[Senate Report 112-33]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
Calendar No. 100
112th Congress Report
SENATE
1st Session 112-33
======================================================================
CARBON DIOXIDE CAPTURE
_______
July 11, 2011.--Ordered to be printed
_______
Mr. Bingaman, from the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources,
submitted the following
R E P O R T
[To accompany S. 757]
The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, to which was
referred the bill (S. 757) to provide incentives to encourage
the development and implementation of technology to capture
carbon dioxide from dilute sources on a significant scale using
direct air capture technologies, having considered the same,
reports favorably thereon with an amendment and recommends that
the bill, as amended, do pass.
The amendment is as follows:
Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert in lieu
thereof the following:
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Carbon Dioxide Capture Technology
Prize Act of 2011''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.
(a) Findings.--Congress finds that--
(1) flue gases from coal-fired electric generating facilities
typically have carbon dioxide concentrations of approximately
17 percent by volume;
(2) it is possible to separate carbon dioxide from dilute
sources and even the atmosphere, which has a carbon dioxide
concentration of 0.038 percent, but substantial advances in
research and technology will be necessary to provide the
separation in an economical manner;
(3) developing practical separations of carbon dioxide from
dilute sources is important to the future development of energy
technology;
(4) economical onsite separation of atmospheric carbon
dioxide can help leverage the use of carbon dioxide in energy
applications such as enhanced oil recovery and enhanced
geothermal systems at remote sites; and
(5) authorizing the Secretary of Energy to provide a
technology prize for separation of carbon dioxide from dilute
sources can provide the impetus for developing the novel
technologies that will be needed in the future as part of the
national energy system of the United States.
(b) Purpose.--The purpose of this Act is to provide incentives to
encourage the development and implementation of technology to capture
carbon dioxide from dilute sources on a significant scale using direct
air capture technologies.
SEC. 3. CARBON DIOXIDE CAPTURE TECHNOLOGY PRIZE.
Section 703 of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (42
U.S.C. 17251) is amended--
(1) by redesignating subsection (b) as subsection (c);
(2) by inserting after subsection (a) the following:
``(b) Carbon Dioxide Capture Technology Prize.--
``(1) Definitions.--In this subsection:
``(A) Board.--The term `Board' means the Carbon
Dioxide Capture Technology Advisory Board established
by paragraph (6).
``(B) Dilute.--The term `dilute' means a
concentration of less than 1 percent by volume.
``(C) Intellectual property.--The term `intellectual
property' means--
``(i) an invention that is patentable under
title 35, United States Code; and
``(ii) any patent on an invention described
in clause (i).
``(D) Secretary.--The term `Secretary' means the
Secretary of Energy or designee, in consultation with
the Board.
``(2) Authority.--Not later than 1 year after the date of
enactment of the Carbon Dioxide Capture Technology Prize Act of
2011, as part of the program carried out under this section,
the Secretary shall establish and award competitive technology
financial awards for carbon dioxide capture from media in which
the concentration of carbon dioxide is dilute.
``(3) Duties.--In carrying out this subsection, the Secretary
shall--
``(A) subject to paragraph (4), develop specific
requirements for--
``(i) the competition process;
``(ii) minimum performance standards for
qualifying projects; and
``(iii) monitoring and verification
procedures for approved projects;
``(B) establish minimum levels for the capture of
carbon dioxide from a dilute medium that are required
to be achieved to qualify for a financial award
described in subparagraph (C); and
``(C) offer financial awards for--
``(i) a design for a promising capture
technology;
``(ii) a successful bench-scale demonstration
of a capture technology;
``(iii) a design for a technology described
in clause (i) that will--
``(I) be operated on a demonstration
scale; and
``(II) achieve significant reduction
in the level of carbon dioxide; and
``(iv) an operational capture technology on a
commercial scale that meets the minimum levels
described in subparagraph (B).
``(4) Public participation.--In carrying out paragraph
(3)(A), the Board shall--
``(A) provide notice of and, for a period of at least
60 days, an opportunity for public comment on, any
draft or proposed version of the requirements described
in paragraph (3)(A); and
``(B) take into account public comments received in
developing the final version of those requirements.
