99–010 

Calendar No. 100 

112TH CONGRESS REPORT " ! SENATE 1st Session 112–33 

CARBON DIOXIDE CAPTURE 

JULY 11, 2011.—Ordered to be printed 

Mr. BINGAMAN, from the Committee on Energy and Natural 

Resources, submitted the following 

R E P O R T 

[To accompany S. 757] 

The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, to which was 

referred the bill (S. 757) to provide incentives to encourage the development and implementation of technology to capture carbon dioxide from dilute sources on a significant scale using direct air capture technologies, having considered the same, reports favorably 

thereon with an amendment and recommends that the bill, as 

amended, do pass. 

The amendment is as follows: 

Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert in lieu thereof 

the following: 

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Carbon Dioxide Capture Technology Prize Act of 

2011’’. 

SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE. 

(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that— 

(1) flue gases from coal-fired electric generating facilities typically have carbon dioxide concentrations of approximately 17 percent by volume; 

(2) it is possible to separate carbon dioxide from dilute sources and even the 

atmosphere, which has a carbon dioxide concentration of 0.038 percent, but substantial advances in research and technology will be necessary to provide the 

separation in an economical manner; 

(3) developing practical separations of carbon dioxide from dilute sources is 

important to the future development of energy technology; 

(4) economical onsite separation of atmospheric carbon dioxide can help leverage the use of carbon dioxide in energy applications such as enhanced oil recovery and enhanced geothermal systems at remote sites; and 

(5) authorizing the Secretary of Energy to provide a technology prize for separation of carbon dioxide from dilute sources can provide the impetus for developing the novel technologies that will be needed in the future as part of the national energy system of the United States. 

(b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to provide incentives to encourage the 

development and implementation of technology to capture carbon dioxide from dilute sources on a significant scale using direct air capture technologies. 


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SEC. 3. CARBON DIOXIDE CAPTURE TECHNOLOGY PRIZE. 

Section 703 of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (42 U.S.C. 

17251) is amended— 

(1) by redesignating subsection (b) as subsection (c); 

(2) by inserting after subsection (a) the following: 

‘‘(b) CARBON DIOXIDE CAPTURE TECHNOLOGY PRIZE.— 

‘‘(1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 

‘‘(A) BOARD.—The term ‘Board’ means the Carbon Dioxide Capture Technology Advisory Board established by paragraph (6). 

‘‘(B) DILUTE.—The term ‘dilute’ means a concentration of less than 1 percent by volume. 

‘‘(C) INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY.—The term ‘intellectual property’ means— 

‘‘(i) an invention that is patentable under title 35, United States 

Code; and 

‘‘(ii) any patent on an invention described in clause (i). 

‘‘(D) SECRETARY.—The term ‘Secretary’ means the Secretary of Energy or 

designee, in consultation with the Board. 

‘‘(2) AUTHORITY.—Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of the 

Carbon Dioxide Capture Technology Prize Act of 2011, as part of the program 

carried out under this section, the Secretary shall establish and award competitive technology financial awards for carbon dioxide capture from media in which 

the concentration of carbon dioxide is dilute. 

‘‘(3) DUTIES.—In carrying out this subsection, the Secretary shall— 

‘‘(A) subject to paragraph (4), develop specific requirements for— 

‘‘(i) the competition process; 

‘‘(ii) minimum performance standards for qualifying projects; and 

‘‘(iii) monitoring and verification procedures for approved projects; 

‘‘(B) establish minimum levels for the capture of carbon dioxide from a 

dilute medium that are required to be achieved to qualify for a financial 

award described in subparagraph (C); and 

‘‘(C) offer financial awards for— 

‘‘(i) a design for a promising capture technology; 

‘‘(ii) a successful bench-scale demonstration of a capture technology; 

‘‘(iii) a design for a technology described in clause (i) that will— 

‘‘(I) be operated on a demonstration scale; and 

‘‘(II) achieve significant reduction in the level of carbon dioxide; 

and 

‘‘(iv) an operational capture technology on a commercial scale that 

meets the minimum levels described in subparagraph (B). 

‘‘(4) PUBLIC PARTICIPATION.—In carrying out paragraph (3)(A), the Board 

shall— 

‘‘(A) provide notice of and, for a period of at least 60 days, an opportunity 

for public comment on, any draft or proposed version of the requirements 

described in paragraph (3)(A); and 

‘‘(B) take into account public comments received in developing the final 

version of those requirements. 

