The Senate is advancing a bill to boost a little-known agency that could make a big difference for coal country and small communities seeking energy money, Nick writes.

Why it matters: The Economic Development Administration hasn't been reauthorized for 20 years. Expanding its mission now could help under-resourced rural areas grab the federal cash on the table from the IRA and IIJA.

• Because there's no House companion, "we're going to try to work it to the floor, or maybe we attach it to something and then see what the House wants to do," Sen. Shelley Moore Capito told Nick.

Driving the news: The Environment and Public Works Committee this week moved a bipartisan EDA reauthorization bill by voice vote. (The agency has been operating without explicit authorization since its last one lapsed in 2008.)

• The bill would broaden EDA's grant programs for former coal communities to let the agency assist areas that have lost a power plant or mine in the last 25 years.
• It would support steel and nuclear host communities and expand EDA's solar program to allow it to site other types of renewable power projects at brownfield sites.
• It also includes portions of Sen. Ed Markey's LIFT Act to help communities with technical assistance and project pre-development activities.

Between the lines: Those provisions are meant to help rural communities without many resources take advantage of grant funding and attract projects getting money under the IRA, the infrastructure law and the CHIPS Act.

• "That capacity-building at the county level to create the conditions in which federal investment can follow is really important," said Mark Ritacco, chief government affairs officer for the National Association of Counties.
• The job training provisions in the bill would "directly link employers with the workforce they need," an EDA official told Nick.

Zoom in: The EDA is also an important conduit for disaster relief, with Congress sending billions through the agency in recent years via supplementals and COVID relief packages.

• The bill would establish a new Office of Disaster Recovery and Resilience and includes language expanding EDA's role in extreme weather adaptation and resilience.
• The new office is "really important to counties because we are seeing … that the incidence of natural disasters is increasing and have had wide-ranging impacts on our finance and operations," Ritacco said.

Our thought bubble: We've written a couple times about Congress' inaction in steering former fossil fuel communities through the energy transition. This is a step in that direction.

Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse and Brian Schatz are revamping their climate pressure campaign on the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Nick writes.

Why it matters: Dem climate hawks spent years pre-IRA trying to get the business lobby to care about carbon emissions. Now they're accusing the Chamber of greenwashing as the Biden administration finalizes climate regulations.

Driving the news: Having sent a series of letters last month, the lawmakers say they've gotten responses indicating that the Chamber's Task Force on Climate Actions has been "inactive for some time."

• They cite this — and the Chamber's opposition to climate disclosure and emissions regs — as evidence that the group is making a PR show out of climate change without doing anything.
• "I was suspicious about the extent to which [the task force] would influence the Chamber's behavior, but I never really contemplated that they were just bulls---ing us," Schatz told reporters during a roundtable this morning. "And that's what happened."

Reality check: Chamber spokesperson Matt Letourneau confirmed that the task force is no longer active, but said it was "convened regularly for several years to solicit input from across our membership."

• "Its workstream has been incorporated in our Energy, Environment, Climate and Sustainability Committee," he said.

Flashback: The Chamber, once a vocal critic of climate science, got more active on the issue around 2019 after lots of criticism from the Hill.

• It convened the task force and publicly said it supports "market-based" climate policy (read: carbon pricing).
• It opposed the IRA but did support some of its energy provisions, as well as the infrastructure law and the 2020 HFC phasedown.

What's next: Whitehouse didn't rule out a committee investigation or possible subpoenas for more information.

• Depending on how the election shakes out, this could turn from social media campaign to congressional probe.

☢️ 1. Uranium watch: There's a push afoot to get the Russian uranium ban into the next minibus.

• The nuclear fuel funding in the first spending bill is contingent on a ban, but Ted Cruz has been blocking the ban in the Senate over an unrelated issue.
• Advocates are trying "every way we can because it's so important," Joe Manchin told Nick today.

🍿 2. FERC off: Senate Energy and Natural Resources has scheduled a hearing next Thursday on the three FERC noms. Get your popcorn ready, nerds!

⚡️ 3. Got a lot of energy: House Majority Leader Steve Scalise said during the GOP retreat that next week, at long last, will be "energy week" on the House floor, per Axios' Juliegrace Brufke.

• He didn't say which bills would come up, but talked about the Biden administration's LNG export permits pause.

🧪 4. EPA targets chemical: EPA finalized a rule aimed at sharply reducing emissions of ethylene oxide, a cancer-causing chemical that's essential for sterilizing medical devices, Axios' Maya Goldman writes.

🪨 5. Live under a hot rock: Sen. Martin Heinrich is leading a bipartisan bill — the Geothermal Energy Optimization Act — that aims to give geothermal the same kind of permitting exclusions that oil and gas drillers get.

• This is a big priority for next-gen geothermal companies, and it's similar to legislation getting attention on the House side.