Carbon Capture Coalition Expands & Rebrands

February 27, 2018

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by Amy Harder (Axios) ... The effort, called the Carbon Capture Coalition, is a rebranded and broadened version of an earlier group, called the National Enhanced Oil Recovery Initiative, which had a narrower focus. That coalition focused primarily on advocating for using captured carbon to extract oil from older wells in a process called enhanced oil recovery.

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Here’s what’s new:

12 new members, bringing the total coalition members to 48. New members range from Washington-based groups like the Bipartisan Policy Center and the Renewables Fuels Association to companies seeking to develop various types of technology capturing carbon emissions. Existing members include a couple of environmental groups and a slew of companies.
Broader focus: Captured CO2 can be used in a lot of other ways than extracting oil, including as a feedstock to make materials like cement.
Legislative goals: Fresh on the heels of Congress renewing and expanding a tax credit for the technology, the coalition is going to push Congress to pass more legislation, including measures helping finance new projects.

“The launch of the carbon capture coalition is an effort to recognize the broad and growing base of support for carbon capture that extends beyond electric power and fossil fuels,” said Brad Crabtree, a vice president at Great Plains Institute, a nonprofit energy group helping coordinate the coalition.

Yes, but: The rebranded coalition is losing a key voice considered a bridge to the broader environmental community: the Natural Resources Defense Council, which was part of the earlier group. It’s leaving the new one and dropped its support for the tax legislation Congress just passed because it doesn’t support tax incentives for enhanced oil recovery, which it considers to be a subsidy to oil companies, according to a top official there. READ MORE

Carbon capture credits could create tax equity market that spurs new projects (S&P Global)