Strategic analysis of the global status of carbon capture and storage. Report 3: country studies The United States of America

Topic(s): Carbon capture use and storage (CCUS)

There has been a rapid concentration of policymaking, funding and research around the development and deployment of CCS technology in the United States as a means of mitigating GHG emissions. While the US has yet to set a cap on economy-wide GHG emissions, or to imposesubstantial costs on sources of these emissions, the development of CCS technology is seen ascritical to the ultimate success of any future emissions control regime in the country. The new USGovernment has moved quickly in the areas of energy, environmental protection and landmanagement to initiate policies that will help facilitate development of CCS technologies. Largeamounts of funding under the country’s recent stimulus package have been allocated to CCSinitiatives. At the same time, recent developments in Congress suggest that legislation imposing costson the emission of CO₂ in the US may be in place as early as later this year.

Significant technological, financial and regulatory hurdles remain for large-scalecommercial deployment of CCS technology in the US. Questions related to the application of existing US law and policy are implicated at almost every stage of the CCS process, while in some areas new policy models are already being developed. In particular, with respect to capture, the non-CO2-related environmental impacts of the technology need to be considered under existing law in the US. Withrespect to transport of sequestered CO₂, a more coherent regulatory framework for multi-jurisdictional infrastructure development appears necessary for large-scale CCS deployment. Finally, with respectto underground storage of captured CO₂, policymakers in the US have proposed technical standardsand regulation for the injection of CO₂ and have begun to address questions of property rights tounderground storage space and long-term liability for sequestered CO₂. More clarity on each of theseissues will be necessary as several large-scale CCS projects get underway in the US within the nextfive years.

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