Coal with Carbon Capture and Sequestration Act of 2015

Coal with Carbon Capture and Sequestration Act of 2015

This bill authorizes the Department of Energy to enter into 25-year binding contracts that provide price stabilization support for electricity generated at either an electric generation unit (that uses coal-based generation technology) or carbon dioxide captured from such unit and subsequently sold to a purchaser for either crude oil recovery or other commercial market purposes.

[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1285 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1285

To authorize the Secretary of Energy to enter into contracts to provide 
  certain price stabilization support relating to electric generation 
            units that use coal-based generation technology.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 11, 2015

  Ms. Heitkamp (for herself and Mr. Manchin) introduced the following 
bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and 
                           Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To authorize the Secretary of Energy to enter into contracts to provide 
  certain price stabilization support relating to electric generation 
            units that use coal-based generation technology.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Coal with Carbon Capture and 
Sequestration Act of 2015''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds that--
            (1) the high cost of installing and using technology to 
        capture carbon dioxide from coal-fueled electric generating 
        units can be mitigated by providing certainty, for a limited 
        period of time, with respect to revenues from the sale of 
        captured carbon dioxide;
            (2) the volatility of crude oil prices that determine the 
        price paid for carbon dioxide creates uncertain market prices 
        for carbon dioxide that is purchased and used to recover crude 
        oil or for other beneficial purposes;
            (3) assistance to stabilize the price received for carbon 
        dioxide captured during the use of coal provides a degree of 
        certainty to debt providers and investors with respect to the 
        revenues to be received from the sale of carbon dioxide; and
            (4) creating added certainty that captured carbon dioxide 
        would receive a certain, agreed upon price for a limited period 
        of time would help to ensure that carbon capture and storage 
        technology would be developed and used.

SEC. 3. CONTRACTING AUTHORITY OF THE SECRETARY.

    (a) Definition of Electric Generation Unit.--In this section, the 
term ``electric generation unit'' means an electric generation unit 
that uses coal-based generation technology.
    (b) Contracting Authority.--Beginning on the date of enactment of 
this Act, the Secretary of Energy may enter into binding contracts on 
behalf of the Federal Government, the duration of which shall not 
exceed 25 years, with qualified parties to provide price stabilization 
support for electricity generated at an electric generation unit or 
carbon dioxide captured from an electric generation unit and sold to a 
purchaser for--
            (1) the recovery of crude oil; or
            (2) other purposes for which a commercial market exists.
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