BUT: As the Washington Post explained, “the Trump administration has never submitted the Kigali Amendment for a Senate vote, though 17 Republican senators have asked it to do so.

Some manufacturers remain concerned that by passing a domestic bill to slash these chemicals, it will make it harder to muster support for Senate approval of the international treaty in the next Congress. If the United States does not ratify the treaty, American companies may encounter obstacles selling their products overseas, they say.”

The Business Perspective: Conservative groups like the Heritage Foundation have vehemently opposed measures to phase out HFCs while the Chamber of Commerce (America’s largest business lobbying force) called the Senate bill a “win-win.”

The Senate Bill: As the Dover Post explained, the Senate bill would seek to accomplish the following:

— Preempt state and local governments from regulating HFCs for those Congressionally designated essential uses for five years, unless extended by EPA to a maximum of 10 years if there remains no substitute chemical for a use;

— Provide protection for consumers by ensuring that the EPA acceleration of the 15-year phasedown timeline cannot move faster than technological capacity;

— Maintain the 85% phase-down of HFCs, avoiding up to half a degree Celsius of global warming while creating an additional 150,000 direct and indirect U.S. jobs through the expansion of domestic manufacturing of HFC alternative technologies; and,

— Improve the trade imbalance in chemicals and equipment by $12.5 billion and increase manufacturing output by close to $39 billion over the next seven years.