House Passes DOE Appropriations that Recognize Role of Carbon Capture in Reducing Carbon Emissions

The following statement may be attributed to Brad Crabtree, Director of the Carbon Capture Coalition, in response to the House passage on July 31, 2020 of H.R. 7613, Department of Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill for fiscal year 2021:

“The U.S. House today passed legislation that will increase funding for Department of Energy (DOE) programs focused on developing technologies at lab, pilot, demonstration and commercial scale for the carbon capture industry. DOE funding plays a critical role in commercializing the capture, storage, transportation and use of carbon from diverse sources including industry, power generation and direct air capture.

The Carbon Capture Coalition thanks Energy and Water Appropriations Chair Marcy Kaptur (D-OH), Ranking Member Mike Simpson (R-ID) and their colleagues for bipartisan recognition of the need for funding to scale carbon capture deployment to reduce carbon emissions to meet midcentury climate goals, foster domestic energy and industrial production, and support a high-wage jobs base.

Increasingly, appropriators have also recognized the need to build out the full value chain of carbon capture technologies. The FY21 bill includes funding for scaling up carbon capture’s role in the industrial sector, as well as the growing ‘carbon to value’ arena, which creates markets for products sourced from waste carbon emissions. These funding areas were among two key recommendations included in the Coalition’s March letter to House appropriators.

Additionally, the bill contains targeted economic recovery funding to support current carbon capture projects at risk of delay or cancellation due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and to increase the number of projects in the near-term development pipeline. In April, the Coalition shared with Congressional leaders a consensus-based set of economic recovery recommendations including funding for DOE cost-shares, to ensure that the over 30 carbon capture projects in the development pipeline remain on track to meet the deadline of beginning construction by the end of 2023 to qualify for the 45Q tax credit.”