1 big thing: Why Twin Metals matters 

2. Exclusive: Scott's solar crusade

Illustration of a lit lightbulb being covered by a red sheet. 

3. Progressives press on permits

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Today’s last song is from Rep. Pete Stauber, who extols John Mellencamp’s 2005 Farm Aid performance of “Pink Houses.”

✅ Thank you for reading Axios Pro Policy, and thanks to editors Chuck McCutcheon and David Nather and copy editor Brad Bonhall.

Energy Policy

1 big thing: Meet the IRA VIPs

⛸ Merry Monday, friends! We know you might just be skating by, but that's why we're here with a list of need-to-know House Dems on the IRA.

🎤 We're asking our sources for the last song they listened to. 

Today’s comes from Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester, who confessed her favorite track on Beyoncé's “Renaissance” is “Break My Soul.”

Energy Policy Thought Bubble

1 big thing: Solar's CRA woes

2. Grijalva dishes on EJ for All

🌸 It's a sunny day on cherry blossom week here, and we've got solar on our minds.

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⭕️ We've been asking sources for the last song they listened to, but today we have one from one of us. Nick's been jamming out to Phish's Feb. 28, 2003, performance of "Tweezer." Check it out.

Check it out -- it's one of the band's best shows

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✅ Thank you for reading Axios Pro Policy, and thanks to editors Chuck McCutcheon and David Nather and copy editor Carolyn DiPaolo.

1 big thing: EPA in the hot seat

🐪 It's a big week for budget hearings. Today, we have a breakdown of the Senate's scrutiny of EPA.

We've been asking people for the last song they listened to. Today's comes from our editor Chuck: Gogol Bordello's "Shot of Solidaritine."

✅ Thank you for reading Axios Pro Policy, and thanks to editors Chuck McCutcheon and David Nather.

1 big thing: Murkowski's battery metal bump

2. Carbon tariff talks start

photo illustration of senators Bill Cassidy, Chris Coons and Shelton Whitehouse on a green background made of money and fumes

3. What we're hearing in Hill hallways

🌄 Happy Senate Friday! (You know what we mean.... 😜)

🎤 We're asking our sources for the last song they listened to. Today's comes from Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who enjoys "Ghost Train" by Marc Cohn. 

✅ Thank you for reading Axios Pro Policy, and thanks to Axios reporter Andrew Solender, editors Chuck McCutcheon and David Nather and copy editor Brad Bonhall.

Rick Scott is reintroducing a bill to ban the federal government from buying solar panels made in China.

Why it matters: It’s another China pressure point for the GOP and part of a larger fight over solar’s future that crosses partisan lines.

The government is already subject to various buy-American requirements, but the bill would be more explicit.

Driving the news: Scott’s office gave Axios an exclusive advance look at the legislation.

It would prohibit the government from procuring “solar panels manufactured or assembled by any entity located in, or subject to the influence or control of, Communist China,” per a summary from his office.

Josh Hawley, Marco Rubio and Tom Cotton — some of the Senate's biggest China hawks — are cosponsors.

"We must work to fully decouple our supply chains and end our reliance on products from Communist China. That's the only way to truly build American independence and self-sufficiency," Scott said in a statement.

Context: Scott is also the lead Senate sponsor on a bipartisan resolution to repeal President Biden’s pause on solar tariffs for four Southeast Asian countries.

That Congressional Review Act push is creating some strange political bedfellows, as we wrote this week.

The other side: The solar industry says it needs a grace period to onshore more panel manufacturing using incentives from the IRA.

Currently, China controls the lion’s share of the solar supply chain, and installers in the U.S. rely heavily on cheaply made foreign panels.

Scott’s bill isn’t likely to become law, but it’s notable in the political back-and-forth over protectionism and domestic manufacturing.

Scott's solar crusade

Bill would ban purchase of China-made solar panels.