‘‘(5) PEER REVIEW.—No financial awards may be provided under this subsection until the proposal for which the award is sought has been peer reviewed 

in accordance with such standards for peer review as are established by the 

Secretary. 

‘‘(6) CARBON DIOXIDE CAPTURE TECHNOLOGY ADVISORY BOARD.— 

‘‘(A) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established an advisory board to be 

known as the ‘Carbon Dioxide Capture Technology Advisory Board’. 

‘‘(B) COMPOSITION.—The Board shall be composed of 7 members appointed by the President that provide expertise in— 

‘‘(i) climate science; 

‘‘(ii) physics; 

‘‘(iii) chemistry; 

‘‘(iv) biology; 

‘‘(v) engineering; 

‘‘(vi) economics; 

‘‘(vii) business management; and 

‘‘(viii) such other disciplines as the Secretary determines to be necessary to achieve the purposes of this subsection. 

‘‘(C) INITIAL MEETING.—Not later than 30 days after the date on which 

all members of the Board have been appointed, the Board shall hold the 

initial meeting of the Board. 

‘‘(D) MEETINGS.—The Board shall meet at the call of the Chairperson. 


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‘‘(E) QUORUM.—A majority of the members of the Board shall constitute 

a quorum, but a lesser number of members may hold hearings. 

‘‘(F) CHAIRPERSON AND VICE CHAIRPERSON.—The Board shall select a 

Chairperson and Vice Chairperson from among the members of the Board. 

‘‘(G) DUTIES.—The Board shall advise the Secretary on carrying out the 

duties of the Secretary under this subsection. 

‘‘(7) INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY.— 

‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—As a condition of receiving a financial award under 

this subsection, an applicant shall agree to vest the intellectual property of 

the applicant derived from the technology in 1 or more entities that are incorporated in the United States. 

‘‘(B) RESERVATION OF LICENSE.—The United States— 

‘‘(i) may reserve a nonexclusive, nontransferable, irrevocable, paid-up 

license, to have practiced for or on behalf of the United States, in connection with any intellectual property described in subparagraph (A); 

but 

‘‘(ii) shall not, in the exercise of a license reserved under clause (i), 

publicly disclose proprietary information relating to the license. 

‘‘(C) TRANSFER OF TITLE.—Title to any intellectual property described in 

subparagraph (A) shall not be transferred or passed, except to an entity 

that is incorporated in the United States, until the expiration of the first 

patent obtained in connection with the intellectual property. 

‘‘(8) TERMINATION OF AUTHORITY.—The Board and all authority provided 

under this subsection shall terminate on the date that is 5 years after the date 

of enactment of the Carbon Dioxide Capture Technology Prize Act of 2011.’’; and 

(3) in subsection (c) (as redesignated by paragraph (1))— 

(A) by striking ‘‘There is’’ and inserting the following: 

‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—There is’’; 

(B) by striking ‘‘this section’’ and inserting ‘‘subsection (a)’’; and 

(C) by striking ‘‘2013’’ and inserting ‘‘2011 and $195,000,000 for each of 

fiscal years 2012 and 2013’’; and 

(D) by adding at the end the following: 

‘‘(2) CARBON DIOXIDE CAPTURE TECHNOLOGY PRIZE.—There is authorized to be 

appropriated to the Secretary to carry out subsection (b) $10,000,000 for the period of fiscal years 2012 through 2016.’’. 

PURPOSE OF THE MEASURE

The purpose of S. 757 is to provide incentives to encourage the 

development and implementation of technology to capture carbon 

dioxide from dilute sources on a significant scale using direct air 

capture technologies by creating a carbon dioxide capture technology prize to be implemented by the Secretary of Energy. 

BACKGROUND AND NEED

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology holds great promise of removing large amounts of carbon dioxide emitted from the 

use of fossil fuels. Deployment of CCS technology would reduce carbon dioxide emissions from electricity generation facilities that use 

fossil fuels and from other sources. In addition, captured carbon dioxide could be used in energy applications such as enhanced oil recovery and enhanced geothermal systems. Serious technical challenges to achieving cost-effective commercial deployment of CCS 

technology remain, however. 

The Department of Energy’s ongoing CCS research and development programs, regional carbon sequestration partnerships, and 

commercial-scale demonstrations are important efforts toward solving these technical challenges. In addition, however, the National 

Academy of Engineering has recommended that Congress make 

greater use of competitions that are designed to foster progress toward scientific and technological goals by offering prizes or awards. 