``(5) Peer review.--No financial awards may be provided under
this subsection until the proposal for which the award is
sought has been peer reviewed in accordance with such standards
for peer review as are established by the Secretary.
``(6) Carbon dioxide capture technology advisory board.--
``(A) Establishment.--There is established an
advisory board to be known as the `Carbon Dioxide
Capture Technology Advisory Board'.
``(B) Composition.--The Board shall be composed of 7
members appointed by the President that provide
expertise in--
``(i) climate science;
``(ii) physics;
``(iii) chemistry;
``(iv) biology;
``(v) engineering;
``(vi) economics;
``(vii) business management; and
``(viii) such other disciplines as the
Secretary determines to be necessary to achieve
the purposes of this subsection.
``(C) Initial meeting.--Not later than 30 days after
the date on which all members of the Board have been
appointed, the Board shall hold the initial meeting of
the Board.
``(D) Meetings.--The Board shall meet at the call of
the Chairperson.
``(E) Quorum.--A majority of the members of the Board
shall constitute a quorum, but a lesser number of
members may hold hearings.
``(F) Chairperson and vice chairperson.--The Board
shall select a Chairperson and Vice Chairperson from
among the members of the Board.
``(G) Duties.--The Board shall advise the Secretary
on carrying out the duties of the Secretary under this
subsection.
``(7) Intellectual property.--
``(A) In general.--As a condition of receiving a
financial award under this subsection, an applicant
shall agree to vest the intellectual property of the
applicant derived from the technology in 1 or more
entities that are incorporated in the United States.
``(B) Reservation of license.--The United States--
``(i) may reserve a nonexclusive,
nontransferable, irrevocable, paid-up license,
to have practiced for or on behalf of the
United States, in connection with any
intellectual property described in subparagraph
(A); but
``(ii) shall not, in the exercise of a
license reserved under clause (i), publicly
disclose proprietary information relating to
the license.
``(C) Transfer of title.--Title to any intellectual
property described in subparagraph (A) shall not be
transferred or passed, except to an entity that is
incorporated in the United States, until the expiration
of the first patent obtained in connection with the
intellectual property.
``(8) Termination of authority.--The Board and all authority
provided under this subsection shall terminate on the date that
is 5 years after the date of enactment of the Carbon Dioxide
Capture Technology Prize Act of 2011.''; and
(3) in subsection (c) (as redesignated by paragraph (1))--
(A) by striking ``There is'' and inserting the
following:
``(1) In general.--There is'';
(B) by striking ``this section'' and inserting
``subsection (a)''; and
(C) by striking ``2013'' and inserting ``2011 and
$195,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2012 and 2013'';
and
(D) by adding at the end the following:
``(2) Carbon dioxide capture technology prize.--There is
authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary to carry out
subsection (b) $10,000,000 for the period of fiscal years 2012
through 2016.''.
Purpose of the Measure
The purpose of S. 757 is to provide incentives to encourage
the development and implementation of technology to capture
carbon dioxide from dilute sources on a significant scale using
direct air capture technologies by creating a carbon dioxide
capture technology prize to be implemented by the Secretary of
Energy.
Background and Need
Carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology holds great
promise of removing large amounts of carbon dioxide emitted
from the use of fossil fuels. Deployment of CCS technology
would reduce carbon dioxide emissions from electricity
generation facilities that use fossil fuels and from other
sources. In addition, captured carbon dioxide could be used in
energy applications such as enhanced oil recovery and enhanced
geothermal systems. Serious technical challenges to achieving
cost-effective commercial deployment of CCS technology remain,
however.
The Department of Energy's ongoing CCS research and
development programs, regional carbon sequestration
partnerships, and commercial-scale demonstrations are important
efforts toward solving these technical challenges. In addition,
however, the National Academy of Engineering has recommended
that Congress make greater use of competitions that are
designed to foster progress toward scientific and technological
goals by offering prizes or awards. The Academy found that
inducement prizes attract a broader spectrum of ideas and
participants, enable federal agencies to shift more of the risk
of pursuing a scientific or technological breakthrough from the
agency to the contestants, and have the capacity for educating,
inspiring, and mobilizing the public.
