Bipartisan Infrastructure Package with Priority Carbon Capture Provisions Heads to President’s Desk Following House Passage

The following statement can be attributed to Carbon Capture Coalition External Affairs Manager  Madelyn Morrison:

“The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, passed by a bipartisan vote in both the House and Senate, marks a major step forward in fostering economywide deployment of carbon management technologies to achieve net-zero emissions by midcentury, while ensuring the long-term viability of key domestic industries and safeguarding high-wage jobs that sustain families and communities. This bipartisan package is the culmination of a months-long effort by congressional champions and the Biden Administration to help ensure that carbon management technologies can scale over the next decade to achieve their full emissions reduction and job creation potential.

“The infrastructure bill features top Coalition priorities, including the widely supported SCALE Act to build out climate-essential CO₂ transport and storage infrastructure, funding for 2020 Energy Act authorizations to support commercial-scale demonstrations, pilots and engineering studies for carbon capture, direct air capture and carbon utilization technologies and investments in the development of regional direct air capture and hydrogen hubs. The crucial carbon management provisions in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act are drawn from broadly supported bipartisan legislation introduced earlier this Congress, and they were endorsed in President Biden’s American Jobs Plan.

“The Coalition applauds our many congressional champions from both political parties who have had a hand in ensuring that this pivotal legislation has reached President Biden’s desk. However, there is more work to be done. Congress must now advance key complementary measures to enhance the federal Section 45Q tax credit.

“Outlined in an August 2021 letter from over 170 companies, unions, NGOs and other organizations to congressional leaders, these crucial tax provisions—a direct pay option and extension of 45Q, increased 45Q credit values, and significant reduction of annual 45Q eligibility thresholds–should be included in pending budget reconciliation legislation. These 45Q priorities, in tandem with the provisions enacted in the infrastructure package, result in an estimated 13-fold increase in carbon management capacity and annual CO₂ emissions reductions of 210-250 million metric tons by 2035. The 80-plus industry, labor and NGO members of the Coalition will continue to work with members of Congress to ensure these crucial policies are included in the final climate and energy package.”

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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, utilization, 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.