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trum of ideas and participants, enable federal agencies to shift 

more of the risk of pursuing a scientific or technological breakthrough from the agency to the contestants, and have the capacity 

for educating, inspiring, and mobilizing the public. 

Since the National Academy of Engineering recommended greater use of prizes for achieving scientific and technological goals, 

Congress has enacted legislation authorizing the Secretary of Energy to award cash prizes for breakthrough achievements in research, development, demonstration, and commercial application 

(‘‘Grand Challenges Prizes’’), for technologies that serve to reduce 

the dependence of the United States on imported oil (‘‘Freedom 

Prizes’’), for advances in hydrogen energy (‘‘H–Prize’’), and for various lighting technologies (‘‘Bright Tomorrow Lighting Prizes’’). 42 

U.S.C. 16396 and 17243. 

S. 757 is needed to provide financial incentives to encourage the 

development and implementation of technology to capture carbon 

dioxide from dilute sources on a significant scale using direct air 

capture technologies. 

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY

S. 757 was introduced by Senator Barrasso on April 7, 2011. Senators Bingaman, Enzi, and Hoeven are cosponsors. The Committee 

on Energy and Natural Resources held a hearing on the bill on 

Thursday, May 12, 2011. The Committee considered the bill at its 

business meeting on Thursday, May 26, 2011. The Committee 

adopted an amendment in the nature of a substitute and ordered 

the bill, as amended, favorably reported. 

COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION

The Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, in 

open business session on May 26, 2011, by voice vote of a quorum 

present, recommends that the Senate pass S. 757, if amended, as 

described herein. Mr. Coats (by proxy), Mr. Lee, Mr. Paul (by 

proxy), and Mr. Heller asked that they be recorded as voting no. 

COMMITTEE AMENDMENT

During its consideration of the bill, the Committee adopted an 

amendment in the nature of a substitute. The amendment authorizes appropriation of $10 million over a five-year period for the 

prize program. The amendment offsets the authorization by reducing an existing carbon capture program under section 703 of the 

Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 by $5 million in fiscal years 2012 and 2013. The amendment also reduces the number 

of advisory board members from 9 to 7 and eliminates compensation for service on the board. 

SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS

Section 1 provides a short title. 

Section 2(a) finds that it is possible to capture carbon dioxide 

from dilute sources and the atmosphere, that developing practical 

carbon dioxide capture technologies is important to future energy 

development, and that authorizing the Secretary of Energy to 

award a technology prize can provide an impetus for developing 


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novel technologies. Subsection (b) states that the purpose of the bill 

is to authorize the Secretary of Energy to provide a technology 

prize for the separation of carbon dioxide from dilute sources using 

direct air capture technologies. 

Section 3 authorizes the Secretary of Energy to create a competitive technology financial awards program for carbon dioxide capture from media in which the concentration of carbon dioxide is dilute (a concentration of less than 1 percent of carbon dioxide by volume). Awards will be given for basic design, bench-scale demonstration of technology, operational demonstration, and commercial scale for the carbon dioxide capture technologies. The Secretary 

will receive advice concerning the program from a 7-person advisory board. Any technology that receives a financial award under 

this program must vest the intellectual property derived from the 

technology into an entity or entities incorporated in the U.S. The 

program is authorized to be appropriated $10,000,000 for the period of fiscal years 2012 through 2016. 

COST AND BUDGETARY CONSIDERATIONS

The following estimate of costs of this measure has been provided 

by the Congressional Budget Office. 

S. 757—Carbon Dioxide Capture Technology Prize Act of 2011 

Summary: S. 757 would authorize appropriations for the Department of Energy (DOE) to provide competitive financial awards to 

support the development of advanced technologies to capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Because the bill also would reduce an existing authorization of appropriations for other activities, 

CBO estimates that implementing S. 757 would have no significant 

net impact on discretionary spending over the 2012–2016 period. 

S. 757 would not affect direct spending or revenues; therefore, 

pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply. 

S. 757 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates 

as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA). 

Estimated cost to the Federal Government: The estimated budgetary impact of S. 757 is shown in the following table. The costs 

of this legislation fall within budget function 270 (energy). 

