Carbon Capture Coalition Statement on Trump Administration Rollback of Regulations of CO₂ Emissions from the Power Sector 

The following statement may be attributed to Jessie Stolark, executive director of the Carbon Capture Coalition (the Coalition), a non-partisan collaboration of companies, labor unions, and NGOs building support for carbon management policies. It is on the recent announcement that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has rescinded regulations on carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions from power plants using carbon capture and storage technologies as the best system of emissions reduction technology:  

“Regardless of the administration’s decision on how or if to regulate CO₂ emissions from the power sector, carbon capture and storage technologies are here to stay. Today, thanks to the supportive policy framework driven by long-standing, bipartisan support, there are more than 270 announced and operating projects nationwide and in various emitting sectors. More than 20 of these announced carbon management projects are in the US power sector, and range from feasibility studies to full-scale commercial projects. 

“Moreover, after two decades of stagnant load growth, domestic and global demand for clean, firm power is surging due to unprecedented electricity demand. As US utilities and power producers work to address growing power demand in the next decade, carbon capture at power facilities will be a crucial strategy to provide abundant, reliable, affordable power that is also clean and dispatchable. Carbon management technologies, including carbon capture, removal, transport, reuse, and storage, will help sustain American industries in markets that increasingly demand cleaner electricity and materials, without sacrificing economic growth.  

“The remainder of this decade will decide who the global leader is in developing and deploying these technologies. Thanks to sustained bipartisan support, the US has led the development and deployment of these technologies to date. However, the world is catching up, with supportive policies developing or in place in several regions around the globe. This is evident in the number of announced and operational projects worldwide. China has seven announced carbon capture projects in the power sector, which include three operational projects. Canada has nine announced projects in the power sector, one of which is operational; the United Kingdom has eighteen announced projects in the power sector.  

“That’s why the Coalition has and will continue to be laser-focused on working with bipartisan lawmakers to ensure that the US enacts and implements the necessary portfolio of supportive policies to allow carbon management technologies to deploy nationwide — to ensure sustained competitiveness of the US energy and industrial sectors, and to provide corresponding jobs and regional economic benefits.  

“This includes preserving and enhancing the foundational Section 45Q tax credit, ensuring that we have the appropriate permitting framework in place for project deployment, and urging the administration to continue implementing congressionally directed appropriations for key carbon management research, development, deployment, and demonstration programs.”  

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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 and stakeholders on the essential role this suite of technologies must play in achieving these shared objectives.