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Carbon Capture and Storage Early Deployment Act Summary |
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The purpose of
the legislation is to establish a non-governmental fund and entity to
accelerate the deployment of carbon capture and storage technologies.
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Authorizes
establishment of a Carbon Storage Research Corporation. The bill enables distribution utilities
delivering fossil fuel-based electricity to conduct a referendum for the
creation of the Corporation. If the
referendum results in approval by representatives of 2/3 of the fossil
fuel-based electricity delivered to retail consumers, the Corporation is
established.
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The Corporation
will be operated as a division or affiliate of the Electric Power Research
Institute (EPRI) and will be managed by a Board of not more than 12
members. The Board will be appointed by
EPRI and will include representatives of investor owned utilities, utilities
owned by a federal or state agency or a municipality, rural electric
cooperatives and fossil fuel producers.
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The Corporation
will assess fees on distribution utilities for all fossil fuel-based
electricity delivered to retail consumers.
The assessment shall be applied to electricity generated from coal,
natural gas and oil and will reflect the relative carbon dioxide emission rates
of each fuel. The total assessment will
be approximately $1 billion annually.
The legislation specifies that distribution utilities will be allowed to
recover the costs of the fee from retail consumers. The fee translates into a roughly $10-12
total annual increase in residential electricity rates.
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The Corporation
shall distribute the funds through grants and contracts to private, academic
and governmental entities with the purpose of accelerating the commercial
availability of carbon dioxide capture and storage technologies. Supported projects should encompass a range
of different fuel varieties, be geographically diverse, involve diverse storage
media and employ technologies suitable for either new or retrofit
applications.
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