By fiscal year, in millions of dollars— 

2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2012– 

2016 

CHANGES IN SPENDING SUBJECT TO APPROPRIATION 

Carbon Dioxide Capture Technology Prize: 

Authorization Level .............................................................. 10 0 0 0 0 10 

Estimated Outlays ............................................................... 1 3 5 1 0 10 

Carbon Capture and Sequestration Research, Development and 

Demonstration: 

Authorization Level .............................................................. ¥5 ¥5 0 0 0 ¥10 

Estimated Outlays ............................................................... ¥2 ¥4 ¥3 ¥1 0 ¥10 

Total Changes: 

Authorization Level .............................................................. 5 ¥5 0 0 0 0 

Estimated Outlays ............................................................... 1 ¥1 2 0 0 0 

Basis of estimate: For this estimate, CBO assumes that S. 757 

will be enacted near the start of fiscal year 2012 and that future 

appropriations will be provided as specified under the bill. S. 757 

would authorize funding of $10 million for a new program related 


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to capturing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and reduce, by 

$10 million, an existing authorization of funding for related activities. Taken together, CBO estimates that those changes would have 

no net impact on spending subject to appropriation over the 2012– 

2016 period. 

S. 757 would authorize the appropriation of $10 million over the 

2012–2016 period for DOE to establish a program to provide competitive financial awards to promote the development of technologies to capture large amounts of carbon dioxide from certain 

sources, such as the air. Under the bill, a seven-member advisory 

board would advise the Secretary of Energy in evaluating proposals 

and providing awards to eligible projects. Based on historical 

spending patterns for similar activities, CBO estimates that implementing the proposed program would cost $10 million over the 

2012–2016 period, assuming appropriation of the authorized 

amount. 

That increase in discretionary spending would be offset by a reduction in amounts currently authorized to be appropriated for research, development, and demonstration activities related to carbon 

capture and sequestration (CCS). Public Law 110–140 currently 

authorizes appropriations totaling $200 million a year through 

2013. S. 757 would reduce that specified amount by $5 million in 

each of fiscal years 2012 and 2013, thereby reducing the authorization for future spending subject to appropriation by a total of $10 

million. 

Based on historical spending patterns for CCS-related activities 

and assuming appropriations are reduced accordingly, CBO estimates that spending over the 2012–2016 period would be $10 million lower. 

Pay-As-You-Go considerations: None. 

Intergovernmental and private-sector impact: S. 757 contains no 

intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in UMRA 

and would impose no costs on state, local, or tribal governments. 

Estimate prepared by: Federal costs: Megan Carroll; Impact on 

state, local, and tribal governments: Ryan Miller; Impact on the 

private sector: Amy Petz. 

Estimate approved by: Theresa Gullo, Deputy Assistant Director 

for Budget Analysis. 

REGULATORY IMPACT EVALUATION

In compliance with paragraph 11(b) of rule XXVI of the Standing 

Rules of the Senate, the Committee makes the following evaluation 

of the regulatory impact which would be incurred in carrying out 

S. 757. 

The bill is not a regulatory measure in the sense of imposing 

Government established standards or significant economic responsibilities on private individuals and businesses. 

No personal information would be collected in administering the 

program. Therefore, there would be no impact on personal privacy. 

Little, if any, additional paperwork would result from the enactment of S. 757. 


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CONGRESSIONALLY DIRECTED SPENDING

The bill, as reported, does not contain any congressionally directed spending items, limited tax benefits, or limited tariff benefits as defined in rule XLIV of the Standing Rules of the Senate. 

EXECUTIVE COMMUNICATIONS

The testimony provided by the Department of Energy at the 

Committee’s May 12, 2011, hearing on S. 757 follows: 

STATEMENT OF SCOTT KLARA, DEPUTY LABORATORY DIRECTOR, NATIONAL ENERGY TECHNOLOGY LABORATORY, DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Thank you Chairman Bingaman, Ranking Member Barrasso, and members of the Committee; I appreciate the opportunity to discuss the Department of Energy’s activities 

to promote the development of carbon capture and storage 

(CCS) technologies. My testimony will provide an overview 

of the Department of Energy’s (DOE) research efforts in 

developing CCS technologies. The Administration is still 

reviewing S. 699 and S. 757 and does not have a position 

on either bill at this time. 

