Climate Change: Federal Actions Will Greatly Affect the Viability of Carbon Capture and Storage As a Key Mitigation Option

Funding for DOE's "Innovations for Existing Plants" program has increased each year and additional increases were requested for FY 2011, as shown by the following data from DOE's 2011 Budget Request: Detailed Justification (dollars in thousands). The funding for 'Innovations for Existing Plants' in FY 2009, FY 2010, and FY 2011 was $48,600, $52,000, and $65,000, respectively. The IEP activity is focused on the development of post-combustion CO2 capture technology for new and existing plants. Post-combustion CO2 capture technology is applicable to pulverized coal (PC) coal power plants, which is the current standard industry technology for coal-fueled electricity generation." In addition, DOE's Clean Coal Power Initiative has also announced significant projects that are retrofits of existing plants.

Per EPA, the following actions were taken by its major media offices and an interagency CCS task force the agency chairs with DOE:Office of Water: published final GS rule under SDWA for Class VI wells in December 2010, and has trained Regional and State permit writers on the rule, and completed a final Financial Responsibility guidance in early 2011. OW will complete 12 additional technical guidance documents to assist implementation of the Class VI program, and is also working with States who wish to receive approval for GS Class VI primacy by September 2011. After that date, EPA will implement Class VI program and permit GS wells in those states without primacy.Office of Air and Radiation: In December 2010, EPA published a final rule that requires facilities that conduct geologic sequestration of carbon dioxide (CO2) and all other facilities that inject CO2 underground to report greenhouse gas (GHG) data to EPA annually. This rule amends the regulatory framework for the GHG Reporting Program. This Program requires reporting of GHG emissions and other relevant information from certain source categories in the United States, including suppliers of CO2. Subpart RR of this rule requires GHG reporting from facilities that inject carbon dioxide (CO2) underground for geologic sequestration, and subpart UU requires GHG reporting from all other facilities that inject CO2 underground for any reason, including enhanced oil and gas recovery.Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response: will publish a proposed rule (Summer 2011) for excluding CO2 captured from an emission source and injected via Class VI GS wells from regulation under RCRA and seek public comment and publish a final rule before year end 2011.CCS Task Force: In February 2010, the President established an interagency CCS Task Force, co-chaired by EPA and DOE. In August 2010, the Task Force delivered a series of recommendations to the President on overcoming the barriers to the widespread, cost-effective deployment of CCS within ten years, with a goal of bringing five to ten commercial demonstration projects online by 2016. EPA has been working with its Federal partners to implement the recommendations of the Task Force, including regulatory development and continuing efforts to analyze long-term liability and stewardship frameworks. EPA (OW) continues to interact with DOI (BOEMRE) on offshore GS pertaining to its regulation under the MPRSA and OCSLA for subseabed sequestration, and with BLM for GS on federal public lands.

On February 3, 2010, the recommended task force was mandated in a Presidential Memorandum calling for a ". . . comprehensive and coordinated Federal strategy to speed the commercial development and deployment of clean coal technologies" through an Interagency Task Force on Carbon Capture and Storage, to be co-chaired by the Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency. The Memorandum specifically calls on the Task Force to "develop a proposed plan to overcome the barriers to the widespread, cost-effective deployment of CCS within 10 years."