[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 50 (Thursday, March 22, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3612-S3613]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. BINGAMAN (for himself, Mr. Domenici, Mr. Tester, Mr. 
        Bunning, Mr. Salazar, Mr. Obama, and Mr. Webb):
  S. 962. A bill to amend the Energy Policy Act of 2005 to reauthorize 
and improve the carbon capture and storage research, development, and 
demonstration program of the Department of Energy and for other 
purposes; to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
  Mr. BINGAMAN. Mr. President, I am pleased to be able to introduce the 
Department of Energy Carbon Capture and Storage Research, Development, 
and Demonstration Act of 2007, along with my co-sponsors, Senators 
Domenici, Tester, Bunning, Salazar, Obama, and Webb. This bipartisan 
bill reauthorizes and improves the carbon capture and storage program 
at the Department of Energy that was first explicitly authorized in the 
Energy Policy Act of 2005. With the attention that the topic of global 
warming has been getting, it is becoming ever clearer that we need 
answers to the practical questions of what needs to occur so that we 
can decide on the role that carbon capture and storage will play in our 
future energy system. This bill, as well as a bill that has previously 
been referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, S. 731, 
begins to lay the foundation for a bipartisan and effective approach to 
these issues.
  I ask unanimous consent that the full text of the bill be printed in 
the Record.
  There being no objection, the bill was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follows:

                                 S. 962

       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 ``Department of Energy Carbon 
     Capture and Storage Research, Development, and Demonstration 
     Act of 2007''.

     SEC. 2. CARBON CAPTURE AND STORAGE RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT, AND 
                   DEMONSTRATION PROGRAM.

       Section 963 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 
     16293) is amended--
       (1) in the section heading, by striking ``RESEARCH AND 
     DEVELOPMENT'' and inserting ``AND STORAGE RESEARCH, 
     DEVELOPMENT, AND DEMONSTRATION'';
       (2) in subsection (a)--
       (A) by striking ``research and development'' and inserting 
     ``and storage research, development, and demonstration''; and
       (B) by striking ``capture technologies on combustion-based 
     systems'' and inserting ``capture and storage technologies 
     related to energy systems'';
       (3) in subsection (b)--
       (A) in paragraph (3), by striking ``and'' at the end;
       (B) in paragraph (4), by striking the period at the end and 
     inserting ``; and''; and
       (C) by adding at the end the following:
       ``(5) to expedite and carry out large-scale testing of 
     carbon sequestration systems in a range of geological 
     formations that will provide information on the cost and 
     feasibility of deployment of sequestration technologies.''; 
     and
       (4) by striking subsection (c) and inserting the following:
       ``(c) Programmatic Activities.--
       ``(1) Energy research and development underlying carbon 
     capture and storage technologies.--
       ``(A) In general.--The Secretary shall carry out 
     fundamental science and engineering research (including 
     laboratory-scale experiments, numeric modeling, and 
     simulations) to develop and document the performance of new 
     approaches to capture and store carbon dioxide.
       ``(B) Program integration.--The Secretary shall ensure that 
     fundamental research carried out under this paragraph is 
     appropriately applied to energy technology development 
     activities and the field testing of carbon sequestration 
     activities, including--
       ``(i) development of new or improved technologies for the 
     capture of carbon dioxide;
       ``(ii) modeling and simulation of geological sequestration 
     field demonstrations; and
       ``(iii) quantitative assessment of risks relating to 
     specific field sites for testing of sequestration 
     technologies.

[[Page S3613]]

       ``(2) Field validation testing activities.--
       ``(A) In general.--The Secretary shall promote, to the 
     maximum extent practicable, regional carbon sequestration 
     partnerships to conduct geologic sequestration tests 
     involving carbon dioxide injection and monitoring, 
     mitigation, and verification operations in a variety of 
     candidate geological settings, including--
       ``(i) operating oil and gas fields;
       ``(ii) depleted oil and gas fields;
       ``(iii) unmineable coal seams;
       ``(iv) saline formations; and
       ``(v) deep geologic systems that may be used as engineered 
     reservoirs to extract economical quantities of heat from 
     geothermal resources of low permeability or porosity.
       ``(B) Objectives.--The objectives of tests conducted under 
     this paragraph shall be--
       ``(i) to develop and validate geophysical tools, analysis, 
     and modeling to monitor, predict, and verify carbon dioxide 
     containment;
       ``(ii) to validate modeling of geological formations;
       ``(iii) to refine storage capacity estimated for particular 
     geological formations;
       ``(iv) to determine the fate of carbon dioxide concurrent 
     with and following injection into geological formations;
       ``(v) to develop and implement best practices for 
     operations relating to, and monitoring of, injection and 
     storage of carbon dioxide in geologic formations;
       ``(vi) to assess and ensure the safety of operations 
     related to geological storage of carbon dioxide; and
       ``(vii) to allow the Secretary to promulgate policies, 
     procedures, requirements, and guidance to ensure that the 
     objectives of this subparagraph are met in large-scale 
     testing and deployment activities for carbon capture and 
     storage that are funded by the Department of Energy.
       ``(3) Large-scale testing and deployment.--
       ``(A) In general.--The Secretary shall conduct not less 
     than 7 initial large-volume sequestration tests for 
     geological containment of carbon dioxide (at least 1 of which 
     shall be international in scope) to validate information on 
     the cost and feasibility of commercial deployment of 
     technologies for geological containment of carbon dioxide.
       ``(B) Diversity of formations to be studied.--In selecting 
     formations for study under this paragraph, the Secretary 
     shall consider a variety of geological formations across the 
     United States, and require characterization and modeling of 
     candidate formations, as determined by the Secretary.
       ``(4) Preference in project selection from meritorious 
     proposals.--In making competitive awards under this 
     subsection, subject to the requirements of section 989, the 
     Secretary shall give preference to proposals from 
     partnerships among industrial, academic, and government 
     entities.
       ``(5) Cost sharing.--Activities under this subsection shall 
     be considered research and development activities that are 
     subject to the cost-sharing requirements of section 988(b).
       ``(d) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are 
     authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section--
       ``(1) $90,000,000 for fiscal year 2007;
       ``(2) $105,000,000 for fiscal year 2008; and
       ``(3) $120,000,000 for fiscal year 2009.''.
                                 ______