Since the National Academy of Engineering recommended
greater use of prizes for achieving scientific and
technological goals, Congress has enacted legislation
authorizing the Secretary of Energy to award cash prizes for
breakthrough achievements in research, development,
demonstration, and commercial application (``Grand Challenges
Prizes''), for technologies that serve to reduce the dependence
of the United States on imported oil (``Freedom Prizes''), for
advances in hydrogen energy (``H-Prize''), and for various
lighting technologies (``Bright Tomorrow Lighting Prizes''). 42
U.S.C. 16396 and 17243.
S. 757 is needed to provide financial incentives to
encourage the development and implementation of technology to
capture carbon dioxide from dilute sources on a significant
scale using direct air capture technologies.
Legislative History
S. 757 was introduced by Senator Barrasso on April 7, 2011.
Senators Bingaman, Enzi, and Hoeven are cosponsors. The
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources held a hearing on the
bill on Thursday, May 12, 2011. The Committee considered the
bill at its business meeting on Thursday, May 26, 2011. The
Committee adopted an amendment in the nature of a substitute
and ordered the bill, as amended, favorably reported.
Committee Recommendation
The Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, in
open business session on May 26, 2011, by voice vote of a
quorum present, recommends that the Senate pass S. 757, if
amended, as described herein. Mr. Coats (by proxy), Mr. Lee,
Mr. Paul (by proxy), and Mr. Heller asked that they be recorded
as voting no.
Committee Amendment
During its consideration of the bill, the Committee adopted
an amendment in the nature of a substitute. The amendment
authorizes appropriation of $10 million over a five-year period
for the prize program. The amendment offsets the authorization
by reducing an existing carbon capture program under section
703 of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 by $5
million in fiscal years 2012 and 2013. The amendment also
reduces the number of advisory board members from 9 to 7 and
eliminates compensation for service on the board.
Section-by-Section Analysis
Section 1 provides a short title.
Section 2(a) finds that it is possible to capture carbon
dioxide from dilute sources and the atmosphere, that developing
practical carbon dioxide capture technologies is important to
future energy development, and that authorizing the Secretary
of Energy to award a technology prize can provide an impetus
for developing novel technologies. Subsection (b) states that
the purpose of the bill is to authorize the Secretary of Energy
to provide a technology prize for the separation of carbon
dioxide from dilute sources using direct air capture
technologies.
Section 3 authorizes the Secretary of Energy to create a
competitive technology financial awards program for carbon
dioxide capture from media in which the concentration of carbon
dioxide is dilute (a concentration of less than 1 percent of
carbon dioxide by volume). Awards will be given for basic
design, bench-scale demonstration of technology, operational
demonstration, and commercial scale for the carbon dioxide
capture technologies. The Secretary will receive advice
concerning the program from a 7-person advisory board. Any
technology that receives a financial award under this program
must vest the intellectual property derived from the technology
into an entity or entities incorporated in the U.S. The program
is authorized to be appropriated $10,000,000 for the period of
fiscal years 2012 through 2016.
Cost and Budgetary Considerations
The following estimate of costs of this measure has been
provided by the Congressional Budget Office.
S. 757--Carbon Dioxide Capture Technology Prize Act of 2011
Summary: S. 757 would authorize appropriations for the
Department of Energy (DOE) to provide competitive financial
awards to support the development of advanced technologies to
capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Because the bill
also would reduce an existing authorization of appropriations
for other activities, CBO estimates that implementing S. 757
would have no significant net impact on discretionary spending
over the 2012-2016 period.
S. 757 would not affect direct spending or revenues;
therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply.
S. 757 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector
mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA).
Estimated cost to the Federal Government: The estimated
budgetary impact of S. 757 is shown in the following table. The
costs of this legislation fall within budget function 270
(energy).
