Development of carbon capture and storage technologies would benefit from many of President-elect Donald Trump’s campaign promises related to coal, Jeff Erikson, general manager for the Americas division of the Global CCS Institute, said during a Monday episode of E&E TV. “I think that Mr. Trump’s emphasis on coal will encourage more carbon capture and support the coal industry, but that’s not the end of the story. I think there’s plenty more to like about carbon capture even beyond coal.”
Throughout his campaign Trump pledged to revive the coal industry, a promise that has been widely scrutinized. “You know, coal, from a market standpoint, is really challenged, particularly by natural gas. And so there’s market forces that are — that the coal industry is facing now that aren’t going to change because of who’s in the White House,” Erikson said.
However, CCS has applications beyond coal. “There’s a really significant opportunity in industrial applications, and I think those industrial applications also support a lot of Mr. Trump’s priorities as well,” Erikson said, noting CCS’s potential application in the iron, steel, and cement industries, many of which Trump has pledged to revitalize.
