[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2744 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 2744

  To amend the Energy Policy Act of 2005 to expand the authority for 
  awarding technology prizes by the Secretary of Energy to include a 
 financial award for separation of carbon dioxide from dilute sources.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            November 5, 2009

 Mr. Barrasso (for himself, Mr. Bingaman, and Mr. Enzi) introduced the 
 following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 
                      Energy and Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend the Energy Policy Act of 2005 to expand the authority for 
  awarding technology prizes by the Secretary of Energy to include a 
 financial award for separation of carbon dioxide from dilute sources.

    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 ``Carbon Dioxide Capture Technology 
Act of 2009''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.

    (a) Findings.--Congress finds that--
            (1) flue gases from coal-fired electric generating 
        facilities typically have carbon dioxide concentrations of 
        approximately 17 percent by volume;
            (2) it is possible to separate carbon dioxide from dilute 
        sources and even the atmosphere, which has a carbon dioxide 
        concentration of 0.038 percent, but substantial advances in 
        research and technology will be necessary to provide the 
        separation in an economical manner;
            (3) developing practical separations of carbon dioxide from 
        dilute sources is important to the future development of energy 
        technology;
            (4) economical onsite separation of atmospheric carbon 
        dioxide can help leverage the use of carbon dioxide in energy 
        applications such as enhanced oil recovery and enhanced 
        geothermal systems at remote sites; and
            (5) authorizing the Secretary of Energy to provide a 
        technology prize for separation of carbon dioxide from dilute 
        sources can provide the impetus for developing the novel 
        technologies that will be needed in the future as part of the 
        national energy system of the United States.
    (b) Purpose.--It is the purpose of this Act to provide incentives 
to encourage the development and implementation of technology to 
capture carbon dioxide from dilute sources on a significant scale using 
direct air capture technologies.

SEC. 3. CARBON DIOXIDE CAPTURE TECHNOLOGY PRIZE.

    Section 1008 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 16396) is 
amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(g) Carbon Dioxide Capture Technology Prize.--
            ``(1) Definitions.--In this subsection:
                    ``(A) Board.--The term `Board' means the Carbon 
                Dioxide Capture Technology Advisory Board established 
                by paragraph (6).
                    ``(B) Dilute.--The term `dilute' means a 
                concentration of less than 1 percent by volume.
                    ``(C) Intellectual property.--The term 
                `intellectual property' means--
                            ``(i) an invention that is patentable under 
                        title 35, United States Code; and
                            ``(ii) any patent on an invention described 
                        in clause (i).
                    ``(D) Secretary.--The term `Secretary' means the 
                Secretary of Energy or designee, in consultation with 
                the Board.
            ``(2) Authority.--Not later than 1 year after the date of 
        enactment of this subsection, as part of the program carried 
        out under this section, the Secretary shall establish and award 
        competitive technology financial awards for carbon dioxide 
        capture from media in which the concentration of carbon dioxide 
        is dilute.
            ``(3) Duties.--In carrying out this subsection, the 
        Secretary shall--
                    ``(A) subject to paragraph (4), develop specific 
                requirements for--
                            ``(i) the competition process;
                            ``(ii) minimum performance standards for 
                        qualifying projects; and
                            ``(iii) monitoring and verification 
                        procedures for approved projects;
                    ``(B) establish minimum levels for the capture of 
                carbon dioxide from a dilute medium that are required 
                to be achieved to qualify for a financial award 
                described in subparagraph (C);
                    ``(C) offer financial awards for--
                            ``(i) a design for a promising capture 
                        technology;
                            ``(ii) a successful bench-scale 
                        demonstration of a capture technology;
                            ``(iii) a design for a technology described 
                        in clause (i) that will--
                                    ``(I) be operated on a 
                                demonstration scale; and
                                    ``(II) achieve significant 
                                reduction in the level of carbon 
                                dioxide; and
                            ``(iv) an operational capture technology on 
                        a commercial scale that meets the minimum 
                        levels described in subparagraph (B); and
                    ``(D) submit to Congress--
                            ``(i) an annual report that describes the 
                        progress made by the Board and recipients of 
                        financial awards under this subsection in 
                        achieving the demonstration goals established 
                        under subparagraph (C); and
                            ``(ii) not later than 1 year after the date 
                        of enactment of this subsection, a report that 
                        describes the levels of funding that are 
                        necessary to achieve the purposes of this 
                        subsection.
            ``(4) Public participation.--In carrying out paragraph 
        (3)(A), the Board shall--
                    ``(A) 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 paragraph (3)(A); and
                    ``(B) take into account public comments received in 
                developing the final version of those requirements.
            ``(5) Peer review.--No financial awards may be provided 
        under this subsection until the proposal for which the award is 
        sought has been peer reviewed in accordance with such standards 
        for peer review as are established by the Secretary.
            ``(6) Carbon dioxide capture technology advisory board.--
                    ``(A) Establishment.--There is established an 
                advisory board to be known as the `Carbon Dioxide 
                Capture Technology Advisory Board'.
                    ``(B) Composition.--The Board shall be composed of 
                9 members appointed by the President, by and with the 
                advice and consent of the Senate, who shall provide 
                expertise in--
                            ``(i) climate science;
                            ``(ii) physics;
                            ``(iii) chemistry;
                            ``(iv) biology;
                            ``(v) engineering;
                            ``(vi) economics;
                            ``(vii) business management; and
                            ``(viii) such other disciplines as the 
                        Secretary determines to be necessary to achieve 
                        the purposes of this subsection.
                    ``(C) Term; vacancies.--
                            ``(i) Term.--A member of the Board shall 
                        serve for a term of 6 years.
                            ``(ii) Vacancies.--A vacancy on the Board--
                                    ``(I) shall not affect the powers 
                                of the Board; and
                                    ``(II) shall be filled in the same 
                                manner as the original appointment was 
                                made.
                    ``(D) Initial meeting.--Not later than 30 days 
                after the date on which all members of the Board have 
                been appointed, the Board shall hold the initial 
                meeting of the Board.
                    ``(E) Meetings.--The Board shall meet at the call 
                of the Chairperson.
                    ``(F) Quorum.--A majority of the members of the 
                Board shall constitute a quorum, but a lesser number of 
                members may hold hearings.
                    ``(G) Chairperson and vice chairperson.--The Board 
                shall select a Chairperson and Vice Chairperson from 
                among the members of the Board.
                    ``(H) Compensation.--Each member of the Board may 
                be compensated at not to exceed the daily equivalent of 
                the annual rate of basic pay in effect for a position 
                at level V of the Executive Schedule for each day 
                during which the member is engaged in the actual 
                performance of the duties of the Board.
                    ``(I) Duties.--The Board shall advise the Secretary 
                on carrying out the duties of the Secretary under this 
                subsection.
            ``(7) Intellectual property.--
                    ``(A) In general.--As a condition of receiving a 
                financial award under this subsection, an applicant 
                shall agree to vest the intellectual property of the 
                applicant derived from the technology in 1 or more 
                entities that are incorporated in the United States.
                    ``(B) Reservation of license.--The United States--
                            ``(i) 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 subparagraph 
                        (A); but
                            ``(ii) shall not, in the exercise of a 
                        license reserved under clause (i), publicly 
                        disclose proprietary information relating to 
                        the license.
                    ``(C) Transfer of title.--Title to any intellectual 
                property described in subparagraph (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.
            ``(8) Authorization of appropriations.--There are 
        authorized to be appropriated to carry out this subsection such 
        sums as are necessary.
            ``(9) Termination of authority.--The Board and all 
        authority provided under this subsection shall terminate on 
        December 31, 2020.''.
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