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By fiscal year, in millions of dollars--
-------------------------------------------------------
2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2012-2016
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CHANGES IN SPENDING SUBJECT TO APPROPRIATION
Carbon Dioxide Capture Technology Prize:
Authorization Level................................. 10 0 0 0 0 10
Estimated Outlays................................... 1 3 5 1 0 10
Carbon Capture and Sequestration Research, Development
and Demonstration:
Authorization Level................................. -5 -5 0 0 0 -10
Estimated Outlays................................... -2 -4 -3 -1 0 -10
Total Changes:
Authorization Level................................. 5 -5 0 0 0 0
Estimated Outlays................................... 1 -1 2 0 0 0
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Basis of estimate: For this estimate, CBO assumes that S.
757 will be enacted near the start of fiscal year 2012 and that
future appropriations will be provided as specified under the
bill. S. 757 would authorize funding of $10 million for a new
program related to capturing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere
and reduce, by $10 million, an existing authorization of
funding for related activities. Taken together, CBO estimates
that those changes would have no net impact on spending subject
to appropriation over the 2012-2016 period.
S. 757 would authorize the appropriation of $10 million
over the 2012-2016 period for DOE to establish a program to
provide competitive financial awards to promote the development
of technologies to capture large amounts of carbon dioxide from
certain sources, such as the air. Under the bill, a seven-
member advisory board would advise the Secretary of Energy in
evaluating proposals and providing awards to eligible projects.
Based on historical spending patterns for similar activities,
CBO estimates that implementing the proposed program would cost
$10 million over the 2012-2016 period, assuming appropriation
of the authorized amount.
That increase in discretionary spending would be offset by
a reduction in amounts currently authorized to be appropriated
for research, development, and demonstration activities related
to carbon capture and sequestration (CCS). Public Law 110-140
currently authorizes appropriations totaling $200 million a
year through 2013. S. 757 would reduce that specified amount by
$5 million in each of fiscal years 2012 and 2013, thereby
reducing the authorization for future spending subject to
appropriation by a total of $10 million.
Based on historical spending patterns for CCS-related
activities and assuming appropriations are reduced accordingly,
CBO estimates that spending over the 2012-2016 period would be
$10 million lower.
Pay-As-You-Go considerations: None.
Intergovernmental and private-sector impact: S. 757
contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as
defined in UMRA and would impose no costs on state, local, or
tribal governments.
Estimate prepared by: Federal costs: Megan Carroll; Impact
on state, local, and tribal governments: Ryan Miller; Impact on
the private sector: Amy Petz.
Estimate approved by: Theresa Gullo, Deputy Assistant
Director for Budget Analysis.
Regulatory Impact Evaluation
In compliance with paragraph 11(b) of rule XXVI of the
Standing Rules of the Senate, the Committee makes the following
evaluation of the regulatory impact which would be incurred in
carrying out S. 757.
The bill is not a regulatory measure in the sense of
imposing Government established standards or significant
economic responsibilities on private individuals and
businesses.
No personal information would be collected in administering
the program. Therefore, there would be no impact on personal
privacy.
Little, if any, additional paperwork would result from the
enactment of S. 757.
Congressionally Directed Spending
The bill, as reported, does not contain any congressionally
directed spending items, limited tax benefits, or limited
tariff benefits as defined in rule XLIV of the Standing Rules
of the Senate.
Executive Communications
The testimony provided by the Department of Energy at the
Committee's May 12, 2011, hearing on S. 757 follows:
Statement of Scott Klara, Deputy Laboratory Director, National Energy
Technology Laboratory, Department of Energy
Thank you Chairman Bingaman, Ranking Member Barrasso, and
members of the Committee; I appreciate the opportunity to
discuss the Department of Energy's activities to promote the
development of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies.
My testimony will provide an overview of the Department of
Energy's (DOE) research efforts in developing CCS technologies.
The Administration is still reviewing S. 699 and S. 757 and
does not have a position on either bill at this time.
INTERAGENCY TASK FORCE ON CARBON CAPTURE AND STORAGE
Before I discuss the Department's Clean Coal Research
Program, I will briefly review the conclusions from the
Interagency Task Force on CCS. In August 2010, the final report
from the Task Force was issued summarizing the Administration's
efforts to develop and deploy CCS technologies, and proposed a
plan to overcome the barriers to the widespread, cost-effective
deployment of CCS within ten years, with a goal of bringing
five to ten commercial demonstration projects on line by 2016.