INTERAGENCY TASK FORCE ON CARBON CAPTURE AND

STORAGE

Before I discuss the Department’s Clean Coal Research 

Program, I will briefly review the conclusions from the 

Interagency Task Force on CCS. In August 2010, the final 

report from the Task Force was issued summarizing the 

Administration’s efforts to develop and deploy CCS technologies, and proposed a plan to overcome the barriers to 

the widespread, cost-effective deployment of CCS within 

ten years, with a goal of bringing five to ten commercial 

demonstration projects on line by 2016. This report is the 

collective work of 14 executive departments and federal 

agencies, which were tasked with developing a comprehensive and coordinated Federal strategy to speed the commercial development and deployment of clean coal technologies. The task force concluded that while there are no 

insurmountable technological, legal, institutional, regulatory or other barriers that prevent CCS from playing a 

role in reducing GHG emissions, early CCS projects face 

economic challenges related to climate policy uncertainty, 

first-of-a-kind technology risks, and the current high cost 

of CCS relative to other technologies. 

CLEAN COAL RESEARCH PROGRAM

DOE continues to play a leadership role in the development of clean coal technologies with a focus on CCS. The 

Clean Coal Research Program—administered by DOE’s Office of Fossil Energy and implemented by the National Energy Technology Laboratory—is designed to enhance our 

energy security and reduce environmental concerns over 

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tionary clean coal technologies. The Program is well positioned to help overcome the technical challenges associated 

with the development of clean coal technologies. 

The Clean Coal Program, in partnership with the private sector, is focused on maximizing efficiency and environmental performance, while minimizing the costs of 

these new technologies. In recent years, the Program has 

been restructured to focus on clean coal technologies with 

CCS. The Program pursues the following two major strategies: 

(1) capturing and storing greenhouse gases; and 

(2) improving the efficiency of fossil energy systems. 

The first strategy aims to eliminate concerns over emissions of greenhouse gases from fossil fueled energy systems. The second strategy seeks to improve the fuel-to-energy efficiencies of these systems, thus reducing pollutant 

emissions, water usage, and carbon emissions on a per 

unit of energy basis. Collectively, these two strategies comprise the Clean Coal Program’s approach to ensure that 

current and future fossil energy plants will have options to 

meet all emerging requirements for a safe and secure energy future. 

CORE RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES

The Clean Coal Program is addressing the key technical 

challenges that confront the development and deployment 

of clean coal technologies through research on cost-effective capture technologies; monitoring, verification, and accounting technologies to ensure permanent storage; permitting issues; and development of advanced energy systems. The Program is also actively engaged in interagency 

efforts to address liability issues, public outreach, and infrastructure needs. As an example, today’s commercially 

available CCS technologies would add around 80 percent 

to the cost of electricity for a new pulverized coal plant, 

and around 35 percent to the cost of electricity for a new 

integrated gasification combined cycle plant. The Program 

is aggressively pursuing developments to reduce these 

costs to less than a 35 percent increase in the cost of electricity for pulverized coal energy plants and less than a 10 

percent increase in the cost of electricity for new gasification-based energy plants. 

Research is focused on developing technology options 

that dramatically lower the cost of capturing carbon dioxide (CO2) from fossil fueled energy plants. This research 

can be categorized into three technical pathways: postcombustion, pre-combustion, and oxy-combustion. Postcombustion refers to capturing CO2 from the stack gas 

after a fuel has been combusted in air. Pre-combustion refers to a process where a hydrocarbon fuel is gasified to 

form a mixture of hydrogen and carbon dioxide, and CO2

is captured from the synthesis gas before it is combusted. 

Oxy-combustion is an approach where a hydrocarbon fuel 

is combusted in pure or nearly pure oxygen rather than 

air, which produces a mixture of CO2 and water that can 


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easily be separated to produce pure CO2. Collectively, research in each of these technical pathways is exploring a 

wide range of approaches such as membranes; oxy-combustion concepts; solid sorbents; CO2 hydrates; and advanced 

gas/liquid scrubbing technologies. These efforts cover not 

only improvements to state-of-the-art technologies but also 

development of several revolutionary concepts, such as 

metal organic frameworks, ionic liquids, and enzyme based 

systems. Coupling these developments with other advances 

in efficiency improvements and cost reduction from developments in gasification, turbines, and fuel cells, will help 

provide a technology base for commercial deployment of 

fossil energy systems integrated with CCS. 

The Department is the primary supporter of the National Carbon Capture Center (NCCC), which is a joint 

partnership between DOE and industry. The NCCC is a 

one of a kind, world class facility which offers an opportunity to validate capture technologies on actual gas from 

a coal fired power plant or gasification facility. Because of 

the ability to operate under a wide range of process conditions, research at the NCCC can effectively evaluate technologies at various levels of maturity for many different 

applications. 

