The Innovative Mitigation Partnerships for Asphalt and Concrete Technologies (IMPACT) 2.0 Act strengthens American manufacturing's competitiveness by streamlining regulation and providing clear market signals to bring innovative clean technologies to market faster.

Summary:

The industrial sector is slated to be the largest emitting sector of the U.S. economy by 2035, surpassing the energy and transportation sectors. The key to reducing industrial emissions is to modernize the cement, concrete, and asphalt sectors, which are a necessity in people's daily lives worldwide for roads, highways, buildings, and more. Continuing to innovate how we produce these essential materials is no easy task and will require policy support to discover, demonstrate, and scale innovative production methods and materials.

The IMPACT 2.0 Act builds upon the IMPACT Act’s support for dedicated research, development and demonstration (RD&D) for low-emissions cement, concrete and asphalt production. IMPACT 2.0 is the second important step forward as companion legislation to the bipartisan Concrete & Asphalt Innovation Act led by Senators Coons and Tillis. This legislation establishes a voluntary grant program to provide state Departments of Transportation (DOT) with incentives and technical assistance to increase their adoption of performance-based standards and enables the federal DOT to issue advanced market commitments (AMC) to companies that can demonstrate the ability to produce innovative materials at commercial scale. This section has multiple guardrails to safeguard taxpayer dollars and promote fiscal responsibility. It targets three-year commitments so contracts awarded only receive the initial support needed to build commercial facilities. The legislation also sets interim milestones, requirements for companies to demonstrate the capacity to deliver the contracted quantities, and penalties to ensure federal funding is not tied up in non-performing contracts. It aims to support companies that can deliver durable and scalable materials.

IMPACT 2.0 will strengthen American manufacturing, increase supply chain resilience, lower dependence on foreign countries, and position America to export low-emissions technologies to capitalize on the rising global demand for cleaner industrial materials. These efforts include streamlining market access for innovative low-carbon materials and providing clear demand signals to enable scale-up of low-carbon cement, concrete, and asphalt materials.

The U.S. needs continued innovation to keep pace and ensure we are researching and deploying cutting-edge, innovative technologies to maintain a competitive advantage. Furthermore, multiple private companies are committing to decarbonizing their production, and buyers are interested in purchasing lower-emissions cement, concrete and asphalt. Targeted public and private sector support for emerging technologies will be necessary to help these companies achieve these ambitious goals.

History:

Recently enacted legislation, including the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) of 2021 and the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022, provide resources to the DOE for industrial demonstration programs within the Office of Clean Energy Demonstration and direction for steel innovation (RD&D). However, direction for cement, concrete, and asphalt was not included, regulatory barriers blocking the deployment of low-carbon materials remain, and low-carbon production processes needed further policy support to reach commercial-scale Supporting industry by removing regulatory blockers and providing clean deployment incentives will allow America to continue to lead in the cement, concrete and asphalt industrial subsector.

Specifics:

The IMPACT 2.0 Act establishes new programs at the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) and establishes an interagency task force to coordinate low-carbon cement, concrete, and asphalt innovation:

• Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Grant Program: Authorizes FHWA to establish a voluntary grant program for any state DOT that increases its adoption of performance-based specifications to facilitate the purchase of low-emissions cement, concrete, and asphalt. The grant program provides reimbursement for states to purchase low-carbon materials and funds technical assistance needed to modernize specifications to be performance-based.
• Advanced Market Commitment (AMC): Authorizes the DOT to procure and/or commit to purchase low-emissions cement, concrete, and asphalt if conditions for quality, delivery, and low-emissions are met. The AMC provides demand certainty needed for low-emissions producers to scale the production of innovative products.
• Interagency Task Force: Establishes a task force drawing on officials from DOE, DOT, the Secretary of Defense, and experts from the cement, concrete, and asphalt sectors to evaluate strategies to improve performance, reduce costs, and drive increased innovation and employment in low-carbon cement, concrete, and asphalt production. The Task Force will submit a report every two years to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate, and the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology of the House of Representatives.

ORIGINAL SPONSOR

Rep. Max Miller (R-OH) and Rep. Valerie Foushee (D-NC)

SUPPORT

BPC Action, Center for Climate and Energy Solutions (C2ES), Clean Air Task Force, ClearPath Action, Decarbonized Cement and Concrete Alliance (DC2), Sublime Systems, Holcim, Brimstone, World Resources Institute (WRI), Industrial Innovation Initiative (i3)

CONGRESS.GOV LINK:

H.R. 9136

PRINTABLE SUMMARY:

Printable summary of H.R. 9136