Sen. Lisa Murkowski has a fresh ask for President Biden after her victory on the Willow oil venture: support for an Alaskan graphite mining project, Jael writes.

Why it matters: Mining is the resource business of the future energy economy. Alaska could play a role, but Murkowski says so far Biden isn't helping to make it happen.

• Graphite is a primary metal in EV batteries used for making anode material. The mineral is mostly mined and refined in China.

Driving the news: Murkowski told Jael she's lobbying the Biden team to help Graphite One, a company developing one of the nation’s few viable graphite mining projects.

• Murkowski wants the Pentagon to back the project under the Defense Production Act — which she hopes eventually means faster permitting — and is seeking Energy Department grants and loans.

Instead of supporting Graphite One, Murkowski said, the Biden administration has backed the U.S. using imported minerals.

• Murkowski pointed to the Energy Department’s decision to give $102.1 million to Syrah Resources for the expansion of a refinery in Louisiana.
• The refinery will get graphite from a region of Mozambique plagued by violence where mining can foster displacement and discontent sometimes exploited by extremist recruiters. (Jael exposed this last year.)
• “That doesn’t seem like an answer that makes a lot of sense,” Murkowski said of the decision to get graphite from a “very, very volatile” region.

Energy Department spokesman Ramzey Smith said the agency's Loan Programs Office "does not comment on applicants or the status of applications, as we consider that information confidential."

• On Syrah, Smith said DOE "conducts rigorous due diligence that includes market reviews and country risk evaluation among other items," and the agency "evaluates and structures loans in a manner to include potential mitigants to potential risks."
• The Pentagon said it couldn't immediately comment on Graphite One.

Between the lines: This push has politics similar to Willow, yet the EV angle might make it easier for Murkowski to notch another win.

• So far Biden has upset Republicans over his handling of Alaska mining potential, including vetoing the Pebble mine and scrutinizing the Ambler road.
• Backing Graphite One would signal that Alaska can progress beyond fossil fuels to EV metals.
• But it could come with a backlash, too — similar to how the Willow move was seen by some as nakedly political.
• "I think there is a political calculus for the White House to do what they did on Willow," Rep. Sean Casten told Nick. "There is no obvious policy calculus."

Reality check: Graphite One sits atop one of the largest graphite deposits in the world but is far from starting its environmental reviews.

• That’s due to many factors, including the costs of a mine in untouched Alaskan tundra and vocal local critics.
• The only other U.S. graphite mining potential is in Alabama — but it could disrupt areas that exemplify what people want climate action to protect.
• Graphite can be made without mining, but that requires fossil fuels.

🤫 A bipartisan group of senators and staffers met with NGOs this morning to talk about carbon tariffs, Nick writes.

Why it matters: The discussions are nascent, but the meeting shows there's serious interest on the Senate side in taxing carbon-intensive imports.

Driving the news: Sheldon Whitehouse hosted the bipartisan confab in the Dirksen Senate office building.

• Attendees included Chris Coons, Bill Cassidy, Lindsey Graham and Kevin Cramer.
• They heard from some of the organizations that we told you are involved in crafting the policy.
• The Climate Leadership Council, Silverado Policy Accelerator and Resources for the Future were at the meeting, Whitehouse told Nick.
• Cassidy, Cramer and Graham huddled separately on the topic earlier this week.

What they're saying: The group "reviewed a complex and dense series of presentations of data, discussed it in a thoughtful and knowledgeable way, asked a few questions, and proposed a path forward," Coons said.

• "That's a great Thursday," Coons joked as he rode in a Senate subway car after the meeting with Whitehouse and Nick.

Context: As you may recall, the idea here is to slap a tariff on carbon-intensive industrial goods, such as steel and aluminum, that are imported.

• It's appealing to Democrats who have been trying to find a way to price carbon emissions for years. Republicans like it because it's an opportunity to go after China for its greenhouse gas emissions.
• Lawmakers on both sides also want to respond to the E.U.'s carbon border adjustment mechanism, or CBAM.

What's next: Cassidy is planning to unveil his own proposal, which he dubs the "foreign pollution fee," in the coming months, as we scooped in February.

• "The next step ... is for the Cassidy bill to be filed, and they've got their homework to do to get there. When they do, then we move on to the second chapter," Whitehouse said.

We’ve been tracking a few things around the Capitol. Here's Nick’s rundown of what we've heard.

💧WOTUS watch: The Senate will likely vote next week on a Congressional Review Act resolution repealing President Biden’s Waters of the United States rule, per lead sponsor Shelley Moore Capito.

• Nine Democrats supported repeal when it passed the House this month.
• Joe Manchin plans to support the repeal. Jon Tester told Nick he's undecided.

⚡️House energy package: Democrats are unsurprisingly trashing the energy bill the GOP rolled out this week, but the Senate's certainly paying attention to the details.

• Manchin told Axios' Andrew Solender that he's reviewing the bill before taking a position.
• Capito, the top Republican on EPW, said she's talking to her counterpart Tom Carper and House committee leaders about a narrower, bipartisan bill to speed up permits.

🛢️ Willow lawsuit: Dan Sullivan told Nick he plans to file a brief with the rest of the Alaska delegation defending the Willow project in the new lawsuit filed by environmental organizations.