Democrats are discussing a bill to explicitly target oil industry mergers, Nick and Jael have learned.

Why it matters: Legislation and hearings are intended to pressure the FTC to intercede on consolidation in the oil industry, as it did in the coal sector under President Trump.

Driving the news: Dozens of Democrats, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, wrote the FTC yesterday pressing the agency to do anything possible to investigate and stop a recent spate of attempted mergers in the oil industry.

• Lawmakers cited deals by ExxonMobil, Chevron and Occidental, among many others. They said they believe more dealmaking is on the horizon.
• They argue these activities harm consumers by reducing market choice and giving the majors more power over pricing.

What's next: Ro Khanna, who helped lead House-side work on the letter, told Jael he may draft a bill on the topic and is "going to work with Sen. Schumer on it."

• Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse is also involved in internal conversations on legislation and has said for a while that a bill's been in the works.
• The Rhode Islander told Jael as he waited for the Senate subway that it's "not clear what the details are yet" on the bill. Khanna's office also declined to give specifics.
• But Whitehouse acknowledged what he's discussing internally would explicitly target "big oil mergers" and address "competitiveness issues" once companies "get to a certain market share."

Zoom in: Oil industry consolidation is commonplace when prices are low and usually involves efforts to maximize profits via cost-cutting within the combined company, recent McKinsey research shows.

• Under Trump, the U.S. coal industry went through a similar spate of mergers and acquisitions, and it led to significant FTC intervention.

What they're saying: Republicans say these mergers are simply capitalism at work.

• "Companies see market opportunity, they buy competitors, they buy other companies and move them into different market shares," said outgoing E&C Energy Subcommittee Chair Jeff Duncan. "I don't have any problem with it."
• At least one Dem climate hawk — Rep. Sean Casten — also wasn't concerned: "I've never been as worried as some of my colleagues are about price gouging by the oil and gas sector."

Between the lines: Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm took something of a middle ground when our colleague Ben Geman asked her about this yesterday.

• While she's concerned about potential monopolies, she said a possible benefit of the mergers is that some oil majors "have been taking action on climate and clean energy."

The oil and gas industry is pushing back on these claims before they rise to the level of formal legislation or an investigation.

• API sent around a memo to Democratic lawmakers urging them not to sign the FTC letter, arguing it's motivated by environmental groups and election-year politics.

A Bureau of Land Management official outlined concerns with the GOP's geothermal permitting bills, highlighting divides about how to best boost the nascent industry, Nick writes.

Why it matters: The comments yesterday from Ben Gruber, BLM's chief for energy, minerals and realty management programs, at a House Natural Resources subcommittee hearing suggest a difficult path ahead, despite bipartisan support for geothermal power.

Zoom in: Gruber took issue with Rep. Young Kim's legislation to exempt geothermal wells on private and state land from federal permitting and Rep. John Curtis' measure to limit judicial reviews of geothermal projects.

• In short, he said they could weaken BLM's ability to comply with and enforce environmental laws.
• He said BLM supports the goals of Russ Fulcher's bill to exempt exploratory geothermal wells from NEPA but has concerns about limiting public input on the permitting process.
• Gruber sounded more supportive of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's legislation to create a cost recovery system for geothermal permits.

Our thought bubble: The skepticism from the Biden administration is a complication in the path for these bills — in a permitting package or on their own.

• But everyone at yesterday's hearing — including Gruber — sounded pretty peachy about the future for enhanced geothermal tech.
• "I am encouraged by and grateful for the majority's openness to geothermal development," Ocasio-Cortez said.

☢️ 1. Rad move: The Senate passed Josh Hawley's bill to reauthorize and expand the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, 69-30.

⚡️ 2. Confirmed: Joe Manchin told Nick yesterday that he predicts a "fast" process for the new FERC nominees, with a confirmation hearing in the coming weeks.

😤 3. Blowing smoke: House Republicans have introduced their CRA to overturn the administration's particulate matter rulemaking, a plan we were first to report weeks ago.

🔌 4. Energy changes: Conservative-leaning energy group ClearPath put out a plan to "modernize" the Energy Department, with help from a former Trump admin DOE renewables official.

💨 5. Emissions plans: EPA today finished making public "priority climate action plans" that were voluntarily submitted by state and local entities through the IRA's Climate Pollution Reduction Grant program.

☢️ 6. Uranium cleanup: EPA also just added a large uranium contamination site on Navajo Nation land to the Superfund list, opening it up for federal cleanup.

⛽️ 7. Summertime, livin's easy: Fuel retailers want summertime E15 again.