This report is the collective work of 14 executive departments
and federal agencies, which were tasked with developing a
comprehensive and coordinated Federal strategy to speed the
commercial development and deployment of clean coal
technologies. The task force concluded that while there are no
insurmountable technological, legal, institutional, regulatory
or other barriers that prevent CCS from playing a role in
reducing GHG emissions, early CCS projects face economic
challenges related to climate policy uncertainty, first-of-a-
kind technology risks, and the current high cost of CCS
relative to other technologies.
CLEAN COAL RESEARCH PROGRAM
DOE continues to play a leadership role in the development
of clean coal technologies with a focus on CCS. The Clean Coal
Research Program--administered by DOE's Office of Fossil Energy
and implemented by the National Energy Technology Laboratory--
is designed to enhance our energy security and reduce
environmental concerns over the future use of coal by
developing a portfolio of revolutionary clean coal
technologies. The Program is well positioned to help overcome
the technical challenges associated with the development of
clean coal technologies.
The Clean Coal Program, in partnership with the private
sector, is focused on maximizing efficiency and environmental
performance, while minimizing the costs of these new
technologies. In recent years, the Program has been
restructured to focus on clean coal technologies with CCS. The
Program pursues the following two major strategies:
(1) capturing and storing greenhouse gases; and
(2) improving the efficiency of fossil energy
systems.
The first strategy aims to eliminate concerns over
emissions of greenhouse gases from fossil fueled energy
systems. The second strategy seeks to improve the fuel-to-
energy efficiencies of these systems, thus reducing pollutant
emissions, water usage, and carbon emissions on a per unit of
energy basis. Collectively, these two strategies comprise the
Clean Coal Program's approach to ensure that current and future
fossil energy plants will have options to meet all emerging
requirements for a safe and secure energy future.
CORE RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES
The Clean Coal Program is addressing the key technical
challenges that confront the development and deployment of
clean coal technologies through research on cost-effective
capture technologies; monitoring, verification, and accounting
technologies to ensure permanent storage; permitting issues;
and development of advanced energy systems. The Program is also
actively engaged in interagency efforts to address liability
issues, public outreach, and infrastructure needs. As an
example, today's commercially available CCS technologies would
add around 80 percent to the cost of electricity for a new
pulverized coal plant, and around 35 percent to the cost of
electricity for a new integrated gasification combined cycle
plant. The Program is aggressively pursuing developments to
reduce these costs to less than a 35 percent increase in the
cost of electricity for pulverized coal energy plants and less
than a 10 percent increase in the cost of electricity for new
gasification-based energy plants.
Research is focused on developing technology options that
dramatically lower the cost of capturing carbon dioxide
(CO2) from fossil fueled energy plants. This
research can be categorized into three technical pathways:
post-combustion, pre-combustion, and oxy-combustion. Post-
combustion refers to capturing CO2 from the stack
gas after a fuel has been combusted in air. Pre-combustion
refers to a process where a hydrocarbon fuel is gasified to
form a mixture of hydrogen and carbon dioxide, and
CO2 is captured from the synthesis gas before it is
combusted. Oxy-combustion is an approach where a hydrocarbon
fuel is combusted in pure or nearly pure oxygen rather than
air, which produces a mixture of CO2 and water that
can easily be separated to produce pure CO2.
Collectively, research in each of these technical pathways is
exploring a wide range of approaches such as membranes; oxy-
combustion concepts; solid sorbents; CO2 hydrates;
and advanced gas/liquid scrubbing technologies. These efforts
cover not only improvements to state-of-the-art technologies
but also development of several revolutionary concepts, such as
metal organic frameworks, ionic liquids, and enzyme based
systems. Coupling these developments with other advances in
efficiency improvements and cost reduction from developments in
gasification, turbines, and fuel cells, will help provide a
technology base for commercial deployment of fossil energy
systems integrated with CCS.
The Department is the primary supporter of the National
Carbon Capture Center (NCCC), which is a joint partnership
between DOE and industry. The NCCC is a one of a kind, world
class facility which offers an opportunity to validate capture
technologies on actual gas from a coal fired power plant or
gasification facility. Because of the ability to operate under
a wide range of process conditions, research at the NCCC can
effectively evaluate technologies at various levels of maturity
for many different applications.
