator Joe Manchin (DW.Va.) and other moderates, and are complicating their efforts to complete a procedural review and finalize their climate and social spending package by Christmas.

At the same time, they are also starting to publish laws and new results from the Congressional Budget Office as they see progress in clearing the nearly $ 2 trillion “Build Back Better Act” through the Senate MP.

Manchin, chairman of the Senate’s Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said yesterday the Democrats had made “some good adjustments” to the policy in response to concerns about the overlap between the fee and the Biden administration’s newly proposed methane regulations.

“If you strictly abide by the rules, you shouldn’t pay any fees,” Manchin told reporters yesterday. “So we’re talking about different things like that.”

These comments reflect a debate that has been raging behind closed doors for months, but are another indication that Manchin is not entirely satisfied with the compromise version of the Democratic ruling made in October.

Legislation passed by the House of Representatives would combine a fee for excess methane emissions, which is set to climb to $ 1,500 per tonne by 2025, with $ 775 in subsidies to help oil and gas operators reduce and monitor those emissions . It was a deal designed to allay the concerns of moderates and manufacturing State Democrats, but Manchin isn’t the only one with the doubling. Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas), who said he was trying to get Manchin to remove the methane fee on their way through the Senate, tweeted yesterday that “no double fee is required” if manufacturers contact the EPA Adhere to regulations.

While Cuellar voted for the full package in the House of Representatives, the burgeoning public campaign could mean policy changes are imminent. Senate Environment and Public Works Chairman Tom Carper (D-Del.), Who negotiated the first compromise, said he expected “additional changes to what the House did” while negotiating and procedural with Manchin Hurdles overcome (E&E Daily, Dec. 8).

Those negotiations will continue as the Democrats work this week to clear each committee’s bill with the Senate MP to ensure it passes the “Byrd Rule,” which governs reconciliation, which mandates that every provision be one must have a direct impact on federal spending or revenue.

The EPW committee was supposed to have its “Byrd bath” yesterday, but Manchin said his own meeting with the MP had been postponed until today.

Senate Finance Chairman Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) Was confident yesterday that the clean energy tax portion of his panel’s reconciliation proposal – which he calls “the linchpin in current efforts to address the.” Climate Change ”- would remain intact, both adhering to Byrd’s Rule and overcoming potential challenges by senior panel member, Senator Mike Crapo, R-Idaho.

Wyden also said he scheduled a meeting with the Senate MP for yesterday to discuss this part of the Senate Finance Committee’s draft.

“Of course, we strongly believe that because we’re talking about taxes and tax spending, that’s what you need to get over the Byrd Bath,” Wyden told reporters.

Industry pressure

Senators are also faced with a flurry of lobbying as interest and industry groups are calling for tweaks and additions to various provisions of the package.

The hydropower industry has been pushing for a 30 percent investment tax credit for weeks to keep dams alive amid the expansion of renewable energy credits and carbon capture credits, but the directive was missing from the House bill (E&E Daily, Oct. 26 ).

Wyden said he was “working closely with the people of our region,” particularly Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), To include the hydropower incentive in the Atonement Act.

“[We] I am very confident that this is compatible with the Clean Energy for America Act, ”said Wyden of the hydropower tax credit, referring to the broader clean energy tax law that provides his reconciliation framework for tackling the climate crisis.

Meanwhile, proponents of carbon capture are calling for changes to the extension of the 45Q tax credit included in the bill. Currently, legislation would increase the incentive from $ 50 to $ 85 per ton as long as a power plant or industrial facility captures at least 75 percent of its carbon.

But in a letter to Manchin and Wyden this week, dozen of industry, union and advocacy groups called for the 75 percent threshold to qualify for the loan to be lifted. The stringent requirement, they wrote, could be “a deal breaker for investment” for many carbon capture projects and ultimately undermine President Biden’s climate goals.

“This requirement unnecessarily jeopardizes existing and new middle-class family support jobs in power plants that are suitable for retrofitting for CO2 capture,” wrote the groups, including the AFL-CIO, Third Way, Royal Dutch Shell PLC and the United Mine Workers of America .

“Therefore, determining the minimum percentage directly contradicts and undermines efforts elsewhere in the Build Back Better Act to ensure that cleaner energy improvements and industrial tax credits help secure and create American domestic jobs in excess of applicable wages.” they added.

Invoice text, CBO results

As the Byrd Bad process continues to play out behind closed doors, the Senate committees are beginning to release their own versions of the law text for the reconciliation package, as well as consistent CBO results.

The text and scores vary due to differing responsibilities between the House and Senate committees making comparisons difficult, but are expected to be broadly in line with law passed by the House of Representatives, with the exception of a few controversial provisions.

The CBO last night released the cost of four of the less controversial titles of the Senate proposal from the Banking, Housing and Urban Development Committee, the Commerce, Science and Transport Committee, the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee, and the Veterans Affairs Committee.

But the CBO has yet to grapple with the key energy and environmental proposals in the Senate bill or proposed changes to the tax law, which will be the key to offsetting new spending.

The results, released last night, showed:

• The Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs programs, including federal lead mining efforts, would cost a total of $ 164.8 billion over 10 years.

• The Commerce, Science and Transport Committee’s programs, including some climate research, would cost a total of $ 35.8 billion over 10 years.

• The Small Business Committee programs would cost $ 5.02 billion over 10 years.

• The Veterans’ Affairs Committee programs would cost $ 5 billion over 10 years.

Just under $ 10 billion of the more than $ 210 billion planned spending in the four sections would be offset by new revenue or other programmatic changes. The VA and Small Business results are in line with those reported for the same sections in the bill passed by the House, showing that the Senators have made no significant changes.

Senate spending reviewed so far is only a small fraction of the nearly $ 2 trillion the chamber is expected to propose in the package. It is closely compared to the House of Representatives’ $ 1.7 trillion plan, which would add about $ 160 billion to the federal deficit over the next decade.

Manchin eyes ‘good adjustments’ to methane fee