Carbon Capture Coalition Statement on the White House’s Report to Congress on Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Sequestration

The Carbon Capture Coalition today issued the following statement on yesterday’s release of the Council on Environmental Quality’s Report to Congress on Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Sequestration. The report was issued as required by the December 2020 enactment of the Utilizing Significant Emissions with Innovative Technologies Act (USE IT) Act as part of the bipartisan Consolidated Appropriations Act.  The Coalition endorsed the USE IT Act to facilitate effective planning, siting and permitting by federal, state and tribal governments, in collaboration with affected stakeholders and communities, to help enable the buildout of large-scale CO₂ transport and storage needed to achieve economywide deployment of carbon capture, removal and utilization. This statement can be attributed to Coalition director Brad Crabtree:

“The Carbon Capture Coalition commends the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) and the Biden Administration for the release of its widely anticipated report. It confirms the critical role that carbon management must play in meeting our climate goals, while retaining and creating high-wage jobs and sustaining domestic energy and industrial production and supply chains as our nation works to achieve net-zero emissions targets.

”The Coalition welcomes the Biden Administration’s affirmation in the report that it ‘is committed to accelerating the responsible development and deployment of carbon capture, utilization, and permanent sequestration as needed to decarbonize the U.S. economy by mid-century.’ Furthermore, the report explicitly confirms that:

• The full suite of carbon management solutions—carbon capture, removal, transport, utilization and geologic storage—will be required at scale for industry, power generation and direct air capture in order to reach net-zero emissions by midcentury, and negative emissions thereafter, to avoid the worst impacts of climate change;
• Deployment of regional networks of CO₂ transport and storage infrastructure must increase significantly for carbon capture, removal and utilization to develop on the scale needed to meet climate goals; and
• The existing federal regulatory framework for carbon capture, pipeline transport, carbon utilization and secure geologic storage is rigorous and adequate to protect the environment, public health, and safety of communities.

“Importantly, the report stresses that carbon management projects must incorporate sound design and governance to deliver societal and environmental benefits, notably with respect to workers and affected communities. The CEQ concludes that widespread carbon capture deployment is expected to have positive impacts on air quality, and its report echoes the Coalition’s previous recommendation to the administration that relevant federal agencies undertake further assessment and quantification of the benefits and impacts of carbon capture retrofits on criteria pollutants and other emissions that affect human health and the environment. This assessment will help policymakers and project developers ensure that federal investments in carbon management deliver on the opportunity and obligation to meet emissions reductions, jobs and environmental justice objectives equitably and effectively.

“In addition, the report helpfully identifies additional federal actions to foster ‘efficient, orderly, and responsible deployment’ of carbon management technologies, including recommendations addressing coordination of permitting by federal agencies, carbon capture, transport and siting, carbon utilization and removal, and geologic storage.

“This report, together with broad administration and congressional backing for a robust federal policy portfolio to accelerate economywide deployment of large-scale carbon management, further highlights growing bipartisan support for economywide deployment of carbon management as an essential tool for safeguarding critical industries and high-wage jobs and providing environmental benefits to affected communities on the path to a net-zero economy.

“The analysis provided in the CEQ report further underscores the need for passage of a full suite of federal carbon management policy provisions, including enhancements to the 45Q tax credit, improvements to other incentives, and stepped-up investments in CO2 transport and storage infrastructure and commercial demonstration of critical carbon capture, direct air capture and carbon utilization technologies. The Coalition’s 80-plus companies, unions and NGOs will continue to work with the administration and lawmakers from both sides of the aisle to enact this comprehensive and complementary package of carbon management priorities included in both President Biden’s American Jobs Plan and bipartisan legislation before Congress.”

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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.