Congress

Rick Scott is reintroducing a bill to ban the federal government from buying solar panels made in China.Why it matters: It’s another China pressure point for the GOP and part of a larger fight over solar’s future that crosses partisan lines.<ul><li>The government is already subject to various buy-American requirements, but the bill would be more explicit.</li></ul>Driving the news: Scott’s office gave Axios an exclusive advance look at the legislation.<ul><li>It would prohibit the government from procuring “solar panels manufactured or assembled by any entity located in, or subject to the influence or control of, Communist China,” per a summary from his office.</li><li>It would also apply to federal grants. </li><li>Josh Hawley, Marco Rubio and Tom Cotton — some of the Senate&#x27;s biggest China hawks — are cosponsors.</li><li>&quot;We must work to fully decouple our supply chains and end our reliance on products from Communist China. That&#x27;s the only way to truly build American independence and self-sufficiency,&quot; Scott said in a statement.</li></ul>Context: Scott is also the lead Senate sponsor on a bipartisan resolution to repeal President Biden’s pause on solar tariffs for four Southeast Asian countries.<ul><li>That Congressional Review Act push is creating some strange political bedfellows, <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="as we wrote this week" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/pro/energy-policy/2023/03/21/solars-cra-woes" data-vars-content-id="835f0f10-c49e-41a2-8208-0dba46129124" data-vars-headline="Scott&#x27;s solar crusade" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/pro/energy-policy/2023/03/21/solars-cra-woes" target="_self">as we wrote this week</a>.</li></ul>The other side: The solar industry says it needs a grace period to onshore more panel manufacturing using incentives from the IRA.<ul><li>Currently, China controls the lion’s share of the solar supply chain, and installers in the U.S. rely heavily on cheaply made foreign panels.</li><li>Scott’s bill isn’t likely to become law, but it’s notable in the political back-and-forth over protectionism and domestic manufacturing.</li></ul>

EPA Administrator Michael Regan’s first appearance before Senate EPW this year showed President Biden’s regulatory agenda at a critical juncture.

Why it matters: EPA has become the focal point of the administration’s post-IRA climate and environmental agenda.

It’s set for additional scrutiny as it leads cleanup efforts in East Palestine, Ohio and finalizes a slate of politically contentious regulatory items.

Here’s what you need to know from the hearing:

🏭 GHG rules: Regan confirmed that EPA is planning to unveil a power plant greenhouse gas regulation by the end of April.

Our thought bubble: It’s going to set off a political firestorm, and Regan will have to thread the regulatory needle after last year’s ruling in West Virginia v. EPA.

The case preemptively limited EPA’s authority to reduce emissions by requiring shifts to different types of power generation (from fossil fuels to renewables, for example).

But the agency is still obligated to regulate GHGs, and some Democrats have criticized it for not moving fast enough to do so.

What they’re saying: Regan said the agency would stay “well within the guardrails” set by the West Virginia case.

“Our rule will set the structure for the opportunities in this country, especially those that have come about because of the Inflation Reduction Act,” Regan told the panel.

As he walked out of the hearing, Sheldon Whitehouse said: “As long as they stick within traditional means of regulation and don't inadvertently say something dumb about market changing, then I think they're on very strong footing.”

💵 Money and workforce: Biden’s budget requested a $​​1.9 billEPA in the hot seation boost for EPA for fiscal 2024, in part to hire roughly 2,000 more people.

Quick take: Republicans on EPW made clear that’s not going to happen in a divided Congress, but the agency workforce conversation isn't going away.

Democrats gave the agency $41 billion in the IRA — roughly quadruple its typical annual spending.

It’s on the hook for implementing a slew of new programs, including the recently announced $27 billion Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund and a new federal fee on methane emissions.

Democrats said the agency could move faster on the IRA and regulatory laws like the 2016 overhaul of the Toxic Substances Control Act if it had more resources.

By the numbers: EPA generally employed between 16,000 and 18,000 people from the 1990s until 2012.

A period of cuts and flat funding has brought that number to between 14,000 and 15,000 in recent years.

What they’re saying: “I am not convinced that EPA is using the resources it already has effectively,” said ranking member Shelley Moore Capito.

What we're watching: This dispute over money could also play into the ongoing debate on the Hill about cutting down environmental permit requirements for energy projects.

💧WOTUS woes: Republicans also zeroed in on EPA’s new Waters of the United States rule, as they prepare an attempt to repeal it via the Congressional Review Act.

The rule is significant — and controversial — because it determines which kinds of waterways are eligible for federal protection.

One point that came up repeatedly: The Supreme Court will issue a ruling this summer in Sackett v. EPA that threatens to toss out parts of the regulation.

Why, Republicans wondered, would EPA spend two years writing a rule that might be irrelevant in a few months?

“It concerns me that the EPA water office could have been prioritizing PFAS instead of writing the WOTUS rule, which is going to have to be changed, in all likelihood, after the Supreme Court makes its decision this summer,” Capito said.

What we’re watching: The Senate is expected to vote soon on the CRA rollback of WOTUS — a political exercise that could get support from moderate Democrats up for reelection in 2024.

EPA in the hot seat

EPA becomes focal point of post-IRA environmental agenda.

Regan testifies before EPW. Photo: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

EPA Administrator Michael Regan’s first appearance before Senate EPW this year showed President Biden’s regulatory agenda at a critical juncture.Why it matters: EPA has become the focal point of the administration’s post-IRA climate and environmental agenda.

⚔️ Unusual bipartisan battle lines are emerging in the coming Hill fight over solar tariffs.

