Carbon Capture Coalition Statement on the 2020 Election

The Carbon Capture Coalition today issued the following statement on the 2020 election. This statement may be attributed to Coalition Director Brad Crabtree:

“The results of our national election underscore the continued need for deeply bipartisan solutions to our climate and energy challenges. Carbon capture and removal enjoy unprecedented and growing support from across the political spectrum and represent one of the best opportunities to deliver on national priorities of reducing carbon emissions to meet mid-century climate goals, protecting and creating high wage jobs, supporting domestic energy and industrial production and manufacturing, and sustaining American technology leadership in the 21^st century.

“President-elect Biden made his support for carbon capture and removal technologies a central pillar of his campaign’s climate plan. The Coalition’s 80-plus industry, labor and NGO participants look forward to working with his administration to advance policies that will support economywide commercial deployment of these critical technologies.

“While control of the Senate remains unresolved, it is abundantly clear that only policies with broad bipartisan support will be enacted in the forthcoming 117^th Congress. The Carbon Capture Coalition will continue to work closely with a significant and expanding contingent of Republican and Democratic champions of carbon capture in Congress to advance a broad federal policy portfolio to help carbon capture and removal fulfill its essential role in enabling America to achieve a net-zero economy by 2050. This portfolio includes: 

• Needed enhancements to the federal 45Q tax credit and other financial incentives;
• Substantially increased funding for research, development and commercial-scale demonstration (RD&D) of next generation technologies;
• Federal financing of CO2 transport infrastructure; and
• Incorporation of carbon capture, removal, transport, use and geologic storage deployment into COVID-19 economic recovery.

“Toward that end, the Carbon Capture Coalition submitted priority recommendations to both presidential campaigns prior to the election. Coalition participants are now developing more detailed recommendations that will focus on a First 100 days agenda for President-elect Biden’s Administration and the new Congress.

“However, congressional leaders should not wait until the presidential inauguration and the new session of Congress to get started. Members of the Carbon Capture Coalition and its partners have worked with members of Congress on a fully bipartisan basis over the past two years on a comprehensive legislative agenda for carbon capture, and both the House and Senate have recently passed important legislation in this regard. Most notably, in September the House passed the Clean Energy Jobs and Innovation Act, H.R. 4447. Bipartisan provisions in Title III of the Act represent the most far-reaching demonstration and commercialization policies for carbon capture, removal, use and storage to have ever passed a chamber of Congress. For its part, the American Energy Innovation Act (S. 2089) has been voted out of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and combines over 50 bipartisan energy bills, several of which together would advance comprehensive carbon capture measures. And the Senate has also passed the bipartisan USE IT Act (S. 383) as part of the National Defense Authorization Act, which would support federal RD&D programs for direct air capture and carbon utilization and facilitate collaborative planning and permitting of CO2 transport infrastructure. 

“The Coalition urges congressional leadership to act now to leverage passage of the Clean Energy Jobs and Innovation Act and USE IT Act in the House and Senate, respectively, and progress in resolving disagreements holding up the AEIA in the Senate by negotiating and enacting a bipartisan legislative package for carbon capture. Accomplishing this important unfinished business in the current lame duck session of Congress would send an important and needed signal that we can make progress on vital common sense legislation supported by both political parties.”

The Carbon Capture Coalition is a partnership of more than 80 businesses and organizations building federal policy support for economywide deployment of carbon capture, removal, transport, use, and storage. Our mission is to reduce carbon emissions to meet mid century climate goals, foster domestic energy and industrial production, and support a high-wage jobs base through the adoption of carbon capture technologies. Convened by the Great Plains Institute, Coalition membership includes industry, energy, and technology companies; energy and industrial labor unions; and conservation, environmental, and energy policy organizations.