A seemingly dead extension to the 45Q tax credit for carbon dioxide sequestration proposed for inclusion in the 2016 Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization Act may be back on the table as the bill might make its way back to the Senate for a second round of consideration. Environmental group Green Scissors is not pleased about this.
“These handouts should find no place in the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reauthorization or any future legislation,” the group wrote in a letter to Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) on Tuesday.
The 45Q tax credit, as written, has a credit value for CO2 storage through enhanced oil recovery or geologic storage of $10 per ton and $20 per ton, respectively, and would expire as soon as the currently authorized 75 million tons of CO2 was stored. Roughly half of those credits have already been claimed. Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.) in April proposed an amendment to the FAA reauthorization that would extend the tax credit, dropping the cap, and increase the dollar amount to $30 per ton of carbon captured.
Her amendment was dropped from the version of the bill the Senate sent to the House. However, it now appears the House may make changes to the bill substantial enough for it to be sent back to the Senate once more for consideration, making it possible once again for the amendment to be added.
According to Green Scissors, which fought the amendment the first time around, “CCS is a failed investment of our tax dollars and a failed attempt to limit the carbon emissions from burning coal.”
