Future Fuels Act of 2008

Bill: 110-s-3345
Sponsor: Sen. Rockefeller, John D., IV [D-WV]
Introduced: 2008-07-26 in the Senate
Policy area: Energy
Subjects: Air pollution control
Alternative energy sources
Aquifers
Bonds
Carbon cycle
Carbon dioxide
Climate change and greenhouse gases
Coal
Commerce
Economics and Public Finance
Energy prices
Energy transportation
Environmental Protection
Environmental technology
Executive reorganization
Finance and Financial Sector
Geology
Government Operations and Politics
Government corporations
Government lending
Income tax
Industrial buildings
Interstate compacts
Investment tax credit
Methane
Pipelines
Public Lands and Natural Resources
Science, Technology, Communications
Tax credits
Taxation
Transportation and Public Works
Water Resources Development

Summary:
action_date: 2008-07-26
text: 
Future Fuels Act of 2008 - Amends the Energy Policy Act of 2005 to establish the Future Fuels Corporation as a government corporation. Requires the Corporation, beginning in FY2009, to expend funds transferred by the Secretary of Energy to: (1) promote and deploy coal and coal cofired polygeneration technologies; (2) reduce the carbon footprint of coal consumption and the production of coal-based byproducts; and (3) conduct widespread carbon sequestration research, development, and deployment activities.
 
Requires the Secretary to: (1) implement a 10-year carbon capture and storage (currently, sequestration) research, development, and demonstration program; (2) establish a program to achieve the goal of annually sequestering at least 1,000,000 tons of carbon dioxide by January 1, 2015; (3) verify, analyze, and report on the results of assessments conducted by other federal agencies or states relating to geological storage capacity and the potential for carbon injection rates; (4) submit to congressional committees recommendations on regulatory and advisory mechanisms for the determination of best technologies, the identification and evaluation of strategies for carbon capture and storage technologies, the selection and operation of carbon dioxide sequestration sites, and the transfer of liability for the sites to the United States; (5) develop model interstate compacts to govern the transportation, injection, and storage of carbon dioxide; and (6) conduct geological sequestration demonstration projects involving operations in a variety of geological settings. Authorizes appropriations of such programs for FY2009-FY2014.
 
Authorizes the Secretary of Energy to enter into standby loan agreements for no more than 10 qualifying coal-to-liquid (CTL) projects, at least one of which may be a qualifying CTL project primarily designed to produce pipeline-quality natural gas from domestic coal. Defines a &quot;qualifying CTL project&quot; to include specified commercial-scale projects that convert coal to industrial feedstocks or liquid or gaseous fuels for transportation or other uses or projects conducted at facilities that convert petroleum refinery waste products into gaseous transportation fuels.
 
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) establish a coal-based transportation fuel pipeline tax credit; (2) apply the credit for producing fuel from a nonconventional source to the capture or extraction of coalmine methane gas; (3) modify the qualifying advanced coal project credit; (4) establish a credit for investment in a clean coal energy bond; and (5) establish a new tax credit for carbon dioxide sequestration.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2008-07-26
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance. (text of measure as introduced: CR S7533-7537)
action_date: 2008-07-26
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S7531-7533)
action_date: 2008-07-26
text: Introduced in Senate