In late February Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) introduced a long-awaited energy package that's shaping up to be the best chance this year for passing legislation to expand the use of cleaner forms of energy (via The Hill). The bill now faces an uncertain future in the Senate as amendments regarding hydrofluorocarbons, which is a refrigerant and potent greenhouse gas, prevented the bill from clearing a procedural vote this week. Murkowski told reporters that lawmakers planned to “regroup and look for a path forward” for the bill, but she expressed anger at the last-minute changes that led to its failure this week. "It is beyond frustrating to have our bill, which contains priorities from more than 70 senators, held up by an unrelated dispute that was never part of our discussions in the lead-up to this floor process,” she said. The bill has come under fire from clean-energy groups for its lack of targets or mandates for reducing carbon emissions as well as its provisions to direct billions of dollars to fossil fuel research. Democrats in the House have submitted a bill, dubbed the CLEAN Act, that calls for a 100 percent clean economy by 2050 and a comprehensive climate policy, but this is unlikely to pass the Republican-controlled Senate. via Greentechmedia