Rep. Mike Conaway (R-Texas) on Thursday introduced legislation making permanent the section 45Q tax credit for carbon dioxide sequestration. As written, the credit would expire as soon as the currently authorized 75 million tons of CO2 was stored. Roughly half of those credits have already been claimed. Conaway’s bill would remove the 75-million ton cap. The bill would also increase the credit value for CO2 storage through enhanced oil recovery or geologic storage from $10 per ton and $20 per ton, respectively, to $30 per ton by 2025. “CCS technologies will help reduce carbon emissions, while simultaneously creating jobs, bolstering domestic oil production, and providing regulatory relief for our coal industry,” Conaway said in introducing the bill.
The National Enhanced Oil Recovery Initiative (NEORI) and Coal Utilization Resource Council (CURC) applauded the introduction of the bill. “By making the 45Q tax credit permanent and increasing its value, this legislation provides a critically-needed incentive for industry to invest in carbon capture technologies at power plants and industrial facilities that rely on coal, which will benefit both our nation’s energy security and the environment,” CURC Executive Director Shannon Angielski said in a press release.
