Posted on December 10, 2024 by Hillary O’Brien
This op-ed was originally published by RealClear Energy on December 9, 2024. Click here to read the entire piece.
Carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) technologies are often described – on both sides of the aisle – as a central pillar of America’s clean energy future. They can help solve for global energy emissions and decarbonize hard-to-abate industries, all while reinforcing U.S. energy independence and growing our economy. And yet, despite decades of investment in American CCUS innovation, an out of date regulatory bottleneck at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) continues to hold back the full deployment of these critical technologies
The broad appeal of CCUS stems from its ability to address environmental concerns while working within our existing power system, particularly in regions where heavy industry dominates. For example, the production of cement, steel, and chemicals account for almost 70% of direct CO2 emissions from industry worldwide, and these industries require access to abundant baseload power to get the job done – they cannot rely on renewable energy alone. According to the Global CCS Institute, over 40% of projects in the global CCS pipeline are in these hard-to-abate sectors.
It’s no wonder that CCUS is bipartisan: the George W. Bush administration laid the groundwork for advancing carbon capture technology through initiatives like the Global Climate Change Initiative (GCCI), the Obama administration built upon these investments with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the Trump administration provided updated direction for CCUS R&D in the Energy Act of 2020 and enhanced and extended the 45Q tax credit to make CCUS projects more economically viable – not once but twice. Most recently, the Biden Administration invested billions in American CCUS through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the Inflation Reduction Act.
In addition to these decades of federal investments, the U.S. also possesses world-class geological resources and technical expertise to store CO2 permanently underground at the scale developers need. While we currently lead the world in this technology, and major U.S. energy companies are looking to invest billions of dollars to maintain this leadership role, other countries are ramping up too – and closing the gap.
Click here to read the full article
