WASHINGTON – A $billion may be available to help with clean coal technology.
Congressman Rick Boucher joined by Nick Joe Rahall and other legislators introduced a bill last week to advance the development and deployment of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies. CCS is a method of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by capturing and injecting underground the carbon dioxide emitted from electricity generation plants that use fossil fuels.
The bill is a bipartisan effort and in addition to Democrats Boucher and Rahall has the support of Republicans Ed Whitfield from KY, and Deborah Pryce of Ohio among others. The legislation would establish a $1 billion annual fund, derived from fees on the generation of electricity from coal, oil and natural gas.
Grants from the fund will be awarded to large-scale projects advancing the commercial availability of CCS technology. “Coal is America’s most abundant domestic fuel, and today, coal accounts for more than one-half of the fuel used for electricity generation. Given our large coal reserves, its lower cost in comparison with other fuels, and the inadequate availability of fuel alternatives, preservation of the ability of electric utilities to continue coal use is essential.
The legislation introduced today addresses this clear need by enabling electric utilities that use coal to have the continued ability to do so when a mandatory program is implemented to control greenhouse gas emissions,” Boucher said.
The Ninth District Congressman said making the CCS technology available quickly could prevent electric generating plants switching to other fuels. He said switching from coal to natural gas or other energy sources would result in higher prices for residential and industrial consumers.
“Today 58% of U.S. homes are heated with natural gas, and numerous industries are heavily reliant on it. If large scale switching by utilities from coal to natural gas occurs, tens of millions of Americans would experience deep economic pain, and many domestic industries would be dislocated. The early arrival of CCS is essential to prevent this economic disruption in a carbon constrained economy,” Boucher said.
Rep. Joe Barton, a Republican from Texas said carbon capture technology is reaching maturity and offers the option of affordable power. “When working families are paying electricity bills so high they look like house payments, we in Washington can’t afford to put our country’s least expensive and most available energy off limits,” he said.
The legislation would establish a non governmental fund to accelerate the deployment of carbon capture storage technology. It would be a Carbon Storage Research Corporation operated as an affiliate of the Electric Power Research Institute.
The Corporation will assess fees on distribution utilities for all fossil fuel-based electricity delivered to retail consumers. The assessment shall be applied to electricity generated from coal, natural gas and oil and will reflect the relative carbon dioxide emission rates of each fuel. The total assessment will be approximately $1 billion annually.
The legislation specifies that distribution utilities will be allowed to recover the costs of the fee from retail consumers. The fee translates into a roughly $10-12 total annual increase in residential electricity rates.
The Corporation shall distribute the funds through grants and contracts to private, academic and governmental entities with the purpose of accelerating the commercial availability of carbon dioxide capture and storage technologies. Supported projects should encompass a range of different fuel varieties, be geographically diverse, involve diverse storage media and employ technologies suitable for either new or retrofit applications.
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