Abby L. Harvey
GHG Monitor
7/31/2015
Under an amendment passed by voice vote at this week’s three-day committee markup of the Senate Energy Policy Modernization Act of 2015, the focus of the Department of Energy’s carbon capture, carbon storage, and coal-related research and development programs would be shifted to a small pilot project base. According to Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), who introduced the amendment on the second day of the markup, these programs have a current focus on conducting large commercial-scale demonstrations.
The amendment does not change funding levels for the programs, Manchin said. “This is going to take smaller pilot projects to show that it can be done,” the lawmaker said during Wednesday’s markup. “We’re not finding the transitional changes that need to be made if we’re going to use fossil [fuel] for another 20 or 30 years. We’re going to have to find the technology that we can use in the cleanest fashion. All we’re saying is redirecting how they’re spending the money.” The amendment repeals the coal programs sections of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and replaces them with a retooled version to reflect these interests.
The Energy Policy Modernization Act of 2015 was reported out of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee on Thursday by a vote of 18-4. Nearly 100 amendments have been added to the bill, though by the request of committee Chairwoman Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Ranking Member Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), controversial amendments will be held until floor debate. “I know that my colleagues want to offer many amendments to this legislation that could become poison pills. We’ve tried to take into consideration both sides of the aisles’ interests in crafting in what is bipartisan legislation. Our hope is that this bipartisanship will carry us to the Senate floor and allow us to get these energy policies not only through this committee, but through the Senate,” Cantwell said on the first day of the committee markup.
