Carbon Sequestration Proposals from the 110th Congress

H.R. 6 (Energy Bill as passed into law):  

Renewable Fuels, Consumer Protection, and Energy Efficiency Act of 2007. This is the final energy bill that was produced after negotiation among the White House, Senate, and House of Representatives. It incorporates elements of both H.R. 3221 and H.R. 6.

· Among other provisions, the bill establishes a renewable fuel standard, to reach 36 billion gallons by 2022, with 21 billion of those gallons to be from advanced biofuels. The bill mandates that renewable fuels produced from facilities that commence operations after enactment shall achieve at least 20% reduction in life cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, compared to gasoline. The bill also directs the President to establish criteria for a system of voluntary labeling of renewable fuels based on life cycle greenhouse gas emissions.

· The bill directs the Secretary of Transportation to increase Corporate Average Fuel Economy regulations to achieve a combined standard for passenger cars and light trucks of at least 35 miles per gallon by 2020. For model years 2021 through 2031, the Secretary would have to establish the "maximum feasible" standard for the fleet. In establishing the maximum feasible standard, the bill directs the Secretary to consider the emissions of GHGs over the lifecycle of the fuel and the resulting costs to human health, the economy, and the environment.

· The bill also authorizes funds to promote research in solar energy, biofuels, marine renewable energy, and geothermal energy, and authorizes funds for carbon capture and storage research, development, and demonstration.

· The bill contains provisions which direct each federal agency to annually inventory and report its GHG emissions, and requires the EPA to promulgate annual greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction targets for the total emissions of all agencies taken as a whole, for each fiscal year from 2010 through 2050.

· The bill requires the Secretary of the Interior to develop a methodology for assessing the nation’s capacity to store carbon dioxide in geologic formations. It also requires the Secretary to conduct an assessment of the amount of carbon stored in terrestrial, aquatic, and coastal ecosystems, including estuaries; and to determine the potential for increasing carbon storage in natural ecosystems.

· The Transportation and Infrastructure section of this bill, among other provisions, mandates the establishment of a Center for Climate Change and Environment within the Department of Transportation, which would plan, coordinate, and implement department-wide initiatives and research to reduce transportation-related energy use, mitigate the effects of climate change, and address the impacts of climate change on transportation and infrastructure.

· The Energy and Commerce section of this bill contains a number of energy efficiency provisions, among them: improving the schedule for consensus standards, updating appliance test procedures, new efficiency standards for lighting, residential boilers, industrial motors, washing machines, and dishwashers. The title also establishes new efficiency standards for power supplies and transformers for consumer electronic equipment.

· In addition, the bill mandates the creation of an Office of High-Performance Green Buildings, and sets out increased efficiency standards for federal buildings, as well as increased efficiency standards for state residential and commercial building codes. It also authorizes grants to support state implementation of green building codes.

· The bill also provides technical assistance and a revolving fund for implementing combined heat and power (CHP) systems and sustainable energy infrastructure. It contains a number of provisions promoting creation of a Smart Grid, and mandates the promulgation of a National Action Plan for Demand Response.

· The bill directs the President to establish a program to provide grants for research support to facilitate the development of sustainable markets and technologies to use woody biomass and other low carbon fuels, including research into methods of assessing and certifying the impacts of low-carbon fuels with respect to reductions in lifecycle GHG emissions, among other impacts.

· The bill also directs the Secretary of Energy to establish a grant program to encourage the production of advanced biofuels. It requires the Secretary to award grants to the proposals for advanced biofuels with the greatest reduction in lifecycle GHG emissions compared to the comparable vehicle fuel lifecycle emissions in calendar year 2007, with at least a 50% such reduction needed to be eligible.

· The bill amends the Clean Air Act to direct the Administrator of the EPA to work with the EPA to conduct 2 studies on the effects of increased domestic use of renewable fuels under this act, including an assessment and quantification of significant changes in GHG emissions, among others.