REGIONAL CARBON SEQUESTRATION PARTNERSHIPS
The Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnerships were created
by the DOE in 2003 through a competitive solicitation. The
Partnerships were designed to address a range of issues
associated with geologic storage of CO2. The Clean
Coal Program has been performing CCS field tests focused on
injection, monitoring, verification, accounting and other
aspects of geologic storage for many years, and the seven
Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnerships are critical to this
effort. These Partnerships are comprised of state agencies,
universities, and private companies. They represent more than
400 unique organizations in 43 States, and four Canadian
Provinces. Geographic differences in fossil fuel use and
potential storage sites across the United States dictate the
use of regional approaches in addressing CCS, so each
Partnership is focused on a specific region of the United
States and Canada that hold similar characteristics relating to
CCS opportunities.
Together, the Partnerships form a network of capability,
knowledge, and infrastructure that will help enable geologic
storage technology to play a role in the clean energy economy.
They represent regions encompassing 97 percent of coal-fired
CO2 emissions, 97 percent of industrial
CO2 emissions, 96 percent of the total land mass,
and essentially all the geologic storage sites that can
potentially be available for geologic carbon storage. Regional
Partnerships are drilling wells and injecting small quantities
of CO2 to validate the potential of key storage
locations throughout the country. To date, the Regional
Partnerships have injected over 1 million tons of
CO2 at 18 small scale injection projects throughout
the United States and Canada. These tests have helped to
validate storage at a small scale and understand the fate of
CO2 in different depositional systems containing
saline water, oil, and natural gas. Several large scale
projects are also underway that will inject several million
tons of CO2 over the life of the projects. One of
these projects has safely and securely injected over 2 million
metric tons of CO2. Several more large-scale field
tests will begin later this year.
Over the course of these initiatives, DOE and the
Partnerships are addressing key infrastructure issues related
to permitting, pore space ownership, site access, liability,
public outreach, and education. We are also jointly developing
Best Practice Manuals on topics such as site characterization,
site construction, operations, monitoring, mitigation, closure,
and long-term stewardship. These manuals will serve as
guidelines for a future geologic sequestration industry in
their regions, and help transfer the lessons learned from DOE's
Program to all regional stakeholders.
Finally, DOE and the Partnerships continue to work closely
with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other
federal and state agencies in developing CCS regulatory
strategies, which will provide additional certainty for future
CCS deployments.
DEMONSTRATIONS AT COMMERCIAL-SCALE
The success of the Clean Coal Program will ultimately be
judged by the extent to which emerging technologies get
deployed in domestic and international marketplaces. Both
technical and financial challenges associated with the
deployment of new ``high risk'' coal technologies must be
overcome in order to be capable of achieving success in the
marketplace. Commercial scale demonstrations help the industry
understand and overcome start-up issues, address component
integration issues, and gain the early learning commercial
experience necessary to reduce risk and secure private
financing and investment for future plants.
The Department is implementing large-scale projects through
the Regional Partnerships, the Clean Coal Power Initiative
(CCPI), and FutureGen. Phase III of the Partnerships is focused
on large-scale field tests of geologic carbon sequestration on
the order of 1 million metric tons of CO2 per year,
and are addressing the liability, regulatory, permitting, and
infrastructure needs of these projects. As described previously
in this statement, the Partnerships have brought an enormous
amount of capability and experience together to work on the
challenges of these large projects.
The CCPI is a cost-shared partnership between the
government and industry to develop and demonstrate advanced
coal-based power generation technologies at the commercial
scale. CCPI demonstrations address the reliability and
affordability of the Nation's electricity supply from coal-
based generation. By enabling advanced technologies to overcome
technical risks involved with scale-up and bringing them to the
point of commercial readiness, CCPI accelerates the development
of both advanced coal generation technologies and the
integration of CCS with both new and existing generation
technologies. The CCPI also facilitates the movement of
technologies into the market place that are emerging from the
core research and development activities. The CCPI program
received an additional $800 million from the 2009 American
Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Recovery Act) which, in
combination with base funding, was used to fund four active
CCPI projects, two pre-combustion and two post-combustion
projects.
