I
107TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 2365
To authorize Department of Energy programs to develop and implement
an accelerated research and development program for advanced clean
coal technologies for use in coal-based electricity generating facilities,
so as to allow coal to help meet the growing need of the United States
for the generation of clean, reliable, and affordable electricity.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JUNE 28, 2001
Mr. COSTELLO (for himself, Mr. AKIN, Mr. WHITFIELD, Mr. MOLLOHAN, Mr.
BOUCHER, Mr. SHIMKUS, Mrs. CAPITO, Mr. PHELPS, and Mr. LIPINSKI)
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on
Science
A BILL
To authorize Department of Energy programs to develop
and implement an accelerated research and development
program for advanced clean coal technologies for use
in coal-based electricity generating facilities, so as to
allow coal to help meet the growing need of the United
States for the generation of clean, reliable, and afford-
able electricity.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘National Electricity
and Environmental Technology Research and Develop-
ment Act’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds that—
(1) reliable, affordable, increasingly clean elec-
tricity will continue to power the growing United
States economy;
(2) an increasing use of electrotechnologies, the
desire for continuous environmental improvement, a
more competitive electricity market, and concerns
about rising energy prices add importance to the
need for reliable, affordable, increasingly clean elec-
tricity;
(3) coal, which, as of the date of enactment of
this Act, accounts for more than 1⁄2 of all electricity
generated in the United States, is the most abun-
dant fossil energy resource of the United States;
(4) coal comprises more than 85 percent of all
fossil resources in the United States and exists in
quantities sufficient to supply the United States for
250 years at current usage rates;
(5) investments in electricity generating facility
emissions control technology over the past 30 years
have reduced the aggregate emissions of pollutants
from coal-based generating facilities by 21 percent,
even as coal use for electricity generation has nearly
tripled;
(6) continuous improvement in efficiency and
environmental performance from electricity gener-
ating facilities would allow continued use of coal and
preserve less abundant energy resources for other
energy uses;
(7) new technologies for converting coal into
electricity can effectively eliminate health-threat-
ening emissions and improve efficiency by as much
as 50 percent, but initial commercial deployment of
new coal generation technologies entails significant
risk that generators may be unable to accept in a
newly competitive electricity market; and
(8) continued environmental improvement in
coal-based generation through continued research,
development, and demonstration toward an ultimate
goal of near-zero emissions is important and desir-
able.
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) COST
AND
PERFORMANCE
GOALS.—The
term ‘‘cost and performance goals’’ means the cost
and performance goals established under section 4.
(C) promote the development and use of
advanced coal technologies; and
(8) other appropriate Federal and State agen-
cies.
(c) TIMING.—The Secretary shall—
(1) not later than 120 days after the date of
enactment of this Act, issue a set of draft cost and
performance goals for public comment; and
(2) not later than 180 days after the date of
enactment of this Act, after taking into consider-
ation any public comments received, submit to Con-
gress the final cost and performance goals.
SEC. 5. STUDY.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after the
date of enactment of this Act, and once every 2 years
thereafter through 2016, the Secretary, in cooperation
with the Secretary of the Interior and the Administrator
of the Environmental Protection Agency, shall transmit to
the Congress a report containing the results of a study
to—
(1) identify technologies that, by themselves or
in combination with other technologies, may be capa-
ble of achieving the cost and performance goals;
(2) assess the costs that would be incurred by,
and the period of time that would be required for,
the development and demonstration of technologies
that, by themselves or in combination with other
technologies, contribute to the achievement of the
cost and performance goals;
(3) develop recommendations for technology de-
velopment programs, which the Department of En-
ergy could carry out in cooperation with industry, to
develop and demonstrate technologies that, by them-
selves or in combination with other technologies,
achieve the cost and performance goals; and
(4) develop recommendations for additional au-
thorities required to achieve the cost and perform-
ance goals.
(b) EXPERT ADVICE.—In carrying out this section,
the Secretary shall give due weight to the expert advice
of representatives of the entities described in section 4(b).
SEC. 6. TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT PRO-
GRAM.
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall carry out a
program of research on and development, demonstration,
and commercial application of coal-based technologies
under—
(1) this Act;
(2) the Federal Nonnuclear Energy Research
and Development Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5901 et
seq.);
(3) the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974 (42
U.S.C. 5801 et seq.); and
(4) title XIII of the Energy Policy Act of 1992
(42 U.S.C. 13331 et seq.).
(b) CONDITIONS.—The research, development, dem-
onstration, and commercial application program described
in subsection (a) shall be designed to achieve the cost and
performance goals.
SEC. 7. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
(a) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be appro-
priated to the Secretary to carry out sections 4, 5, and
6, $100,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2002 through
2012, to remain available until expended.
(b) CONDITIONS OF AUTHORIZATION.—The author-
ization of appropriations under subsection (a)—
(1) shall be in addition to authorizations of ap-
propriations in effect on the date of enactment of
this Act; and
(2) shall not be a cap on Department of Energy
fossil energy research and development and clean
coal technology appropriations.
SEC. 8. CLEAN COAL POWER COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
INITIATIVE.
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall establish a
clean coal power commercial applications initiative that
will demonstrate commercial applications of advanced
coal-based technologies applicable to new or existing power
plants, including coproduction plants.
