Bipartisan Spending Package Makes Critical Inroads for Carbon Management Activities at DOE 

The following statement may be attributed to Madelyn Morrison, Government Affairs Manager of the Carbon Capture Coalition, on the release of the final text of the fiscal year (FY) 2023 omnibus spending package:  

“On Tuesday morning, December 20, congressional appropriators released final text of a $1.7T FY 2023 funding package, positioning Congress to pass legislation to fully fund the federal government through September 30, 2023. The Senate is expected to take the measure up later this week with congressional leadership hopeful for passage by December 23, 2022.  

“The omnibus text, released earlier this morning, builds on the historic investments in carbon management policies made through the enactment of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, CHIPS+ Science Act, and the Inflation Reduction Act. This package makes incremental but essential increases to programmatic funding at the Department of Energy that comprise fundamental federal support for carbon management technologies and are critical policy levers for realizing economies of scale.  

“Additionally, the bill includes new report language directing the Environmental Protection Agency to brief pertinent congressional committees on efforts the Agency is undertaking to enhance the Class VI permitting process, specifically; permitting tools, public engagement, and outreach, and anticipated full-time staffing for the Class VI program. This report language, along with new funding to support education and training for Class VI program staff, will be critical to ensure adequate permitting capacity at both the federal and state level that is necessary for economywide deployment of carbon management projects at the pace and scale required to meet both net-zero emissions and midcentury climate goals. Robust and efficient permitting of CO₂ storage is central to ensuring that the significant federal investments in these technologies contained in the transformational legislation enacted over the course of the 117th Congress achieve their full climate potential. 

“As the federal spending package moves through both chambers, the Coalition is encouraged by the consistent recognition of carbon management technologies as an important tool, among a wide range of clean energy solutions needed to meet our climate goals, protect and create high-wage jobs, and foster domestic energy production. With the necessary supportive policy framework now in place through the enactment of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the CHIPS+ Science Act, the Inflation Reduction Act, and annual federal appropriations, carbon management technologies stand to deliver an estimated 13-fold increase in carbon management capacity and annual CO₂ emissions reductions of 210-250 million metric tons by 2035.”  

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Convened by the Great Plains Institute, the Carbon Capture Coalition is a nonpartisan collaboration of more than 100 companies, unions, conservation and environmental policy organizations, building federal policy support to enable economywide, commercial scale deployment of carbon management technologies. This includes carbon capture, removal, transport, utilization, and storage from industrial facilities, power plants, and ambient air.