Treaty Document No.

Floor Speech

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Mrs. CAPITO. Mr. President, as the current ranking member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works--EPW--Committee, I submit these comments to provide the Senate with additional information on the existing domestic authority to phasedown the production and consumption of hydrofluorocarbons, HFCs. The EPW Committee has jurisdiction over air pollution, and in the 116th Congress, managed the development of the domestic authority to implement the Kigali Amendment, See 218 Cong. Rec. S7926, daily ed. Dec. 21. 2020, statement of then-EPW Chairman John Barrasso, then-EPW Ranking Member Tom Carper, and Sen. John Kennedy).

As the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations clearly states in Senate Executive Report 117-2, no further legislation is required to implement the Kigali Amendment and the Amendment is not self-executing. New authority is not granted to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency-- EPA--through ratification.

In section 103 in division S of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, the American Innovation and Manufacturing--AIM--Act of 2020, P.L. 116-260, was enacted. That law established a new, national program administered by the EPA to phasedown the production and consumption of certain HFC substances due to their significant global warming potential. Specifically, the AIM Act requires the EPA to implement an 85 percent phasedown of the production and consumption of regulated HFC substances, requiring levels to reach approximately 15 percent of their 2011-2013 average annual levels by 2036.

The AIM Act provides all the necessary authorities to phasedown the production and consumption of HFCs in the United States in line with U.S. obligations under the Kigali Amendment and is already being implemented by the EPA. In October 2021, the EPA issued a final rule establishing the allowance allocation for 2022 and 2023, along with establishing a trading program for HFCs. 86 Fed. Reg. 55,116, Oct. 5, 2021. As stated in that final agency action, the Kigali Amendment and the AIM Act have ``a nearly identical list of HFCs to be phased down following the same schedule,'' Id. at 55,124. The EPA is currently developing regulations to update allowance allocations and the trading program for 2024 and later years.

I thank my colleagues at the U.S. Senate committee on Foreign Relations for providing a clear Congressional statement that no new legislation is required and that the Kigali Amendment is not self- executing. As Congress has already enacted the required domestic implementing legislation, I support ratification.

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