(b) REQUIREMENTS.—The technologies to be dem-
onstrated under the initiative—
(1) shall be technologies that, by themselves or
in combination with other technologies, advance effi-
ciency, environmental performance, and cost com-
petitiveness well beyond that which is in operation or
has been demonstrated as of the date of enactment
of this Act; and
(2) may include technologies that have not pre-
viously been envisioned for commercial applications.
(c) PLAN.—Not later than 120 days after the date
of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall transmit to
Congress a plan to carry out subsection (a) that includes
a description of—
(1) the program elements and management
structure to be used;
(2) the technical milestones to be achieved with
respect to each of the advanced coal-based tech-
nologies included in the plan; and
(3) the demonstration activities proposed to be
conducted at facilities that serve or are located at
new or existing coal-based electric generation units
having at least 50 megawatts nameplate rating, in-
cluding improvements to allow the units to achieve
1 or more of the following:
(A) An overall design efficiency improve-
ment of not less than 3 percent as compared
with the efficiency of the unit as operated as of
the date of enactment of this Act and before
any retrofit, repowering, replacement, or instal-
lation.
(B) A significant improvement in, or new
alternative technology to enhance, the environ-
mental performance related to the control of
sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, or mercury in a
manner that is different and well below the cost
of technologies that are in operation or have
been demonstrated as of the date of enactment
of this Act.
(C) A means of recycling or reusing a sig-
nificant portion of coal combustion or gasifi-
cation wastes or byproducts produced by coal-
based generating units, excluding practices that
are commercially available as of the date of en-
actment of this Act.
(D) A means to capture, separate, and
reuse or dispose of carbon dioxide that is dif-
ferent and well below the cost of technologies
that are in operation or have been dem-
onstrated as of the date of enactment of this
Act.
SEC. 9. FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the
date on which the Secretary transmits to Congress the
plan under section 8(c), the Secretary shall solicit pro-
posals for projects that serve or are located at new or ex-
isting facilities designed to achieve 1 or more of the levels
of performance set forth in section 8(c)(3).
(b) PROJECT CRITERIA.—A solicitation under sub-
section (a) may include solicitation of a proposal for a
project to demonstrate—
(1) an overall design efficiency improvement of
not less 3 percentage points as compared with the
efficiency of the unit as operated as of the date of
enactment of this Act and with no increase in the
potential to emit sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, par-
ticulate matter, mercury, or carbon monoxide;
(2) a reduction of emissions to a level of not
more than—
(A)(i) in the case of sulfur dioxide—
(I) in the case of coal with a potential
combustion concentration sulfur emission
of 1.2 or more pounds per million British
thermal units of heat input, 5 percent of
the potential combustion concentration sul-
fur dioxide emissions; or
(II) in the case of a coal with a poten-
tial combustion concentration of less than
1.2 pounds of per million British thermal
units of heat input, 15 percent of the po-
tential combustion concentration of sulfur
dioxide emissions;
(ii) in the case of nitrogen oxide—
(I) in the case of a boiler other than
a cyclone-fired boiler, emissions of 0.1
pound per million British thermal units of
heat; or
(II) in the case of a cyclone-fired boil-
er, 15 percent of the uncontrolled nitrogen
oxide emissions from the boiler; or
(iii) in the case of particulate matter, emis-
sions of 0.02 pound per million British thermal
units of heat input; or
(B) the emission levels for the pollutants
identified in subparagraph (A) that are speci-
fied in the new source performance standards of
the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7411) in effect at
the time of construction, installation, or retro-
fitting of the advanced coal-based technology
for the category of source if they are lower than
the levels specified in subparagraph (A); or
(3) the production of coal combustion byprod-
ucts that are capable of obtaining economic values
significantly greater than byproducts produced as of
the date of enactment of this Act with no increase
in the potential to emit sulfur dioxide, nitrogen
oxide, particulate matter, mercury, or carbon mon-
oxide.
(c) FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE.—The Secretary shall
provide financial assistance to projects that—
(1) demonstrate overall cost reductions in the
utilization of coal to generate useful forms of energy;
(2) improve the competitiveness of coal among
various forms of energy in order to maintain a diver-
sity of fuel choices in the United States to meet elec-
tricity generation requirements;
(3) achieve, in a cost-effective manner, 1 or
more of the criteria described in the solicitation; and
(4) demonstrate technologies that are applicable
to 25 percent of the electricity generating facilities
that use coal as the primary feedstock as of the date
of enactment of this Act.
(d) FEDERAL SHARE.—The Federal share of the cost
of a project funded under this section shall not exceed 50
percent.
(e) FUNDING.—
(1) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—Ex-
cept as provided in paragraph (2), there are author-
ized to be appropriated to the Secretary to carry out
this section $100,000,000 for each of the fiscal
years 2002 through 2012, to remain available until
expended.
(2) ALTERNATIVE
FUNDING
SOURCES.—To
carry out this section, the Secretary may use any
unobligated funds available to the Secretary for fos-
sil energy programs, and any funds obligated to any
project selected under the clean coal technology pro-
gram that become unobligated. Appropriations under
paragraph (1) for a fiscal year shall be reduced by
the amount of any funds used under this paragraph.
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