US Senate panel passes climate measure likely to shape infrastructure bill

WASHINGTON: A US Senate committee on Wednesday passed a bill on climate and energy initiatives that are expected to be debated as part of the wider bipartisan infrastructure bill.
The Senate energy panel voted 13 to 7 to pass the bill, which includes funding to help the power grid handle more electricity from renewable sources and boost production of hydrogen from sources that are cleaner than fossil fuels.
The bill , sponsored by Senator Joe Manchin, a Democrat and the chairman of the committee, also includes initiatives to help existing nuclear power plants that are suffering from competition from natural gas plants and renewable energy.
The top Republican on the committee, Senator John Barrasso of Wyoming, the top coal producing state, voted against the bill on the grounds it does not do enough to increase domestic mining for minerals used in everything from cell phones to renewable energy that would help the country compete against China. Barrasso said he would continue to work on measures in the bill.
Manchin thanked Barrasso and other Republicans for working on items they agreed on, such as funding for cleaning up abandoned coal mines and oil and gas wells, and not blocking the bill from passing.
"Even though they may not have agreed with where we were going on a few items, they basically did not put a roadblock up," Manchin said.
President Joe Biden, a Democrat, is pushing Congress to pass a sweeping two-track infrastructure package that includes the 1.2 trillion bipartisan bill and a Democratic bill expected to include more initiatives on climate.

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