Budget Guts U.S. Carbon Capture, Storage Research

Capturing carbon dioxide emissions from electric power plants and storing them permanently underground may be among the most important ways countries can prevent climate change from spiraling out of control.

But, as with many other federal climate-related programs, President Trump’s proposed 2018 budget nearly snuffs out funding for carbon capture and storage, or CCS, research and development, possibly dramatically slowing the advancements in that technology.

The budget calls for the U.S. Department of Energy’s CCS programs to receive a 75 percent funding cut.  The budget for the National Energy Technology Laboratory’s research program, which administers the CCS research along with the DOE’s Office of Fossil Energy, is slated to be zeroed out altogether.  The DOE’s fossil energy research and development budget is being cut by more than half.

In raw numbers, the Trump administration is proposing to cut the Office of Fossil Energy’s carbon capture program to $16 million in 2018 from $66 million in 2016.  The White House wants to cut the carbon storage program to $15 million from $67 million, and cut the NETL’s $53 million research budget down to zero.  All told, DOE’s fossil energy program would see its budget cut to $280 million from $618 million.

Read more at Budget Guts U.S. Carbon Capture, Storage Research