CATF Statement on Murkowski, Manchin CCUS Legislation
Clean Air Task Force supports Senators Manchin and Murkowski in their efforts to expand support for transformational carbon capture utilization and storage technologies in the proposed Enhancing Fossil Fuel Energy Carbon Technology Act. CATF supports the bill’s goal of creating four new programs to further develop transformational CCUS technologies for coal- and gas-fueled power and industrial sources, including research and development, large-scale pilot projects, demonstration projects, and front-end engineering and design. Carbon capture and storage technologies have been in commercial use for decades, but only recently have they been used for the purpose of reducing carbon dioxide emissions. Just as was the case with wind and solar technologies in the 1990s, learning by doing and transformational technology investment are the keys to further reducing the cost of CCS projects. Therefore, increased research, development and demonstration, focused on transformational technology, is an important complement to the recently adopted 45Q tax credit, which will help drive learning and cost declines through additional deployment.