In addition, a CCPI round II project has been modified to
demonstrate CCS at a new integrated gasification combined cycle
power plant. We are working closely with the project developers
to comply with NEPA, air and water regulatory requirements, and
complete initial Front End Engineering & Design (FEED) studies
for the facilities. All five of these projects are on track to
be operational between 2013 and 2015.
The FutureGen Project intends to conduct novel large-scale
testing to accelerate the deployment of a set of advanced oxy-
combustion power production technologies integrated with CCS.
This project will be the first advanced repowering oxy-
combustion project to store CO2 in a deep saline
geologic formation. On August 5, 2010, Secretary of Energy
Steven Chu announced an award of $1 billion in Recovery Act
funding to the FutureGen Alliance, Ameren Energy Resources,
Babcock & Wilcox, and Air Liquide Process and Construction,
Inc., to build FutureGen 2.0, a clean coal repowering program
and carbon dioxide storage network. On February 28, 2011, the
FutureGen Alliance selected Morgan County, Illinois, as the
preferred location for the FutureGen 2.0 CO2 storage
site, visitor center, research, and training facilities.
In addition to the CCPI and FutureGen 2.0 projects, the
Recovery Act has also helped fund more than 80 additional
projects which includes three large scale Industrial CCS
demonstrations, ten geologic site characterizations, forty-
three university research training projects, seven CCS research
training centers, six Industrial CCS projects focused
CO2 reuse, and 14 projects focused on accelerated
component development in the core research program.
CONCLUSION
CCS and related clean coal technologies can play a critical
role in mitigating CO2 emissions under many
potential future carbon stabilization scenarios. Nevertheless,
challenges remain to achieving cost-effective commercial
deployment of CCS. The Department's research programs are a
vital step to advancing the readiness of clean coal
technologies for future commercial deployment. I thank this
Committee and its members for allowing me the opportunity to
provide an overview of DOE's research efforts in developing CCS
technologies and I look forward to your questions. The
Administration is still reviewing S. 699 and S. 757 and does
not have a position on either bill at this time.
Changes in Existing Law
In compliance with paragraph 12 of rule XXVI of the
Standing Rules of the Senate, changes in existing law made by
the bill S. 757, as ordered reported, are shown as follows
(existing law proposed to be omitted is enclosed in black
brackets, new matter is printed in italic, existing law in
which no change is proposed is shown in roman):
ENERGY INDEPENDENCE AND SECURITY ACT OF 2007
Public Law 110-140
* * * * * * *
TITLE VII--CARBON CAPTURE AND SEQUESTRATION
Subtitle A--Carbon Capture and Sequestration Research, Development, and
Demonstration
* * * * * * *
SEC. 703. CARBON CAPTURE.
(a) Program Establishment.--
(1) In general.--The Secretary shall carry out a
program to demonstrate technologies for the large-scale
capture of carbon dioxide from industrial sources. In
making awards under this program, the Secretary shall
select, as appropriate, a diversity of capture
technologies to address the need to capture carbon
dioxide from a range of industrial sources.
* * * * * * *
(4) Requirement.--For projects that generate carbon
dioxide that is to be sequestered, the carbon dioxide
stream shall be of a sufficient purity level to allow
for safe transport and sequestration.
(5) Cost-sharing.--The cost-sharing requirements of
section 988 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C.
16352) for research and development projects shall
apply to this section.
(b) Carbon Dioxide Capture Technology Prize.--
(1) Definitions.--In this subsection:
(A) Board.--The term ``Board'' means the
Carbon Dioxide Capture Technology Advisory
Board established by paragraph (6).
(B) Dilute.--The term ``dilute'' means a
concentration of less than 1 percent by volume.
(C) Intellectual property.--The term
``intellectual property'' means--
(i) an invention that is patentable
under title 35, United States Code; and
(ii) any patent on an invention
described in clause (i).
(D) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means
the Secretary of Energy or designee, in
consultation with the Board.
