Geoscience Policy Monthly Review
march 2014

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congress

Carbon capture and storage debate heats up

On March 12, the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee’s Energy and Environment Subcommittees held a joint hearing to discuss the viability of carbon capture and storage (CCS) techniques used to reduce CO2 emissions from  power plants. Newly built coal and gas plants will be required to integrate CCS technologies in order to adhere to Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposed rule on emissions reduction.

Opponents of CCS implementation argued that it has not been successfully demonstrated on a commercial level. CCS projects currently in commercial use are not on the large power plant scale. Large-scale power plants that both capture and store carbon are still in the demonstration phase, although two projects, including Royal Dutch Shell PLC’s Peterhead Power Station, are under construction.

Proponents of CCS implementation argued that EPA is required under the Clean Air Act (CAA) to promote best available control technologies (BACT) such as CCS. EPA is only obligated to demonstrate technical viability, they said. Because polluters have no motivation to develop CCS, it is impossible for EPA to demonstrate commercial viability.

In January, Representative Ed Whitfield (R-KY) introduced the Electricity Security and Affordability Act, (H.R. 3826), which aims to repeal the EPA proposed rule. The bill passed the House and awaits a decision in the Senate.

Sources: Environmental Protection Agency; House Energy and Commerce Committee; E&E News; the Federal Register; House Science, Space, and Technology Committee; MIT Carbon Capture and Sequestration Technologies Program; Royal Dutch Shell, PLC

House lawmakers draft bills for science funding

Since the Presidential Budget Request for fiscal year (FY) 2015 was released on March 4, lawmakers have drafted bills that would authorize science funding. Members of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee proposed two bills setting authorization levels for the National Science Foundation (NSF) and National Institutes of Standards and Technology (NIST). The Subcommittee on Research and Technology sent the FIRST Act of 2014 (H.R. 4186) markup to the full committee, while full committee Ranking Member Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX) introduced legislation of her own, the America Competes Reauthorization Act of 2014 (H.R. 4159).

The FIRST Act would authorize $7.279 billion in funding for NSF for FY 2015, a 1.5 percent increase from FY 2014. Of that funding, $1.266 billion would go to the Geosciences Directorate, an almost 3 percent decrease from FY 2014. Critics of the FIRST Act are dissatisfied that it only authorizes funding for NSF and related agencies for two years. Preceding 2013, science funding authorizations spanned three years in length. The bill also specifies research funding levels for each NSF directorate, a decision which previously has been left to the agency.

Representative Johnson’s America COMPETES Reauthorization Act aims to increase STEM research and education by authorizing $7.521 billion for NSF in FY 2015, a 5 percent increase from FY 2014. The legislation also authorizes a 5 percent funding increase for NIST and the Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA-E). The legislation funds NSF, NIST, and ARPA-E until 2020 and leaves discretion on NSF directorate funding levels to the agency.

Sources: E&E News; the Government Printing Office; House Science Space Technology Committee