Last Friday, the White House announced that it had chosen members for its Carbon Dioxide Capture, Utilization, and Sequestration (CCUS) Federal Lands and Outer Continental Shelf Permitting Task Force.
The White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) chose our Federal Representative, Jim Powell, to sit on the task force, which was established to provide input and inform the responsible development of CCUS technology.
The task force, mandated by the Utilizing Significant Emissions with Innovative Technologies (USE IT) Act, will provide recommendations to the Federal government on how to ensure that CCUS projects, including carbon dioxide pipelines, are permitted efficiently, reflect the needs of a wide range of stakeholders, and deliver benefits to local communities.
According to the White House, carbon management technologies have the potential to cut pollution in communities across the nation while creating good jobs and accelerating national efforts to meet President Biden’s goal of a net-zero emissions economy by 2050. Consistent with the USE IT Act, CEQ issued guidance in February 2021 to help Federal agencies advance CCUS technologies in a responsible manner that incorporates the input of communities and reflects the best available science. That guidance builds on CEQ’s June 2021 CCUS report and identifies ways to facilitate sound and transparent environmental reviews for carbon capture projects.
We are honored to have a representative on the task force, and we look forward to contributing to the safe deployment of future CCUS projects.