Climate Change
Broad scientific consensus indicates that climate change is underway. Climate change caused by human activity should be addressed both by the U.S. and by other nations. Climate change has developed over a significant period of time and a comprehensive, methodical, long-term solution is the best approach to solving the problem.
Carbon Capture and Sequestration
Coal is America’s most abundant domestic fuel. It accounts for more than half of all electricity generated in this country. Our large coal reserves, coal’s comparatively low cost and the lack—in the near term—of reliable alternatives ensures its use for the foreseeable future. It is also necessary to begin to address the threat posed by global climate change, caused primarily by burning fossil fuels.
Matheson supports a bipartisan bill—the Carbon Capture and Storage Early Deployment Act—to advance the development and deployment of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies. CCS is a method of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by capturing and injecting underground the carbon dioxide emitted from electricity generation plants that use fossil fuels. The legislation would establish a $1 billion annual fund, derived from fees on the generation of electricity from coal, oil and natural gas. Grants from the fund would be awarded to large-scale projects advancing the commercial availability of CCS technology. In Utah, a pilot demonstration project is already underway—with a $67 million grant from the Department of Energy-- to study the feasibility of carbon storage. Up to 1 million tons of CO2 annually will be injected into the Farnham Dome, a geologic formation southeast of Price, Utah.