Cheney co-sponsors carbon capture legislation

Wyoming Congresswoman Liz Cheney has signed on as a co-sponsor of the Carbon Capture Modernization Act, which is legislation that will advance carbon capture technologies at coal plants.

After co-sponsoring the measure, Cheney said Wyoming has the cleanest coal in the world, and the state has led the way in pursuing technologies like carbon capture.

She said she’s proud to co-sponsor the legislation, which would modernize the 48A tax credit requirements to make it easier for businesses to receive the tax credit based off of the capabilities of existing technology.

The Section 48A tax credit was first established in 2005, and carbon capture projects were made eligible in 2008. However, the eligibility standards for the credit are not technically or economically feasible for carbon capture and storage retrofit projects.

In addition, when Congress modified the provision in 2008 to include existing coal power plants, a new requirement was imposed that, to be eligible for the tax incentive, at least 65 percent of the carbon dioxide must be captured and stored.

Sponsors and co-sponsors of the Carbon Capture Modernization Act say this requirement is too stringent and unrealistic for retrofit applications. As a result of these unattainable requirements, they say, nearly $2 billion worth of credits have gone unused.

The legislation was introduced by representatives David McKinley, a Republican, and Terri Sewell, a Democrat.