Why it matters: Tossing out the tariff waiver would have massive financial implications for the U.S. solar industry, which currently relies on cheap imported panels.

Driving the news: A bipartisan group is pushing for a Congressional Review Act vote to overturn the Biden administration’s pause on levies for solar panels imported from four Southeast Asian countries.

Because it doesn’t cut neatly across partisan lines, this could be the most substantively important CRA resolution Congress takes up this year.

Details: The issue isn't quite ripe on the Hill yet. Several lawmakers Axios talked to either weren’t familiar with the issue or weren’t willing to discuss it publicly.

But solar industry groups are worried there may be enough votes to override a veto from President Biden.

It has five Democratic cosponsors in the House, and some Republicans have been actively lobbying against the tariff pause.

In a sign of the bubbling concern among industry and its allies, Sen. Jacky Rosen circulated a memo with Democratic offices urging them to oppose the resolution, as Axios' Hans Nichols reported.

Context: The Commerce Department, after a petition from U.S. manufacturer Auxin Solar, launched an investigation last year into whether companies were using Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam to circumvent tariffs on Chinese panels.

In a preliminary finding in December, Commerce said some companies had indeed funneled their products through those countries to skirt U.S. border fees.

But President Biden preemptively issued the two-year waiver, allowing duty-free imports from those countries to continue through 2024.

The intrigue: The tariff waiver highlights the political tensions Biden is navigating, as he tries to build domestic solar manufacturing capacity and deploy huge amounts of new renewable power in the near term.

Solar projects in the U.S. rely so heavily on China because it controls more than 80% of the panel supply chain.

“If we're serious about addressing climate change, we have to allow time for that transition,” ACORE CEO Greg Wetstone said.

SEIA says ending the waiver would force companies to pay more than $1 billion in retroactive fees and undermine the climate policies Democrats enacted in the IRA.

What they're saying: “I don't think many people believe we ought to continue to buy solar panels from China,” Rick Scott, the lead CRA sponsor in the Senate, told Axios.

Sherrod Brown and Bob Casey recently wrote Biden, arguing that “circumvention of U.S. trade law ... is harming American workers and industry.”

"We can't have a loophole around this," said Ro Khanna, a House cosponsor.

Zoom in: The Michigan delegation offers some insight into how this dynamic might play out among Democrats.

In the House, Dan Kildee is a lead sponsor of the resolution.

Debbie Stabenow acknowledged the solar industry’s concerns and said a two-year pause “makes sense to me.”

“I haven't looked at all that closely, but in general, we need to transition so that we are doing the manufacturing here,” she said.

But she also pointed to Michigan’s Hemlock Semiconductor, a major producer of polysilicon, as an example of a company that has been hit by "unfair trade" with China.

Yes, but: The industry’s allies on the Hill are confident that the resolution won’t get enough support to override a Biden veto.

“Not worried at all," Sen. Brian Schatz said.

What we’re watching: Finance Chair Ron Wyden is a key figure, since he leads the Senate committee of jurisdiction.

Wyden said last year he had “significant concerns about gifting Chinese producers — wherever they’re located — a two-year delay in penalties."

“I've heard some discussion of various forms,” he said this month when asked about the CRA resolution.

Solar's CRA woes

Tossing out tariff waiver would have massive implications.

Solar panels in Los Angeles. Photo: Daniel Slim/AFP via Getty Images

Solar power

⚔️ Unusual bipartisan battle lines are emerging in the coming Hill fight over solar tariffs.Why it matters: Tossing out the tariff waiver would have massive financial implications for the U.S. solar industry, which currently relies on cheap imported panels.

Progressives are preparing to reintroduce a landmark environmental justice bill this week.

Why it matters: Lead sponsor Raul Grijalva sees this as a crucial cog in the progressive fight against a bipartisan permits deal and a way to show contrast with H.R. 1, the sweeping Republican energy package.

Driving the news: Grijalva and Sen. Tammy Duckworth will formally roll out the legislation during a media event with activists Wednesday.

It will be dubbed the "A. Donald McEachin Environmental Justice for All Act," honoring its former cosponsor, who passed away last year.

Grijalva and McEachin spent years consulting with EJ community activists to write the bill, which would strengthen the National Environmental Policy Act and add new EJ provisions to the Civil Rights Act.

It's effectively the opposite of the kind of NEPA changes Republicans are seeking with H.R. 1.

Flashback: When McEachin died last year, Grijalva pushed for a floor vote on EJ For All before Democrats lost control of the House, but it never materialized amid internal disagreements.

Grijalva said that was a "disappointment."

But, he told Axios, "I think the relevancy of EJ for All is as strong, if not stronger, because of the contrast coming with H.R. 1."