REGIONAL CARBON SEQUESTRATION PARTNERSHIPS

The Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnerships were 

created by the DOE in 2003 through a competitive solicitation. The Partnerships were designed to address a range 

of issues associated with geologic storage of CO2. The 

Clean Coal Program has been performing CCS field tests 

focused on injection, monitoring, verification, accounting 

and other aspects of geologic storage for many years, and 

the seven Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnerships are 

critical to this effort. These Partnerships are comprised of 

state agencies, universities, and private companies. They 

represent more than 400 unique organizations in 43 

States, and four Canadian Provinces. Geographic differences in fossil fuel use and potential storage sites across 

the United States dictate the use of regional approaches in 

addressing CCS, so each Partnership is focused on a specific region of the United States and Canada that hold 

similar characteristics relating to CCS opportunities. 

Together, the Partnerships form a network of capability, 

knowledge, and infrastructure that will help enable geologic storage technology to play a role in the clean energy 

economy. They represent regions encompassing 97 percent 

of coal-fired CO2 emissions, 97 percent of industrial CO2

emissions, 96 percent of the total land mass, and essentially all the geologic storage sites that can potentially be 

available for geologic carbon storage. Regional Partnerships are drilling wells and injecting small quantities of 

CO2 to validate the potential of key storage locations 

throughout the country. To date, the Regional Partnerships have injected over 1 million tons of CO2 at 18 small 

scale injection projects throughout the United States and 


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Canada. These tests have helped to validate storage at a 

small scale and understand the fate of CO2 in different 

depositional systems containing saline water, oil, and natural gas. Several large scale projects are also underway 

that will inject several million tons of CO2 over the life of 

the projects. One of these projects has safely and securely 

injected over 2 million metric tons of CO2. Several more 

large-scale field tests will begin later this year. 

Over the course of these initiatives, DOE and the Partnerships are addressing key infrastructure issues related 

to permitting, pore space ownership, site access, liability, 

public outreach, and education. We are also jointly developing Best Practice Manuals on topics such as site characterization, site construction, operations, monitoring, mitigation, closure, and long-term stewardship. These manuals 

will serve as guidelines for a future geologic sequestration 

industry in their regions, and help transfer the lessons 

learned from DOE’s Program to all regional stakeholders. 

Finally, DOE and the Partnerships continue to work 

closely with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 

and other federal and state agencies in developing CCS 

regulatory strategies, which will provide additional certainty for future CCS deployments. 

DEMONSTRATIONS AT COMMERCIAL-SCALE

The success of the Clean Coal Program will ultimately 

be judged by the extent to which emerging technologies get 

deployed in domestic and international marketplaces. Both 

technical and financial challenges associated with the deployment of new ‘‘high risk’’ coal technologies must be 

overcome in order to be capable of achieving success in the 

marketplace. Commercial scale demonstrations help the 

industry understand and overcome start-up issues, address 

component integration issues, and gain the early learning 

commercial experience necessary to reduce risk and secure 

private financing and investment for future plants. 

The Department is implementing large-scale projects 

through the Regional Partnerships, the Clean Coal Power 

Initiative (CCPI), and FutureGen. Phase III of the Partnerships is focused on large-scale field tests of geologic carbon sequestration on the order of 1 million metric tons of 

CO2 per year, and are addressing the liability, regulatory, 

permitting, and infrastructure needs of these projects. As 

described previously in this statement, the Partnerships 

have brought an enormous amount of capability and experience together to work on the challenges of these large 

projects. 

The CCPI is a cost-shared partnership between the government and industry to develop and demonstrate advanced coal-based power generation technologies at the 

commercial scale. CCPI demonstrations address the reliability and affordability of the Nation’s electricity supply 

from coal-based generation. By enabling advanced technologies to overcome technical risks involved with scale-up 

and bringing them to the point of commercial readiness, 

CCPI accelerates the development of both advanced coal 


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generation technologies and the integration of CCS with 

both new and existing generation technologies. The CCPI 

also facilitates the movement of technologies into the market place that are emerging from the core research and 

development activities. The CCPI program received an 

additional $800 million from the 2009 American Recovery 

and Reinvestment Act (Recovery Act) which, in combination with base funding, was used to fund four active CCPI 

projects, two pre-combustion and two post-combustion 

projects. 

