Two bills for carbon capture and sequestration

The first Senate bill supports research, development and demonstration of carbon capture and storage. It was proposed by committee Chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) and Senator Pete Domenici (R-NM), and co-sponsored by Senator Craig Thomas (R-WY).

The second bill calls for a national carbon dioxide storage capacity assessment. It was introduced by Senator Ken Salazar (D-CO).

Bingaman said if the United States continues to use fossil fuels, commercial feasibility of carbon-capture technology and ability to store it underground need to be demonstrated.

The National Resources Defense Council states that if new coal plants expected in the next 25 years are built without carbon dioxide capture equipment, they will emit 30 percent more carbon dioxide during their lifetime than all of the carbon dioxide released from all previous human use of coal.

"As carbon sequestration research and development continues, the need becomes even greater to understand the geologic storage potential that we have in the United States," Bingaman said.

Tom Shope, acting assistant secretary for fossil energy in the U.S. Department of Energy, said his agency is preparing to test carbon capture and sequestration technology on a commercial scale.

"Large-volume testing, scheduled to begin in fiscal year 2008, will demonstrate CO2 capture, transportation, injection, and storage at a scale equivalent to future commercial deployments," Shope said.

Experts confirm need for assessment

Following introduction of the bills, Dominici and others on the committee heard experts explain that more expeditious, clear, and concise standards are needed to quickly implement carbon capture and storage.

George Guthrie, program director for fossil energy and environment at Los Alamos National Laboratory, said risk assessment is particularly challenging due to the implementation scale, both in terms of the volumes of CO2 involved, and in terms of the time scales necessary for effective storage.

Kipp Coddington, partner with Alston and Bird, said that without further legislation the new technologies would be difficult to implement, especially regarding liabilities that would come with carbon dioxide injected into the ground.

Third bill calls for energy efficiency; energy tax bill also expected

Senators Bingaman and Domenici today also introduced S.1115, the Energy Efficiency Promotion Act of 2007.

The bill supports advanced lighting technologies, new appliance efficiency standards, and high-efficiency batteries. It calls for reducing gasoline use by 20 percent by 2017 and improving the nation's overall energy productivity by 2.5 percent a year by 2012. It also creates a nationwide consumer education and awareness campaign and authorizes federal funding assistance to states for energy efficiency.

Alliance to Save Energy President Kateri Callahan told UPI, "In combination with an expected energy tax package from the Senate Finance Committee, S.1115 would make significant progress toward extending the nation's energy supplies and making the nation more energy secure."