Coalition Welcomes Reintroduction of ACCESS 45Q Act in the U.S. House

Carbon Capture Coalition Director Brad Crabtree released the following statement on today’s re-introduction of direct pay and 45Q extension legislation that was originally introduced at the end of the 116^th Congress by Representatives David McKinley (R-WV) and Marc Veasey (D-TX) and several other members:

“On behalf of our more than 80 members, the Carbon Capture Coalition thanks Representatives McKinley and Veasey for their continued bipartisan leadership in support of carbon capture and for today’s re-introduction of the ACCESS 45Q Act (Accelerating Carbon Capture and Extending Secure Storage Act through 45Q).

“This bill advances the top two priorities of the Coalition as outlined in our recent first 100 days memo to the Biden administration: a direct pay option for the 45Q tax credit and a further extension of the credit to provide ten more years for carbon capture, utilization and direct air capture projects to begin construction and qualify for the credit.

“The combination of direct pay and a ten-year extension for 45Q in the ACCESS 45Q Act would help ensure that the more than 30 publicly-announced carbon capture, direct air capture and geologic storage projects in the U.S. continue to move forward and avoid cancelation, as well as spur development of the many more projects needed to achieve net-zero emissions economywide by 2050. This legislation should be considered as part of any major first 100 days legislative package to foster critical climate investments, while creating high-wage jobs for American workers and their communities as they seek to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The critically important direct pay provision in the ACCESS 45Q Act is the Coalition’s number one priority. Direct pay gives recipients the option of receiving the 45Q tax credit as cash in the form of an estimated payment on their tax return, in lieu of needing to apply the credit to their tax liability. Direct pay would make the 45Q program much more cost-effective and impactful by allowing companies to secure the private investment needed to finance projects, while avoiding the wasteful inefficiencies and additional costs of tax equity transactions that burden and constrain the very innovation and deployment that the tax credit aims to incentivize. In addition, direct pay would significantly reduce near-term uncertainty and barriers faced by project developers in obtaining private investment due to COVID-19.

“The ten-year extension of 45Q in this legislation is essential to ensuring that project developers and investors have the financial certainty and time horizon needed to complete current projects and launch new ones to begin scaling up carbon capture technology to meet midcentury climate goals. We know from the commercial success of wind and solar that the availability of tax credits over long periods of time serves to drive capital investment in project deployment, thus reducing costs which, in turn, enables further deployment. Fortunately, the omnibus spending bill signed into law in December extended 45Q by two years, providing an important first step toward the kind of longer-term extension provided for in the ACCESS 45Q Act.”

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The Carbon Capture Coalition is a nonpartisan collaboration 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 midcentury 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.