FIRST IN ME: SENATE DEMS TACKLE AIR POLLUTION IN EJ COMMUNITIES: A cohort of Senate Democrats is making moves to make air monitoring technology more accessible to the communities most vulnerable to air pollution. The Technology Assessment for Air Quality Management Act, which will be introduced today by Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), would dedicate $55 million over five years to bolster EPA's online air quality toolbox to catalog air monitoring technology and clarify advantages and disadvantages of different methods for monitoring. It would also increase staffing to connect the monitoring tools with communities that would most need the technology. The legislation creates a working group to report to the Senate Environment and Public Works and the House Energy and Commerce committees with templates for integrating air quality monitoring. It would also direct EPA and the Government Accountability Office to inventory air monitors, air quality data and areas most in need of monitoring in environmental justice communities. A spate of vocal climate-focused Democrats are cosponsoring the bill including Sens. Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Cory Booker (D-N.J.). VOTING RIGHTS IS A CLIMATE ISSUE: Several environmental groups are urging Congress to approve Democrats' voting rights bill currently languishing in the Senate — and any procedural measures necessary to make it happen. The legislation is vehemently opposed by Senate Republicans, who cast it as a Democratic power grab. And while all 50 Senate Democrats have signaled their support for the legislation, centrist Sens. Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin are not willing to change filibuster rules to pass the voting rights measures using their simple majority. The environmental groups, which include the League of Conservation Voters, Natural Resources Defense Council Action Fund, Sierra Club and Union of Concerned Scientists, argue protecting voting rights is vital to get through substantive climate action. "Most Americans support bold action to combat the climate crisis as well as investments in clean air and water, green jobs, affordable clean energy, and a livable future for all," the groups write in a Thursday letter . "But voter suppression, election subversion, partisan gerrymandering, and polluter money thwart the will of the people." Voting rights and environmental advocates worry that state-level efforts to restrict these rights could thwart the ability of communities of color to support clean energy and climate policies. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is aiming to get the voting rights legislation through the finish line before Martin Luther King, Jr., Day, but that's looking destined to fail. President Joe Biden popped over to the Hill to try to get the whole caucus on board with changing Senate rules to get the bill done, but Manchin wasn't buying it. Sinema took to the floor digging into her opposition to changing the filibuster. "While I continue to support these bills, I will not support separate actions that worsen the underlying disease of division infecting our country," Sinema said. SENATE SINKS NORD STREAM SANCTIONS: Sen. Ted Cruz ' sanctions bill on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline failed to pass the Senate late Thursday on a near-party line vote, following lobbying by the Biden administration not to back the bill despite congressional Democrats' previous calls for aggressive sanctions enforcement. The administration cast the bill as merely causing further divisions with European allies at a critical moment when Russia is arming itself along the Ukrainian border. Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) introduced alternative legislation earlier this week that would make sanctions contingent on Russia invading Ukraine, but Republicans dismissed Menendez' bill as offering cover for Democrats not to vote for Cruz' bill. Lawmakers in both parties vehemently opposed the pipeline for introducing Russian infrastructure into NATO territory. POLITICO's Andrew Desiderio has more. TVA UNDER THE MICROSCOPE: Democratic leaders of the House Energy and Commerce Committee are digging into the Tennessee Valley Authority, probing the utility's high power prices and slow rollout of clean energy. Chair Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), Energy Subcommittee Chair Bobby Rush (D-Ill.), Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Chair Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) and Environment and Climate Change Subcommittee Chair Paul Tonko (D-N.Y.) asked TVA in a Thursday letter for details on its business practices, raising alarm over consumers' higher-than-average rates and the pace of integrating clean energy into its mix. A spokesperson for the utility responded to Pro's Catherine Morehouse that it had "reduced carbon emissions by 63% and currently supplies nearly 60% of the region's energy from carbon-free sources in one of the nation's most diverse, robust and clean energy systems." The spokesperson also noted "TVA's rates are currently lower than nearly 80% of the nation's largest utilities," while acknowledging the region's high energy burden. Some low-income customers spend as much as 27 percent of their annual income on energy, according to a study cited in the letter. The lawmakers lauded TVA for its progress toward lower-emission generation in the last 20 years but expressed concern that it "failed to revise its carbon emission reduction in line" with Biden's goal of reaching net-zero electricity by 2035. The House members asked for a response to its questions by Feb. 2. Read more from Catherine. | 
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