Carbon Capture Coalition Statement on DOE Announcement of Regional Direct Air Capture Hub Awardees 

The following statement may be attributed to Madelyn Morrison, Government Affairs Manager for the Carbon Capture Coalition:   

“Today, the Department of Energy (DOE) announced the selection of two project awardees for the development of two regional direct air capture (DAC) hubs in Texas and Louisiana along with 19 additional awardees for earlier-stage development projects as directed by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL). These projects are diverse in terms of geographic location and technological strategies and will accelerate the commercialization of a variety of DAC technologies to capture carbon dioxide (CO₂) from the atmosphere and store it safely and permanently in geological formations or through the conversion into other useful products. Through this announcement, DOE designates the recipients up to $1.2 billion of the $3.5 billion made available by the BIL to develop the process of conceptualizing, designing, planning, constructing, and operating the DAC Hubs.     

“The Carbon Capture Coalition is a nonpartisan collaboration of more than 100 organizations, including energy and industrial technology companies, labor unions, as well as conservation and environmental policy organizations, together building federal policy support to enable economywide, commercial scale deployment of carbon management technologies. The Coalition’s membership is focused on advancing and implementing a comprehensive portfolio of federal policies designed to spur deployment of the full suite of climate-essential carbon management technologies, including direct air capture, as outlined in the Coalition’s 2023 Federal Policy Blueprint.  

“Today’s announcement is a shot in the arm for the development of this nascent, but critical climate mitigation technology and will support a variety of approaches across three phases of technical maturity within the DAC value chain. In addition to the selection of two project awardees for the development of regional hubs, the announcement includes a selection of 14 projects with a federal fund of up to $3 million per project and 5 projects of up to $12.5 million per project. This support will help projects scale direct air capture technologies to capture up to 1 million tonnes of CO₂ per year. 

“The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law provided the single largest federal investment in carbon management technologies ever, including for DAC, to catalyze the commercial deployment of the full suite of carbon management technologies, including carbon capture, removal, transport, reuse and storage. Lawmakers across the political spectrum and in every region of the country recognize the role that these DAC Hubs will play in building reliable domestic supply chains and manufacturing, sustaining and creating high-wage jobs that form the backbone of regional economies, and providing environmental and health benefits to affected communities. 

“The implementation of these federal funds is a culmination of a years-long effort to help ensure carbon management technologies, and in this instance, DAC technologies specifically, can deploy at the pace and scale necessary to achieve climate targets. Scaling the full suite of available carbon dioxide removal methods, including DAC, is increasingly recognized as a central component to both offsetting emissions in challenging-to-abate sectors which have limited zero-emission alternatives, and post-2050, tackling the legacy emissions in the atmosphere. 

“DOE also recognizes that community engagement and stakeholder participation are key to the success of the ground-level deployment of these technologies in requiring DAC Hubs project applicants to submit detailed community benefits plans. Meaningful public engagement is a fundamental piece of successful project management and development and input from affected communities must be a key consideration of the decision-making process at every level. As the industry continues to scale, DOE should continue to provide guidance to project developers on how to best establish early, robust and meaningful community engagement at the outset of project development and throughout the funding process. 

“The development of these DAC Hubs is an important strategy to help realize economies of scale and support the decarbonization of the American economy. As such, today’s announcement provides major headway to kickstart the deployment of large-scale DAC projects as well as to foster the development of promising earlier-stage efforts. The Coalition looks forward to the announcement of additional funds under the DAC Hubs program: the formation of these hubs will further solidify the U.S. as a global leader in the energy sector and an early leader in developing and deploying direct air capture technologies.”  

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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, reuse, and storage from industrial facilities, power plants, and ambient air. Members of the Coalition work together to advocate for the full portfolio of policies required to commercialize a domestic carbon management sector and inform policymakers as well as stakeholders on the essential role this suite of technologies must play in achieving these shared objectives.