Congress Passes Major Climate and Infrastructure Package to Support Innovation and Clean Energy Economy
Yesterday, the House passed the first bill to ever put climate change at the center of an infrastructure framework. Clean Air Task Force welcomes numerous provisions that show strong and bipartisan support for clean energy and climate action, including direct pay and extension of commence-construction windows for clean technologies and carbon capture projects in the pipeline, reform of the Loan Program Office at the Department of Energy, reauthorization of the Diesel Emissions Reduction Act, expansion of advanced technology vehicle definitions to include hydrogen fuel-cell and zero-emission vehicles, and support for commercial deployment of carbon capture and direct air capture technologies.
“We look forward to working with the Senate to see many of these provisions become law this year,” said Lindsey Griffith, CATF Federal Policy Director. “Putting climate at the center of federal infrastructure planning shows an important shift in thinking in Congress. We will need to build upon this moment of leadership to meet the goal of net-zero emissions by midcentury. Taking action to meet the climate crisis and providing support for infrastructure around the United States should both play a big role in our economic recovery.”
“This bill includes important bipartisan provisions supporting the commercial deployment of carbon capture and direct air capture and we laud Representatives David McKinley (R-WV), Lizzie Fletcher (D-TX), Marc Veasey (D-TX) and their colleagues for their leadership on this essential technology,” said Lee Beck, Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage Policy Innovation Director for CATF. “Among other provisions, it authorizes grants for FEED studies, carbon capture demonstration projects, and large-scale CO2 storage commercialization projects. Coming on the heels of the Select Committee on the Climate Crisis Action Plan highlighting carbon capture’s crucial role in industrial decarbonization, these policy mechanisms constitute important support for developing carbon capture value chains at scale. The provisions in this bill will bolster US technology leadership, create decarbonization options, and deliver important emissions reductions on the road to net-zero.”
“We are gratified to see the continuing commitment to the Diesel Emission Reduction Act (DERA) in the bill, an important program to reduce diesel particulate emissions especially in frontline communities disproportionately burdened with air pollution,” said Conrad Schneider, CATF Advocacy Director.
