SENATE EPW MOVES IT ON USE IT

The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Wednesday by voice vote approved the bipartisan USE IT Act (S. 383), which would support carbon capture technologies through public-private partnerships, carbon dioxide pipeline and other infrastructure improvements and R&D.

Carbon capture “is needed to reduce the impacts of climate change while also delivering abundant and affordable energy to the nation,” said EPW Chairman John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), lead sponsor of the bill. The USE IT Act “will continue to cement the united states as a global innovation leader in carbon capture,” he said. Many of the same supporters of the bill were those who also helped lead passage last Congress of an extension and expansion of the Section 45Q carbon capture tax incentive.

The USE IT Act directs EPA to use existing authority to support research for carbon capture and utilization and direct air capture. It also clarifies that carbon capture projects and carbon dioxide pipelines are eligible for expedited permitting reviews; directs the White House Council on Environmental Quality to establish guidance to assist project developers and operators of carbon capture facilities and CO2 pipelines; and establishes task forces to hear input for updating and improving guidance.

MORE GOP CLEAN ENERGY BILLS IN THE WORKS

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) “is now helping fellow Republicans craft legislation to combat global warming through” energy innovation, Bloomberg reports.

He’s not alone. 

Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Chairman Lamar Alexander unveiled a “New Manhattan Project for Clean Energy,” a five-year project with 10 “grand challenges” for carbon capture, grid-scale batteries and other efforts that has attracted some early bipartisan interest.

Rep. Tom Reed (R-N.Y.) is looking to reintroduce his plan to institute a technology-neutral energy innovation tax incentive that reward new energy sources and energy storage and would scale down as an energy source’s share of generating production increases.

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) is looking at legislation to help solar through energy storage. Rep. David McKinley (R-W.Va.) wants to make sure carbon capture technologies are part of any clean energy production requirements that may be crafted.

That’s just a small sampling highlighted in the Bloomberg article.

Another bipartisan proposal (S. 1142) introduced Thursday from Sens. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) and Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) would extend the solar investment tax credit to include energy storage technologies.

There has been a big shift over the past six months amid “a lot of noise in this space that has made the need for solutions more urgent,” ClearPath Managing Director-Policy Jeremy Harrell said at a discussion on “Republican Solutions to Reduce Emissions” Thursday hosted by CRES Forum. That includes growing calls by Republican leaders on relevant committees on the “need to come together to find bipartisan solutions,” Jeremy said. “We’re having a more substantive debate about reducing emissions.”
 

ClearPath Founder Jay Faison talked about this recent shift in the climate debate among Republicans with leading GOP pollster (and ClearPath advisor) Kristen Soltis Anderson on her “Trendline” SiriusXM show.
 

SENATE ENERGY LEADERS UNVEIL CARBON CAPTURE R&D BILL

Senate Energy and Natural Resources leaders Thursday introduced a new bipartisan bill, the Enhancing Fossil Fuel Energy Carbon Technology (EFFECT) Act, to ramp up the Department of Energy’s carbon capture and storage work and “set the ambitious authorization levels that are needed,” ranking member Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) said at a hearing in the committee that morning on using energy innovation to address climate change.

The EFFECT Act, led by Manchin and Energy and Natural Resources Chairman Lisa Murkowski, lays the groundwork for steady support across the RD&D spectrum to improve the economic and environmental performance of power sector and industrial systems. The bill also authorizes programs that leverage and derisk private-sector investments, such as large-scale pilot projects and demonstrations. Other original cosponsors are Sens. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) and Steve Daines (R-Mont.).

We need a “moonshot” for carbon capture and a “practical plan to address climate change that doesn’t take technologies off the table or leave workers or communities stranded,” Manchin said at the hearing.

The Senate energy panel is planning future hearings focused on carbon capture, nuclear, energy storage and other next-generation technologies. Manchin is a cosponsor of a vast advanced nuclear blueprint, the Nuclear Energy Leadership Act (NELA), led by Murkowski and Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and backed by 17 senators so far.
 

A bipartisan group of senators, including Barrasso and Manchin, sent a letter to appropriators asking them to “support programs at the Department of Energy to develop and deploy carbon capture, utilization and storage technologies in partnership with the private sector.” That includes funding these programs “at the highest possible level” and including language “supporting an aggressive timeline for developing new and advanced carbon storage and utilization technologies.”
 

RICH’S TAKE: WHY NELA SHOULD BE CLOSELY TRACKED

In his latest whiteboard video, ClearPath Executive Director Rich Powell walks through the main details of NELA and why it is worth closely tracking.

That includes establishing specific goals to align federal, lab and private-sector efforts; developing a 10-year strategic plan that supports advanced nuclear R&D goals; providing initial domestic supplies of the fuel needed for many U.S. advanced reactor designs; a reliable testing ground for advanced fuels and materials; and nuclear engineering scholarships to maintain a robust pipeline of nuclear engineering talent.
 

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