Talking about environmental justice is good politics for Democrats because it puts "a human face on the discussions that we're having about H.R. 1," Grijalva said.

"When you deal in abstracts, human faces become abstracts," Grijalva said of discussions about shortening project review timelines and limiting NEPA lawsuits.

What we're watching: Grijalva and other progressives are planning a separate permitting counterproposal, as Axios reported this month.

As for moderates hoping to strike a deal that includes measures to speed deployment of transmission lines, Grijalva said they're missing the point.

"An off-ramp on transmission, that can be discussed, but that's not the discussion that's going on," he said.

"If we were talking about permitting reform, then we'd be talking about resources, not just undoing, waving and deregulating things," he added.

Of note: Grijalva said he's set to have a conference call soon with CEQ Chair Brenda Mallory.

One point he plans to raise: The Biden administration has money from the IRA at its disposal to shorten project permitting timelines — without changing NEPA.

Grijalva dishes on EJ for All

Progressives to roll out the legislation on Wednesday.

Grijalva speaks at a 2020 hearing. Photo: Michael Reynolds/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

Progressives are preparing to reintroduce a landmark environmental justice bill this week.Why it matters: Lead sponsor Raul Grijalva sees this as a crucial cog in the progressive fight against a bipartisan permits deal and a way to show contrast with H.R. 1, the sweeping Republican energy package.

👀 Jared Huffman is set to lead a new Congressional Progressive Caucus task force on speeding renewable energy deployment.

Why it matters: It's another chess piece for progressives to use to push back on Republicans and Democratic moderates who want to change the National Environmental Policy Act and other permitting laws so projects can proceed more quickly. 

Details: The plan, Huffman said, is to highlight the "real factors that have held up clean energy projects."

Progressives also point to the $1 billion Democrats provided in the IRA to speed permits, arguing that the government needs resources — not legal changes — to move projects more quickly.

The other side: Republicans say giving permitting agencies more money won't work.

"Do I think, after working in government for a number of years of my life, that you need to throw money at every problem that's out there? No," Garret Graves told reporters in his office this week.

Go deeper: Ed Markey also announced his own suite of policies to speed electric transmission deployment during an event with progressive policy folks this week.

"I'm just laying down the standards that have to be used in any permitting reform, but I also want to make it clear that much of this can already be done by FERC," Markey told reporters after the event.

Progressives press on permits

New task force aims to speed renewable energy deployment.

Huffman speaks this month. Photo: Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call Inc. via Getty Images

👀 Jared Huffman is set to lead a new Congressional Progressive Caucus task force on speeding renewable energy deployment.Why it matters: It&#x27;s another chess piece for progressives to use to push back on Republicans and Democratic moderates who want to <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="change" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/pro/energy-policy/2023/03/14/whats-in-the-new-gop-energy-bill" data-vars-content-id="f81da3dd-1a04-4704-b343-9e6bc82fd551" data-vars-headline="Progressives press on permits" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/pro/energy-policy/2023/03/14/whats-in-the-new-gop-energy-bill" target="_self">change</a> the National Environmental Policy Act and other permitting laws so projects can proceed more quickly. Details: The plan, Huffman said, is to highlight the &quot;real factors that have held up clean energy projects.&quot;<ul><li>Progressives also point to the $1 billion Democrats provided in the IRA to speed permits, arguing that the government needs resources — not legal changes — to move projects more quickly.</li></ul>The other side: Republicans say giving permitting agencies more money won&#x27;t work.<ul><li>&quot;Do I think, after working in government for a number of years of my life, that you need to throw money at every problem that&#x27;s out there? No,&quot; Garret Graves told reporters in his office this week.</li></ul>Go deeper: Ed Markey also announced his own <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="suite of policies" data-vars-click-url="https://www.markey.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/senator_markeys_progressive_priorities_for_clean_energy_deployment_-_032123pdf.pdf" data-vars-content-id="f81da3dd-1a04-4704-b343-9e6bc82fd551" data-vars-headline="Progressives press on permits" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.markey.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/senator_markeys_progressive_priorities_for_clean_energy_deployment_-_032123pdf.pdf" target="_blank">suite of policies</a> to speed electric transmission deployment during an event with progressive policy folks this week.<ul><li>&quot;I&#x27;m just laying down the standards that have to be used in any permitting reform, but I also want to make it clear that much of this can already be done by FERC,&quot; Markey told reporters after the event.</li></ul>

Nick Sobczyk

Stories

Progressives press on permits

Scott's solar crusade

EPA in the hot seat

Solar's CRA woes

Grijalva dishes on EJ for All

Newsletter editions

⛏ Minnesota mining maven

🔦 EPA's Hill spotlight

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💎 The IRA VIPs

🔋 Murkowski's metal moves