[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 21 (Friday, February 8, 2008)]
[Senate]
[Pages S818-S819]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. BARRASSO:
  S. 2614. A bill to facilitate the development, demonstration, and 
implementation of technology for the use in removing carbon dioxide and 
other greenhouse gases from the atmosphere; to the Committee on 
Environment and Public Works.
  Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I rise today to speak on legislation I 
am introducing to address climate change.
  Today, I am introducing legislation to address a major technological 
challenge that faces all of us. It is the challenge of how to solve the 
problem of the warming of our planet. This bill is called the 
Greenhouse Gas Emission Atmospheric Removal Act, or the GEAR Act.
  Members of this body have discussed various proposals to regulate the 
output of greenhouse gases. Some advocate doing it through a cap and 
trade approach. Others have advocated a tax on carbon.
  Such proposals are aimed at limiting future carbon output into the 
atmosphere. Many proposals have been introduced and debated using this 
approach of dealing with our carbon output. Overlooked in the debate 
are the greenhouse gases that are currently in the atmosphere.
  The best science tells us that the greenhouse gases already in the 
atmosphere are the gases that are causing the warming of our planet. To 
what extent, we are not certain. So let us resolve to find a way to 
remove the excess greenhouse gases that are already in the atmosphere. 
Remove them, and permanently sequester them.
  To accomplish this goal, we are, as a Nation, going to need to make a 
significant investment to develop the technology. The approach my 
legislation takes to address this is through a series of financial 
prizes where we set the technological goals and also define the 
outcomes we demand.
  The first researchers to meet the criteria would receive not only 
Federal funds, but also international acclaim. The prizes would be 
determined by a Federal commission under the Department of Energy. The 
commission would be composed of climate scientists, physicists, 
chemists, engineers, business managers, and economists. The commission 
would be appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the 
Senate.
  The awards would go to those, both public and private, who would 
achieve milestones in developing and applying technology. Technology 
that could significantly help to slow or reverse the accumulation of 
greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. The greenhouse gases would have to 
be permanently sequestered. Sequestered in a manner that would be 
without significant harmful effects.
  This is how it would work. There would be four different levels of 
prizes. The first level award would go to the public or private entity 
that could first demonstrate a design for a successful technology that 
could remove and permanently sequester greenhouse gases. Second, there 
would be a prize for a lab scale demonstration project of the 
technology that accomplishes the same thing. Third, there would be an 
award for demonstrating the technology to remove and permanently 
sequester greenhouse gases that is operational at a larger, working 
model scale. Finally, there would be an award for whoever could 
demonstrate the technology to remove and permanently sequester 
greenhouse gases on a commercially viable scale.
  There you have it--four different levels of development. First for 
designing the technology, then for a lab scale demonstration of the 
technology, then for a larger working model, and then finally, the 
proven use of the technology on a commercially viable scale. Once the 
technology is developed, the United States would share intellectual 
property rights to the technology with whoever invented it. This bill, 
as drafted, does not include a specific dollar amount for each prize. 
Instead, it authorizes such sums as may be necessary.
  The commission will be directed to report to Congress 1 year after 
enactment of the law. The commission will recommend the levels of 
funding that would be necessary to achieve the goals of this act.
  I believe prizes can be a unique tool in creating technological 
development. It only seems natural that if we get all the best 
scientific minds thinking about the same problem, we significantly 
enhance our chances of solving it.
  Historically, prizes have been used to spur all types of 
technological development to solve big problems. In 1714, the British 
government offered the first prize of this type for a device capable of 
accurately measuring longitude. John Harrison, a clock maker, was 
awarded 20,000 pounds for designing an accurate and durable chronometer 
59 years later. This transformed our ability to sail the seas.
  In 1775, the French offered a 100,000-franc prize resulting in an 
artificial form of alkali being produced. In 1810, the first vacuum 
sealed food was produced by Nicolas Appert, after 15 years of 
experimentation, driven by a 12,000-franc prize offered by Napoleon. 
Today, vacuum sealing is still used throughout the world.
  In 1909 the first flight across the English Channel was spurred by a 
prize offered by a newspaper. Charles Lindbergh was competing for the 
Orteig prize offered by the wealthy hotel owner Raymond Orteig, when he 
flew in the Spirit of St. Louis nonstop from New York to Paris in 1927. 
The achievement spawned a $300 billion aviation industry.
  The British Spitfire, the fighter plane that won the Battle of 
Britain, was developed as a result of the Schneider trophy, a series of 
prizes for technological development.
  More recent examples include the creation of the X Prize Foundation, 
which gives multimillion dollar awards to the first team to achieve 
specific goals. The X Prize Foundation began a revolution in private 
space flight with the $10 million Ansari X Prize.
  On October 4, 2004, the Mojave Aerospace Ventures team, led by famed 
aircraft designer Bert Rutan and financed by Microsoft cofounder Paul 
Allen, captured the Ansari X prize for the historic space flight of 
Space Ship One to space and back, twice within 2 weeks. Space Ship One 
is now hanging in the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.
  The U.S. Government also offers prizes through NASA's Centennial 
Challenges program. According to NASA, the awards are made based on 
actual achievements, not just proposals. The Centennial Challenges seek

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novel solutions to NASA's mission challenges from non-traditional 
sources of innovation in our universities, in industry, and from the 
public.
  Most recently, Sir Richard Branson and former Vice President Al Gore 
announced the Virgin Earth Challenge, a $25 million global science and 
technology prize. The prize was established to encourage a viable 
technology, which will result in the removal of at least 1 billion tons 
of atmospheric carbon dioxide per year for 10 years.
  It is my hope and my goal that this legislation will foster the kind 
of solutions we need to address the concerns about climate change. What 
I am proposing is that we take a new look at climate change. With that 
new look, our solution will be based on removing excess greenhouse 
gases that are already in the atmosphere.
  We must think anew, and we must act anew. That sentence, ``we must 
think anew and we must act anew,'' is engraved on a scenic overlook 
along Interstate 80 between Cheyenne and Laramie, WY. It is engraved on 
the pedestal that holds a large-size bust of Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln 
was the one to have the vision for the Transcontinental Railroad. It is 
now time for us, as Americans, to think anew and act anew about the 
issue of climate change and controlling greenhouse gases.
  Americans have always looked within ourselves for solutions. We have 
always had confidence in American ingenuity and American creativity to 
deal with the challenges of the future. Yes, we want to protect our 
environment, and yes, we want a strong economy. The way to have both is 
by thinking anew and acting anew.
  It is time to use our untapped human potential and American spirit to 
develop the technological solutions we need. It is now time for the 
U.S. Senate and for Congress to find a solution to global climate 
change, not through limits but through imagination, innovation, and 
invention.
  I look forward to working with each and every one of you on achieving 
this goal.
                                 ______