Despite Near-Universal Outside Support For Hydrofluorocarbon Bill, Most GOP Cmte Members Oppose
Climate hawks often describe hydrofluorocarbons as a kind of white rhino, a rare area of climate policy that everyone — industry, environmentalists, Democrats, Republicans — can agree on. Such was the case at a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee hearing yesterday to examine H.R. 5544, the long-awaited bill to phase down HFCs, potent greenhouse gases used for refrigeration and air conditioning over the years.
Virtually every relevant industry group, along with many environmental organizations, support the legislation — perhaps its most powerful selling point. "I cannot remember a time when we had the United States Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers and the Natural Resources Defense Council in complete agreement on anything, let alone granting new targeted authority to EPA," Rep. Paul Tonko (D-N.Y.), chairman of the Environment and Climate Change Subcommittee, said at the hearing.
But while the bill has GOP supporters, most of the Republican side of the E&C Committee dais is poised to oppose it, despite Republicans' persistent overtures on climate during the past year. The hearing largely left HFC policy in a state of suspended animation and with a hazy outlook in the Senate, even as Democrats look to move the bill through the House in the coming months.
The legislation, the "American Innovation and Manufacturing Leadership Act," would allow EPA to regulate HFCs and initiate a 15-year phase down. The bill would not ban HFCs outright; rather, they would be choked down to 15% of current production and consumption. That would align the United States with the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, the 2016 deal on HFCs negotiated by the Obama administration. The Trump administration has refused to send the agreement to Congress for ratification — though it has gone into effect in the rest of the world — despite pleading from Senate Republicans who represent large manufacturers of HFC replacements.
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