	Introduction

Carbon capture and sequestration (or storage)—known as CCS—is a physical process that involves capturing manmade carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) at its source and storing it before its release to the atmosphere. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has pursued research and development of aspects of the three main steps leading to an integrated CCS system since 1997. Congress has appropriated nearly $7 billion in total since FY2008 for CCS research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) at DOE's Office of Fossil Energy: nearly $3.5 billion in total annual appropriations (including FY2015) and $3.4 billion from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act ( P.L. The large and rapid influx of funding for industrial-scale CCS projects from the Recovery Act was intended to accelerate development and demonstration of CCS in the United States. EPA Proposed Rule: Limiting CO2 Emissions from Power Plants5

In 2014, EPA proposed emission standards for new and existing fossil-fueled electric generating units under Section 111 of the Clean Air Act. New Power Plants

According to EPA, new natural gas-fired stationary power plants should be able to meet the proposed standard without additional cost and without the need for add-on control technology. However, the only apparent technical way for new coal-fired plants to meet the standard would be to install CCS technology to capture about 40% of the CO 2 they typically produce. Implications for CCS Research, Development, and Deployment

Given the pending EPA rule, congressional interest in the future of coal as a domestic energy source also appears to be linked to the future of CCS. The debate has been mixed as to whether the proposed rule for new plants would spur development and deployment of CCS for new coal-fired power plants or have the opposite effect. (The second BSER determination is for gas-fired power plants.) 114th Congress

On February 26, 2015, Senators Heitkamp and Kaine introduced S. 601 , the Advanced Clean Technology Investment in Our Nation Act of 2015, which would promote CCS for coal-fired utilities by a combination of loan guarantees, tax credits, and support for the DOE R&D effort in its coal program, among other things. The challenge of reducing the costs of CCS technology is difficult to quantify. From the budgetary perspective, the Recovery Act funding shifted the emphasis of CCS RD&D to large, industrial demonstration projects for carbon capture. First U.S. Commercial operation of the Kemper County Project has been delayed several times since construction began in 2010. It is likely that the plant will attract increased scrutiny in the wake of the EPA proposed rule on CO 2 emissions, and its cost and schedule overruns evaluated against the promised environmental benefits due to CCS technology. To date, there are no commercial ventures in the United States that capture, transport, and inject large quantities of CO 2 (e.g., 1 million tons per year or more) solely for the purposes of carbon sequestration. The success of these demonstration projects will likely bear heavily on the future outlook for widespread deployment of CCS technologies as a strategy for preventing large quantities of CO 2 from reaching the atmosphere while plants continue to burn fossil fuels, mainly coal. Congress may wish to carefully review the CCS R&D program and particularly the results from the demonstration projects as they progress. Such a review could help Congress evaluate whether DOE is on track to meet its goal of allowing for an advanced CCS technology portfolio to be ready by 2020 for large-scale demonstration and deployment in the United States.
Carbon capture and sequestration (or storage)—known as CCS—is a physical process that involves capturing manmade carbon dioxide (CO2) at its source and storing it before its release to the atmosphere. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has pursued research and development (R&D) of aspects of the three main steps leading to an integrated CCS system since 1997. Congress has appropriated nearly $7 billion in total since FY2008 for CCS research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) at DOE's Office of Fossil Energy: nearly $3.5 billion in total annual appropriations (including FY2015) and $3.4 billion from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Recovery Act; P.L. 111-5). The large influx of Recovery Act funding for industrial-scale CCS projects was intended to accelerate development and deployment of CCS in the United States. Since enactment of the Recovery Act, DOE has shifted its RD&D emphasis to the demonstration phase of carbon capture technology. To date, however, there are no commercial ventures in the United States that capture, transport, and inject industrial-scale quantities of CO2 solely for the purpose of carbon sequestration.
The success of DOE CCS demonstration projects likely will influence the outlook for widespread deployment of CCS technologies as a strategy for preventing large quantities of CO2 from reaching the atmosphere while U.S. power plants continue to burn fossil fuels, mainly coal. One project, the Kemper County Facility, has received $270 million from DOE under its Clean Coal Power Initiative (CCPI) Round 2 program and is slated to begin commercial operation in 2016. The 582 megawatt-capacity facility anticipates capturing 65% of its CO2 emissions, making it equivalent to a new natural gas-fired combined cycle power plant. Cost and schedule overruns at the Kemper Plant, however, have raised questions over the relative value of environmental benefits from CCS technology compared with construction costs of the facility and its effect on ratepayers.
In 2014, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed emission standards for new and existing fossil-fueled electric generating units under Section 111 of the Clean Air Act. New natural gas-fired stationary power plants should be able to meet the proposed standard for new plants without additional cost and without the need for add-on control technology. However, the only apparent technical way for new coal-fired plants to meet the standard would be to install CCS technology. The proposed rule has sparked increased scrutiny of the future of CCS as a viable technology for reducing CO2 emissions from coal-fired power plants.
Given the pending EPA rule, congressional interest in the future of coal as a domestic energy source appears directly linked to the future of CCS. Debate has been mixed as to whether the rule would spur development and deployment of CCS for new coal-fired power plants or have the opposite effect. Congressional oversight of the CCS RD&D program could help inform decisions about the level of support for the program and help Congress gauge whether it is on track to meet its goals. In the 114th Congress, a bill has been introduced (S. 601) that would promote CCS for coal-fired utilities by a combination of loan guarantees, tax credits, and supporting the DOE R&D effort in its coal program, among other things. A similar bill was introduced in the 113th Congress but was not enacted.
One issue is whether congressional oversight is needed of the CCS R&D program, particularly of the results from the demonstration projects as they progress. Such a review could help Congress evaluate whether DOE is on track to meet its goal of allowing for an advanced CCS technology portfolio to be ready by 2020 for large-scale demonstration and deployment in the United States.