Those in the energy industry are watching closely as the Friday deadline approaches for the US Senate approval of a $1.4 trillion omnibus spending package and whether it might include an energy package.
Friday is a government funding deadline and negotiators have only a few days to finalize the massive government funding package.
POLITICO reported the energy package possibility this way—“Sources on and off the Hill said energy bill negotiators made substantial progress in the last week at negotiating a package pulling from the Senate’s energy bill, S. 2657 (116), and a House-passed measure, H.R. 4447 (116) , that would likely include bills boosting technologies like energy storage, advanced nuclear and carbon capture technologies, as well as a compromise phasing down the use of hydrofluorocarbons.”
Environmental groups don’t want Democrats to support any such deal and in a letter to Senate minority leader Charles Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi expressed their opposition.
It was headlined “Oppose Dirty Energy Handouts.”
“We have serious concerns about the prospects of the Senate moving legislation in lame duck that will provide subsidies to support fossil fuels, offshore drilling, and nuclear energy, as well as support false climate solutions like carbon capture and storage, biofuels, offsets and carbon pricing.”
Nearly 250 groups signed the letter, charging that “Dirty energy companies are pushing these taxpayer handouts under the guise of addressing the climate crisis, but in reality, these policies will forward energy injustice and are a distraction from the real actions we need to address the climate crisis, which is an end to new fossil fuel infrastructure, a rapid phase out of fossil fuels and a transition to clean renewable energy.”