Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
10
CRS has multiple reports on CCS technology. For an overview, see CRS Report R42532,
Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS): A Primer, by Peter Folger. For a discussion of
available policy tools to encourage the development of CCS, see CRS Report R41325,
Carbon Capture: A Technology Assessment, by Peter Folger. For a discussion of the
Department of Energy's efforts to develop CCS technology, see CRS Report R42496,
Carbon Capture and Sequestration: Research, Development, and Demonstration at the U.S.
Department of Energy, by Peter Folger, and CRS Report R43028, FutureGen: A Brief
History and Issues for Congress, by Peter Folger.
11
For additional information, see 77 Federal Register 22406, April 13, 2012.
12
77 Federal Register 22395, April 13, 2012.
13
U.S. EPA, Regulatory Impact Analysis for the Proposed Standards of Performance for
Greenhouse Gas Emissions for New Stationary Sources: Electric Utility Generating Units,
March 2012, p. ES-3, at http://www.epa.gov/ carbonpollutionstandard/pdfs/20120327
proposalRIA.pdf. Hereafter ―EPA RIA.‖
14
EPA RIA, pp. 5-10 through 5-14.
15
EPA RIA, p. 5-1. The RIA adds, elsewhere, the following caveats: ―It is important to note that
this analysis is based on assumptions regarding the average national cost of generation at
new facilities. As reported by the EIA [DOE's Energy Information Administration], there is
expected to be significant spatial variation in the costs of new generation due to design
differences, labor wage and productivity differences, location adjustments, among other
potential differences. EPA acknowledges that there is some uncertainty around these
estimates, and is unable to provide estimates for all variants. However, the results are
expected to hold for the majority of situations. The analysis also does not explicitly consider
new units designed to combust waste coal or petroleum coke (pet coke), which may be
affected by this rule, but also may exhibit different local economics.‖ (footnotes omitted)
See EPA RIA, p. 5-17.
16
Bloomberg, Energy and Oil Prices, at http://www.bloomberg.com/energy/. On p. 5-17, EPA's
RIA specifies that coal-fired power without CCS becomes competitive when natural gas
reaches $9.60 per million Btu. EPA notes: ―To put this gas price point into historical
context, $9.60/MMBtu is higher than any average annual gas price (in 2007 dollars)
observed over the last 10 years, and it has only been reached temporarily in 8 of the last 120
months.‖ EPA RIA, p. 5-33.
17
EPA RIA, p. ES-3.
18
EPA RIA, pp. ES-3 and ES-4.
19
77 Federal Register 22396-2397, April 13, 2012 (footnote omitted).
20
77 Federal Register 22414, April 13, 2012.
21
Ibid., p. 22415 (footnotes omitted).
22
For details on the demonstration projects, see CRS Report R42496, Carbon Capture and
Sequestration: Research, Development, and Demonstration at the U.S. Department of
Energy, by Peter Folger, and Congressional Budget Office, Federal Efforts to Reduce the
Cost of Capturing and Storing Carbon Dioxide, June 2012. One of the uncertainties faced
by CCS is how to address liability concerns associated with CCS technology. For a
discussion of this issue, see CRS Report RL34307, Legal Issues Associated with the
Development of Carbon Dioxide Sequestration Technology, by Adam Vann and Paul W.
Parfomak.
23
77 Federal Register 22415-22416, April 13, 2012.
24
Congressional Budget Office, Federal Efforts to Reduce the Cost of Capturing and Storing
Carbon Dioxide, June 2012, pp. 7-9.