(2) Authority.--Not later than 1 year after the date
of enactment of the Carbon Dioxide Capture Technology
Prize Act of 2011, as part of the program carried out
under this section, the Secretary shall establish and
award competitive technology financial awards for
carbon dioxide capture from media in which the
concentration of carbon dioxide is dilute.
(3) Duties.--In carrying out this subsection, the
Secretary shall--
(A) subject to paragraph (4), develop
specific requirements for--
(i) the competition process;
(ii) minimum performance standards
for qualifying projects; and
(iii) monitoring and verification
procedures for approved projects;
(B) establish minimum levels for the capture
of carbon dioxide from a dilute medium that are
required to be achieved to qualify for a
financial award described in subparagraph (C);
and
(C) offer financial awards for--
(i) a design for a promising capture
technology;
(ii) a successful bench-scale
demonstration of a capture technology;
(iii) a design for a technology
described in clause (i) that will--
(I) be operated on a
demonstration scale; and
(II) achieve significant
reduction in the level of
carbon dioxide; and
(iv) an operational capture
technology on a commercial scale that
meets the minimum levels described in
subparagraph (B).
(4) Public participation.--In carrying out paragraph
(3)(A), the Board shall--
(A) provide notice of and, for a period of at
least 60 days, an opportunity for public
comment on, any draft or proposed version of
the requirements described in paragraph (3)(A);
and
(B) take into account public comments
received in developing the final version of
those requirements.
(5) Peer review.--No financial awards may be provided
under this subsection until the proposal for which the
award is sought has been peer reviewed in accordance
with such standards for peer review as are established
by the Secretary.
(6) Carbon dioxide capture technology advisory
board.--
(A) Establishment.--There is established an
advisory board to be known as the ``Carbon
Dioxide Capture Technology Advisory Board''.
(B) Composition.--The Board shall be composed
of 7 members appointed by the President that
provide expertise in--
(i) climate science;
(ii) physics;
(iii) chemistry;
(iv) biology;
(v) engineering;
(vi) economics;
(vii) business management; and
(viii) such other disciplines as the
Secretary determines to be necessary to
achieve the purposes of this
subsection.
(C) Initial meeting.--Not later than 30 days
after the date on which all members of the
Board have been appointed, the Board shall hold
the initial meeting of the Board.
(D) Meetings.--The Board shall meet at the
call of the Chairperson.
(E) Quorum.--A majority of the members of the
Board shall constitute a quorum, but a lesser
number of members may hold hearings.
(F) Chairperson and vice chairperson.--The
Board shall select a Chairperson and Vice
Chairperson from among the members of the
Board.
(G) Duties.--The Board shall advise the
Secretary on carrying out the duties of the
Secretary under this subsection.
(7) Intellectual property.--
(A) In general.--As a condition of receiving
a financial award under this subsection, an
applicant shall agree to vest the intellectual
property of the applicant derived from the
technology in 1 or more entities that are
incorporated in the United States.
(B) Reservation of license.--The United
States--
(i) may reserve a nonexclusive,
nontransferable, irrevocable, paid-up
license, to have practiced for or on
behalf of the United States, in
connection with any intellectual
property described in subparagraph (A);
but
(ii) shall not, in the exercise of a
license reserved under clause (i),
publicly disclose proprietary
information relating to the license.
(C) Transfer of title.--Title to any
intellectual property described in subparagraph
(A) shall not be transferred or passed, except
to an entity that is incorporated in the United
States, until the expiration of the first
patent obtained in connection with the
intellectual property.
(8) Termination of authority.--The Board and all
authority provided under this subsection shall
terminate on the date that is 5 years after the date of
enactment of the Carbon Dioxide Capture Technology
Prize Act of 2011.
[(b)] (c) Authorization of Appropriations.--[There is]
(1) In general.--There is authorized to be
appropriated to the Secretary to carry out [this
section] subsection (a) $200,000,000 per year for
fiscal years 2009 through [2013] 2011 and $195,000,000
for each of fiscal years 2012 and 2013.
(2) Carbon dioxide capture technology prize.--There
is authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary to
carry out subsection (b) $10,000,000 for the period of
fiscal years 2012 through 2016.