In addition, a CCPI round II project has been modified 

to demonstrate CCS at a new integrated gasification combined cycle power plant. We are working closely with the 

project developers to comply with NEPA, air and water 

regulatory requirements, and complete initial Front End 

Engineering & Design (FEED) studies for the facilities. All 

five of these projects are on track to be operational between 2013 and 2015. 

The FutureGen Project intends to conduct novel largescale testing to accelerate the deployment of a set of advanced oxy-combustion power production technologies integrated with CCS. This project will be the first advanced 

repowering oxy-combustion project to store CO2 in a deep 

saline geologic formation. On August 5, 2010, Secretary of 

Energy Steven Chu announced an award of $1 billion in 

Recovery Act funding to the FutureGen Alliance, Ameren 

Energy Resources, Babcock & Wilcox, and Air Liquide 

Process and Construction, Inc., to build FutureGen 2.0, a 

clean coal repowering program and carbon dioxide storage 

network. On February 28, 2011, the FutureGen Alliance 

selected Morgan County, Illinois, as the preferred location 

for the FutureGen 2.0 CO2 storage site, visitor center, research, and training facilities. 

In addition to the CCPI and FutureGen 2.0 projects, the 

Recovery Act has also helped fund more than 80 additional 

projects which includes three large scale Industrial CCS 

demonstrations, ten geologic site characterizations, fortythree university research training projects, seven CCS research training centers, six Industrial CCS projects focused CO2 reuse, and 14 projects focused on accelerated 

component development in the core research program. 

CONCLUSION

CCS and related clean coal technologies can play a critical role in mitigating CO2 emissions under many potential 

future carbon stabilization scenarios. Nevertheless, challenges remain to achieving cost-effective commercial deployment of CCS. The Department’s research programs are 

a vital step to advancing the readiness of clean coal technologies for future commercial deployment. I thank this 

Committee and its members for allowing me the opportunity to provide an overview of DOE’s research efforts in developing CCS technologies and I look forward to your questions. The Administration is still reviewing S. 699 and S. 

757 and does not have a position on either bill at this time. 


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CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW

In compliance with paragraph 12 of rule XXVI of the Standing 

Rules of the Senate, changes in existing law made by the bill S. 

757, as ordered reported, are shown as follows (existing law proposed to be omitted is enclosed in black brackets, new matter is 

printed in italic, existing law in which no change is proposed is 

shown in roman): 

ENERGY INDEPENDENCE AND SECURITY ACT OF 2007 

Public Law 110–140 

* * * * * * * 

TITLE VII—CARBON CAPTURE AND 

SEQUESTRATION 

Subtitle A—Carbon Capture and Sequestration 

Research, Development, and Demonstration 

* * * * * * * 

SEC. 703. CARBON CAPTURE. 

(a) PROGRAM ESTABLISHMENT.— (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall carry out a program to 

demonstrate technologies for the large-scale capture of carbon 

dioxide from industrial sources. In making awards under this 

program, the Secretary shall select, as appropriate, a diversity 

of capture technologies to address the need to capture carbon 

dioxide from a range of industrial sources. 

* * * * * * * 

(4) REQUIREMENT.—For projects that generate carbon dioxide 

that is to be sequestered, the carbon dioxide stream shall be 

of a sufficient purity level to allow for safe transport and sequestration. 

(5) COST-SHARING.—The cost-sharing requirements of section 

988 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 16352) for research and development projects shall apply to this section. 

(b) CARBON DIOXIDE CAPTURE TECHNOLOGY PRIZE.— (1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 

(A) BOARD.—The term ‘‘Board’’ means the Carbon Dioxide Capture Technology Advisory Board established by 

paragraph (6). 

(B) DILUTE.—The term ‘‘dilute’’ means a concentration of 

less than 1 percent by volume. 

(C) INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY.—The term ‘‘intellectual 

property’’ means— 

(i) an invention that is patentable under title 35, 

United States Code; and 

(ii) any patent on an invention described in clause 

(i). 

(D) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary of Energy or designee, in consultation with the 

Board. 

(2) AUTHORITY.—Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of the Carbon Dioxide Capture Technology Prize Act of 

2011, as part of the program carried out under this section, the 

Secretary shall establish and award competitive technology fiVerDate Mar 15 2010 22:28 Jul 15, 2011 Jkt 099010 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6659 Sfmt 6603 E:\HR\OC\SR033.XXX SR033

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13 

nancial awards for carbon dioxide capture from media in which 

the concentration of carbon dioxide is dilute. 