· Among other provisions, the bill directs the Secretary of Energy to conduct an applied research program for plug-in electric drive vehicle technology, including development of control systems optimized for reducing greenhouse gas emissions; it also directs the Secretary to establish a competitive program to provide grants for demonstrations of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. As part of the criteria, applicants are required to record GHG emissions.

· The bill also amends the Energy Policy Act of 2005 to establish an Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Worker Training. It directs the Secretary of Energy to establish a competitive grant program for States to administer renewable energy and energy efficiency workforce development programs, and requires the Secretary to give priority to those States whose programs will be in line with meeting national and State goals for reducing GHG emissions, among other goals.

· The bill requires the Secretary of the Interior to develop a national assessment of the quantity of carbon stored in and released from terrestrial ecosystems, including from human-caused and natural fires, and the annual flux of GHGs in and out of terrestrial ecosystems. As part of the assessment, the Secretary must determine the processes that control the flux of GHGs in and out of terrestrial ecosystems; estimate the potential for increasing carbon sequestration in natural and managed terrestrial ecosystems; develop near-term and long-term adaptation strategies or mitigation strategies that can be employed to enhance the sequestration of carbon in terrestrial ecosystems, to reduce emissions of GHGs, and to adapt to climate change.

· The bill also requires the Secretary of the Interior to develop a method for measuring, monitoring, quantifying, and monetizing covered GHG emissions and reductions, including methods for allocating and managing offsets or credits.

· The bill amends the Energy Policy Act of 2005 to establish a program to promote and fund carbon capture and storage research, development, and demonstration. It authorizes a total of $1.425 billion for various of activities related to carbon capture and storage, including: fundamental science and engineering research; field testing of carbon dioxide sequestration in operating and depleted oil and gas fields, and geological formations including saline formations and unmineable coal seams; not less than 7 large-volume sequestration tests involving at least 1 million tons of carbon dioxide per year in a diversity of geological formations across the United States; and an assessment of the national capacity for carbon dioxide storage. The bill also directs the Secretary of Energy to establish a competitive grant program for the demonstration of carbon capture and storage from industrial sources.

· The bill also requires the Administrator of the EPA to establish a competitive grant demonstration program for projects to capture and store or use the carbon dioxide emitted from the Capitol power plant as a result of burning coal.

Sponsor: Rep. Nick Rahall (D-WV) (198 Cosponsors)

 

S. 1151:   Climate Stewardship and Innovation Act, which is identical to S. 342 except that it also increases the incentives for development of climate-friendly technologies, including integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) advanced coal power generating facilities that use carbon capture technology with geological storage of GHGs; advanced nuclear reactors; large-scale biofuels facilities that maximize cellulosic biomass use, and large scale solar power facilities.

Sponsor: Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) (1 Cosponsors)

 

S. 2755:   Energy Production, Refining, Infrastructure, Conservation and Efficiency (PRICE) Act, which, among other things, would increase the tax incentive for using CO₂ for enhanced oil recovery if the CO₂ is from an industrial source or is separated from natural gas and natural gas liquids.

Sponsor: Sen. Craig Thomas (R-WY)

 

S. 342:   Climate Stewardship Act, which would cap the GHG emissions of the electricity, manufacturing, commercial and transportation sectors of the economy (representing 85% of U.S. emissions) at the 2000 level by 2010. Emitters would be able to trade GHG emissions credits and get credit for pre-enactment GHG reductions, carbon sequestration, and international GHG reductions, up to a limit. The bill also provides for a program of scientific research on climate change, creates a national GHG database, and establishes the Climate Change Credit Corporation. (See S.1151 and S.Amdt.826 below).

Sponsor: Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) (15 Cosponsors)

 

S. 727:   Natural Gas Price Reduction Act, which would, among other things, make tax incentives for gasification combined cycle technology contingent in part on the technology being carbon-capture ready.

(2 Cosponsors)

 

S. Amdt. 826:   S. Amdt. 826: Climate Stewardship and Innovation Act, which increases the incentives for development of climate-friendly technologies, including integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) advanced coal power generating facilities that use carbon capture technology with geological storage of GHGs; advanced nuclear reactors; large-scale biofuels facilities that maximize cellulosic biomass use, and large scale solar power facilities. (Identical to S.1151.)

