Carbon Capture and Storage Early Deployment Act Summary

The purpose of the legislation is to establish a non-governmental fund and entity to accelerate the deployment of carbon capture and storage technologies. Authorizes establishment of a Carbon Storage Research Corporation. The bill enables distribution utilities delivering fossil fuel-based electricity to conduct a referendum for the creation of the Corporation. If the referendum results in approval by representatives of 2/3 of the fossil fuel-based electricity delivered to retail consumers, the Corporation is established. The Corporation will be operated as a division or affiliate of the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) and will be managed by a Board of not more than 12 members. The Board will be appointed by EPRI and will include representatives of investor owned utilities, utilities owned by a federal or state agency or a municipality, rural electric cooperatives and fossil fuel producers. The Corporation will assess fees on distribution utilities for all fossil fuel-based electricity delivered to retail consumers. The assessment shall be applied to electricity generated from coal, natural gas and oil and will reflect the relative carbon dioxide emission rates of each fuel. The total assessment will be approximately $1 billion annually. The legislation specifies that distribution utilities will be allowed to recover the costs of the fee from retail consumers. The fee translates into a roughly $10-12 total annual increase in residential electricity rates. The Corporation shall distribute the funds through grants and contracts to private, academic and governmental entities with the purpose of accelerating the commercial availability of carbon dioxide capture and storage technologies. Supported projects should encompass a range of different fuel varieties, be geographically diverse, involve diverse storage media and employ technologies suitable for either new or retrofit applications.