Bipartisan Members to Congressional Leadership: Prioritize Targeted Suite of Carbon Management Policies in Forthcoming Legislative Packages

In the midst of negotiations on the bipartisan infrastructure bill and other legislative packages, 18 bipartisan Members of Congress penned a letter to congressional leaders urging the prioritization of a targeted suite of complementary carbon management policies as an essential component of any forthcoming legislative vehicle. The letter highlights many of the same key provisions called for in an open letter to congressional leadership from more than 170 companies, unions, conservation and environmental groups, and other organizations from across the nation last month including:

• Providing a direct pay option for the federal Section 45Q tax credit;
• Extending the commence construction window for the 45Q credit;
• Enhancing 45Q credit values for industrial and power plant carbon capture and direct air capture;
• Eliminating annual carbon capture thresholds in the 45Q program that deter innovation;
• Financing the buildout of regional CO₂ transport and saline geologic storage networks; and
• Robust funding for commercial scale demonstration of carbon capture, direct air capture and carbon utilization technologies.

The broadly supported carbon management policies called for in this letter are echoed not only in bipartisan legislation, but they are also consistent with recommendations in the Biden Administration’s American Jobs Plan. In its current form, the Senate-passed bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (H.R.3684) features the widely-supported SCALE Act in its entirety to help finance the buildout of CO₂ transport and storage infrastructure, as well as funding for critical 2020 Energy Act authorizations to support commercial-scale demonstrations and engineering studies for carbon capture, direct air capture and carbon utilization technologies.

Enactment of the bipartisan infrastructure package in tandem with key complementary tax measures outlined in the letter could deliver economywide deployment resulting in an estimated 13-fold increase in carbon management capacity and annual emissions reductions of 210-250 million metric tons by 2035—spurring continued innovation and improved performance, while driving down costs and preserving and creating high-wage jobs that families and communities across the nation depend upon.

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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.