(1 Cosponsors)

 

H.R. 1128:   The bill would allow a tax credit for CO₂ captured from anthropogenic industrial sources and used as an injectant in enhanced oil and natural gas recovery.

 

H.R. 2875:   Public Lands Corps Healthy Forests Restoration Act, which would make enhancement of a forest’s carbon sequestration as a “priority project” for eligible service under the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003.

(1 Cosponsors)

 

H.R. 6025:   Alternative Liquid Transportation Fuel Promotion Act, which would amend the Energy Policy Act by authorizing the Department of Energy to appropriate funds for coal-to-liquid facilities (including the carbon sequestration elements of such facilities).

 

S. Amdt. 989:   Amendment would establish a program of carbon capture research and development at DOE.

 

H.R. 6 EAS:   Conference Report on the Energy Policy Act of 2003, which, among other things, establishes carbon emission rate requirements that advanced clean coal technology units must meet to be eligible for a clean coal technology tax credit; extends the enhanced oil recovery credit to high volume natural gas facilities which produce carbon dioxide that is injected into hydrocarbon-bearing geological formations; authorizes a “Clean Coal Power Initiative” that reforms the existing DOE Clean Coal Technology Program, which may fund projects that include the separation and capture of carbon dioxide; directs the Department of Energy (DOE) to conduct programs to address the production of hydrogen from fossil fuels, which may include carbon capture and sequestration; authorizes research, development, demonstration and commercial application of programs to facilitate coal-based power through carbon capture and sequestration research and development, and of ultra-deepwater exploration technologies for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and sequestration of carbon; requires a report to Congress that includes scenarios for decreasing natural gas demand and increasing natural gas supplies comparing relative economic and environmental impacts of, among other things, federal policies that encourage or require the use of natural gas to meet carbon dioxide emission reduction goals; and establishes a research, development and demonstration program in genetics, protein science, and computational biology that has the goal, among other things, of converting carbon dioxide to organic carbon. The climate titles of H.R.6 E.A.S. were not debated by the conference committee and not included in the conference report. Conference committee chairman: Sen. Pete V. Domenici (R-NM).

Sponsor: Rep. Billy Tauzin (R-LA) (4 Cosponsors)

 

S. 1449:   America's Healthy Forest Restoration and Research Act, which would direct the Department of Agriculture to establish a healthy forests reserve program, one goal of which would be to enhance carbon sequestration, as well as a program to inventory, monitor, characterize, assess, and identify forest stands, which among other things, would quantify carbon uptake rates.

(1 Cosponsors)

 

S. 1910:   To direct the Secretary of Agriculture to carry out an inventory and management program for forests derived from public domain land, which, among other things, would address the quantification of carbon uptake rates.

Sponsor: Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR)

 

H.J. Res. 2:   Consolidated Appropriations Resolution, 2003, which, among other things, provides $175 million to support policies and programs in developing countries and countries in transition that directly: (1) promote energy conservation, energy efficiency and clean energy; (2) measure, monitor, and reduce GHG emissions; (3) increase carbon sequestration activities; and (4) enhance climate change mitigation and adaptation programs. Also, the President must submit a report to the Appropriations Committees on federal agency obligations and expenditures, domestic and international, for climate change and technology transfer programs in fiscal year 2003. Also provides that funds may be used to support tropical forestry and biodiversity conservation activities and energy programs aimed at reducing GHG emissions.

Sponsor: Rep. C.W.

 

H.R. 1644:   Energy Policy Act of 2003, which, among other things, would authorize clean coal research relating to the separation and capture of carbon dioxide.

Sponsor: Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX)

 

H.R. 1773:   George E. Brown, Jr. and Robert S. Walker Hydrogen Future Act of 2003, which would establish a program to accelerate the use of hydrogen and related technologies in stationary and transportation applications, among other things, addressing production of hydrogen from fossil fuels, in conjunction with carbon capture and sequestration.

