1.This Act may be cited as
the Greenhouse Gas Emission
Atmospheric Removal Act
or the GEAR
Act
.
2.It is the policy of the
United States to provide incentives to encourage the development and
implementation of technology to permanently remove greenhouse gases from the
atmosphere on a significant scale.
3.In this Act:
(1)The
term Commission means the Greenhouse Gas Emission Atmospheric
Removal Commission established by section 5(a).
(2)The term greenhouse gas means—
(A)carbon
dioxide;
(B)methane;
(C)nitrous
oxide;
(D)sulfur
hexafluoride;
(E)a
hydrofluorocarbon;
(F)a
perfluorocarbon; and
(G)any other gas
that the Commission determines is necessary to achieve the purposes of this
Act.
(3)The term intellectual property
means—
(A)an invention that
is patentable under title 35, United States Code; and
(B)any patent on an
invention described in subparagraph (A).
(4)The
term Secretary means the Secretary of Energy.
4.Greenhouse Gas
Emission Atmospheric Removal ProgramThe Secretary, acting through the
Commission, shall provide to public and private entities, on a competitive
basis, financial awards for the achievement of milestones in developing and
applying technology that could significantly slow or reverse the accumulation
of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere by permanently capturing or sequestrating
those gases without significant countervailing harmful effects.
5.Greenhouse Gas
Emission Atmospheric Removal Commission
(a)There
is established within the Department of Energy a commission to be known as the
Greenhouse Gas Emission Atmospheric Removal Commission
.
(b)
(1)The
Commission shall be composed of 11 members appointed by the President, by and
with the advice and consent of the Senate, who shall provide expertise
in—
(A)climate
science;
(B)physics;
(C)chemistry;
(D)biology;
(E)engineering;
(F)economics;
(G)business
management; and
(H)such other
disciplines as the Commission determines to be necessary to achieve the
purposes of this Act.
(2)
(A)A
member of the Commission shall serve for a term of 6 years.
(B)A
vacancy on the Commission—
(i)shall not affect
the powers of the Commission; and
(ii)shall be filled
in the same manner as the original appointment was made.
(3)Not later than 30 days after the date on which all
members of the Commission have been appointed, the Commission shall hold the
initial meeting of the Commission.
(4)The
Commission shall meet at the call of the Chairperson.
(5)A
majority of the members of the Commission shall constitute a quorum, but a
lesser number of members may hold hearings.
(6)Chairperson and
Vice ChairpersonThe Commission shall select a Chairperson and
Vice Chairperson from among the members of the Commission.
(7)A
member of the Commission shall be compensated at level III of the Executive
Schedule.
(c)The
Commission shall—
(1)subject to
subsection (d), develop specific requirements for—
(A)the competition
process;
(B)minimum
performance standards;
(C)monitoring and
verification procedures; and
(D)the scale of
awards for each milestone identified under paragraph (3);
(2)establish minimum
levels for the capture or net sequestration of greenhouse gases that are
required to be achieved by a public or private entity to qualify for a
financial award described in paragraph (3);
(3)in coordination
with the Secretary, offer those financial awards to public and private entities
that demonstrate—
(A)a design document
for a successful technology;
(B)a bench scale
demonstration of a technology;
(C)technology
described in subparagraph (A) that—
(i)is
operational at demonstration scale; and
(ii)achieves
significant greenhouse gas reductions; and
(D)operation of
technology on a commercially viable scale that meets the minimum levels
described in paragraph (2); and
(4)submit to
Congress—
(A)an annual report
that describes the progress made by the Commission and recipients of financial
awards under this section in achieving the demonstration goals established
under paragraph (3); and
(B)not later than 1
year after the date of enactment of this Act, a report that describes the
levels of funding that are necessary to achieve the purposes of this
Act.
(d)In carrying out subsection (c)(1), the Commission
shall—
(1)provide notice of
and, for a period of at least 60 days, an opportunity for public comment on,
any draft or proposed version of the requirements described in subsection
(c)(1); and
(2)take into account
public comments received in developing the final version of those
requirements.
(e)No financial award may be provided under this Act until
such time as the proposal for which the award is sought has been peer reviewed
in accordance with such standards for peer review as the Commission shall
establish.
6.Intellectual
property considerations
(a)Title to any intellectual property arising from a
financial award provided under this Act shall vest in 1 or more entities that
are incorporated in the United States.
(b)The United States—
(1)may reserve a
nonexclusive, nontransferable, irrevocable, paid-up license, to have practiced
for or on behalf of the United States, in connection with any intellectual
property described in subsection (a); but
(2)shall not, in the
exercise of a license reserved under paragraph (1), publicly disclose
proprietary information relating to the license.
(c)Title to any intellectual property described in subsection
(a) shall not be transferred or passed, except to an entity that is
incorporated in the United States, until the expiration of the first patent
obtained in connection with the intellectual property.
7.Authorization of
appropriationsThere are
authorized to be appropriated such sums as are necessary to carry out this
Act.
8.The Commission and
all authority of the Commission provided under this Act terminate on December
31, 2020.