(3) DUTIES.—In carrying out this subsection, the Secretary 

shall— 

(A) subject to paragraph (4), develop specific requirements for— 

(i) the competition process; 

(ii) minimum performance standards for qualifying 

projects; and 

(iii) monitoring and verification procedures for approved projects; 

(B) establish minimum levels for the capture of carbon 

dioxide from a dilute medium that are required to be 

achieved to qualify for a financial award described in subparagraph (C); and 

(C) offer financial awards for— 

(i) a design for a promising capture technology; 

(ii) a successful bench-scale demonstration of a capture technology; 

(iii) a design for a technology described in clause (i) 

that will— 

(I) be operated on a demonstration scale; and 

(II) achieve significant reduction in the level of 

carbon dioxide; and 

(iv) an operational capture technology on a commercial scale that meets the minimum levels described in 

subparagraph (B). 

(4) PUBLIC PARTICIPATION.—In carrying out paragraph (3)(A), 

the Board shall— 

(A) provide notice of and, for a period of at least 60 days, 

an opportunity for public comment on, any draft or proposed version of the requirements described in paragraph 

(3)(A); and 

(B) take into account public comments received in developing the final version of those requirements. 

(5) PEER REVIEW.—No financial awards may be provided 

under this subsection until the proposal for which the award is 

sought has been peer reviewed in accordance with such standards for peer review as are established by the Secretary. 

(6) CARBON DIOXIDE CAPTURE TECHNOLOGY ADVISORY

BOARD.— 

(A) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established an advisory 

board to be known as the ‘‘Carbon Dioxide Capture Technology Advisory Board’’. 

(B) COMPOSITION.—The Board shall be composed of 7 

members appointed by the President that provide expertise 

in— 

(i) climate science; 

(ii) physics; 

(iii) chemistry; 

(iv) biology; 

(v) engineering; 

(vi) economics; 

(vii) business management; and 


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14 

(viii) such other disciplines as the Secretary determines to be necessary to achieve the purposes of this 

subsection. 

(C) INITIAL MEETING.—Not later than 30 days after the 

date on which all members of the Board have been appointed, the Board shall hold the initial meeting of the 

Board. 

(D) MEETINGS.—The Board shall meet at the call of the 

Chairperson. 

(E) QUORUM.—A majority of the members of the Board 

shall constitute a quorum, but a lesser number of members 

may hold hearings. 

(F) CHAIRPERSON AND VICE CHAIRPERSON.—The Board 

shall select a Chairperson and Vice Chairperson from 

among the members of the Board. 

(G) DUTIES.—The Board shall advise the Secretary on 

carrying out the duties of the Secretary under this subsection. 

(7) INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY.— 

(A) IN GENERAL.—As a condition of receiving a financial 

award under this subsection, an applicant shall agree to 

vest the intellectual property of the applicant derived from 

the technology in 1 or more entities that are incorporated 

in the United States. 

(B) RESERVATION OF LICENSE.—The United States— 

(i) may reserve a nonexclusive, nontransferable, irrevocable, paid-up license, to have practiced for or on 

behalf of the United States, in connection with any intellectual property described in subparagraph (A); but 

(ii) shall not, in the exercise of a license reserved 

under clause (i), publicly disclose proprietary information relating to the license. 

(C) TRANSFER OF TITLE.—Title to any intellectual property described in subparagraph (A) shall not be transferred 

or passed, except to an entity that is incorporated in the 

United States, until the expiration of the first patent obtained in connection with the intellectual property. 

(8) TERMINATION OF AUTHORITY.—The Board and all authority provided under this subsection shall terminate on the date 

that is 5 years after the date of enactment of the Carbon Dioxide Capture Technology Prize Act of 2011. 

ø(b)¿ (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—øThere is¿ 

(1) IN GENERAL.—There is authorized to be appropriated to 

the Secretary to carry out øthis section¿ subsection (a) 

$200,000,000 per year for fiscal years 2009 through ø2013¿ 

2011 and $195,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2012 and 2013. 

(2) CARBON DIOXIDE CAPTURE TECHNOLOGY PRIZE.—There is 

authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary to carry out subsection (b) $10,000,000 for the period of fiscal years 2012 

through 2016. 

Æ 


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