Abby L. Harvey
GHG Monitor
1/16/2015
Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse (D. – R.I.) and Joe Manchin (D – W.V.) called on the Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency this week to support advancements in carbon capture and utilization. “Companies and research institutions across the country, including innovators in Rhode Island and West Virginia, are developing a wide range of CCU technologies. As your agencies explore ways to reduce emissions, we urge you to support these efforts and promote innovative CCU technologies that will create jobs, save consumers money, and safeguard our environment,” the two Senators wrote in a letter to Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz and EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy.
According to a Whitehouse press release, Whitehouse and Manchin visited each other’s states last year exploring the importance of the coal industry in West Virginia and the effects of climate change in Rhode Island. The press release also notes that the senators visited BioProcess Algae while in Rhode Island. The company is currently developing technologies to convert carbon into products such as animal feed and biodiesel. “CCU technologies work by capturing carbon dioxide from power plants and other sources and turning it into valuable products, such as algae-derived chemicals, plastics, and fuels. CCU transforms carbon dioxide from a waste disposal problem into an economic resource and could lower the cost of reducing carbon dioxide emissions,” the senators wrote in their letter this week.