Sponsor: Rep. Sherwood L. Boehlert (R-NY)

 

H.R. 2264:   Congo Basin Forest Partnership Act of 2003, which, in authorizing appropriations to carry out the Congo Basin Forest Partnership (CBFP) program, cites the role of Congo Basin forests in absorbing carbon dioxide.

Sponsor: Rep. Clay E. ShawJr. (R-FL) (18 Cosponsors)

 

H.R. 2673:   Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2004, which, among other things, provides $180 million to support policies and programs in developing countries and countries in transition that directly: (1) promote energy conservation, energy efficiency and clean energy; (2) measure, monitor, and reduce GHG emissions; (3) increase carbon sequestration activities; and (4) enhance climate change mitigation and adaptation programs. Also, the President must submit a report to the Appropriations Committees on federal agency obligations and expenditures, domestic and international, for climate change and technology transfer programs in fiscal year 2004. Also provides that funds may be used to support tropical forestry and biodiversity conservation activities and energy programs aimed at reducing GHG emissions.

Sponsor: Rep. Henry Bonilla (R-TX)

 

H.R. 2894:   Theodore Roosevelt National Wildlife Refuge Act, which, in establishing the Theodore Roosevelt National Wildlife Refuge, finds that the Lower Delta of the Mississippi River has the Nation's highest potential carbon sequestration storage capacity.

Sponsor: Rep. Bennie G. Thompson (R-MS) (3 Cosponsors)

 

H.R. 4067:   The Climate Stewardship Act of 2004, which would cap the GHG emissions of the electricity, manufacturing, commercial and transportation sectors of the economy (representing 85% of U.S. emissions) at their 2000 level by 2010. Emitters would be able to trade GHG emissions credits and get credit for pre-enactment GHG reductions, carbon sequestration, and international GHG reductions, up to a limit. The bill would also require periodic NOAA reports on the projected impacts of climate change on coastal communities and oceanic and coastal ecosystems, and would identify adaptation measures that might be used to protect these resources and to estimate the costs of the measures.

(85 Cosponsors)

 

H.R. 4503:   The Energy Policy Act of 2004 (essentially identical to the conference report on the H.R.6).

Sponsor: Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX)

 

H.R. 4686:   Mississippi River Protection and Restoration Act of 2004, which, among other things, would require the Secretary of the Army to establish a consortium of universities from throughout the Mississippi River Basin to demonstrate wetland values and functions to reduce nutrient loadings to the Gulf of Mexico and to sequester carbon.

Sponsor: Rep. Ron Kind (D-WI) (2 Cosponsors)

 

H.R. 4818:   Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2005, which, among other things, states that that funds appropriated to implement the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 may be used to support tropical forestry and biodiversity conservation activities and energy programs aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions; appropriates $180 million to support clean energy and other climate change policies and programs in developing countries, of which $100 million is to directly promote energy conservation, energy efficiency, and renewable and clean energy technologies, and of which the balance should be made available to directly: (1) measure, monitor, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions; (2) increase carbon sequestration activities; and (3) enhance climate change mitigation and adaptation programs. In addition, the bill requires, within 45 days after the date on which the President's fiscal year 2006 budget request is submitted to Congress, a report on all federal agency obligations and expenditures for climate change programs and activities in fiscal year 2005; as well as fiscal years 2004 and 2005 obligations and estimated expenditures, and fiscal year 2006 requested funds by the United States Agency for International Development for a variety of climate change activities.

Sponsor: Rep. Jim Kolbe (R-AZ)

 

S. 1255:   Carbon Sequestration and Reporting Act, which establishes a Carbon Advisory Council to advise on reporting guidelines for greenhouse gas sequestration from soil carbon and forest management actions; authorizes the Department of Agriculture to enter into cooperative agreements for forest carbon activities on private, State, and Indian lands; and includes provisions of S.785 to require the Department of Agriculture to allow land to be enrolled in a carbon sequestration program.

Sponsor: 1