Sens. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) on Wednesday introduced legislation extending and expanding the section 45Q tax credit for carbon dioxide sequestration and utilization. “Preventing the worst of climate change will mean deploying a broad range of technologies to reduce carbon emissions,” Whitehouse said in a prepared statement “This bill would provide a boost for entrepreneurs in Rhode Island and across the country who turn harmful carbon pollution into useful products. That incentive will spur economic growth and help protect our environment and public health.”
Credits under the bill would be available to industrial sources of CO2, not just the electric sector as has been the case thus far. Under the bill, credits would be worth $35 per ton of carbon captured for utilization and $50 per ton captured using permanent geologic carbon storage
The National Enhanced Oil Recovery Initiative (NEORI) and the Coal Utilization Research Council (CURC) applauded introduction of the bill. “The legislation provides a performance-based incentive to capture CO2, put it to productive use, and store it safely and permanently underground, helping to preserve and create good- paying jobs, increase U.S. oil production, and reduce emissions from the use of America’s domestic energy resources,” Brad Crabtree, vice president for fossil energy at the Great Plains Institute and co-director of NEORI, said in a press release.
“When utilities, coal companies, and environmental groups come together to support your bill, you know you’re onto something that could work,” Heitkamp said.
A similar bill was introduced in the House in February by Rep. Mike Conaway (R-Texas).
