04.15.16

Hoeven: Energy and Water Appropriations Bill Includes $30 Million for Carbon Capture and Sequestration Projects

Senator Continues Work to Advance Commercially Viable CO2 Sequestration Technology

WASHINGTON – Senator John Hoeven, a member of the Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Committee, today announced that the Senate’s Fiscal Year 2017 Energy and Water Appropriations Bill includes $30 million in funding to help develop commercially viable carbon capture and sequestration. Hoeven worked to support the funding, which was approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee this week, to advance projects for developing new technologies to reduce CO2 emissions.

“We need to support innovative and commercially viable technologies for reducing CO2 emissions and that’s exactly what this program will do,” said Hoeven. “Developing these new technologies will help us to produce more energy with better environmental stewardship and that’s good for consumers, industry and the environment.”

The legislation makes $30 million available for the Department of Energy to provide funding, through a competitive-bid process, for carbon capture and sequestration projects. Currently, Minnkota Power Cooperative and ALLETE Clean Energy have been jointly working on a proposal to develop a carbon capture project that would be eligible to apply for funding.

“The joint carbon capture project being developed by Minnkota Power Cooperative and ALLETE Clean Energy is critically important for North Dakota, the region, and the nation. Our industry has made significant investments to meet EPA rules. The research program secured by Senator Hoeven is critical to our existing fleet of reliable and affordable generating facilities, and an important step in the development of next generation energy technology,” said Minnkota Power Cooperative CEO Mac McLennan.

As a member of the Senate Energy Committee, Hoeven recently pressed U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz to support programs that help develop commercially viable technologies that reduce CO2 emissions.

As a member of the Energy Committee and the Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee, Hoeven has worked to advance the development and deployment of innovative energy technologies. At the same time, Hoeven is working to prevent the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from implementing its costly carbon dioxide regulations on new and existing power plants. Last month, Hoeven joined 204 of his Congressional colleagues in filing an amicus brief supporting suits filed by 27 states, including North Dakota, seeking to overturn the EPA’s final carbon dioxide emissions rule.

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