LAKEWOOD, CO (Sept. 24, 2009) - A broad-based coalition of Western business leaders this week urged Congress to enact legislation to establish up to 10 large-scale carbon storage demonstration projects in the West and across the nation and provide legal liability protections so that storage technologies can be more rapidly commercialized.

The Western Business Roundtable is asking Congress to approve legislation, sponsored by Democratic U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman (NM), that would establish up to 10 large-scale carbon storage demonstration projects. The bill, known as the "The Department of Energy Carbon Capture and Sequestration Program Amendments Act of 2009" (S. 1013), is supported by both Democrats and Republicans in the Congress, including Senators John Barrasso (R-WY), Kent Conrad (D-ND), Byron Dorgan (D-ND), Jon Tester (D-MT) and Mark Udall (D-CO).

"This is the type of bipartisan solution that should move forward now and not get caught up in the controversy over bills such as cap-and-trade," said Jim Sims, President and CEO of the Roundtable. "America needs to put development, deployment and commercialization of carbon storage technologies as a fast track. This would help accomplish that."

In a letter this week to Congress the Roundtable stated: "A necessary predicate to any workable climate regime must be a clear understanding of the effectiveness of CO2 sequestration and storage options, hurdles to the efficient commercialization of those options and liability issues during the research and development and commercialization phases. We believe S. 1013 would do much to advance understanding on all three fronts."

"We are especially pleased to see S. 1013 begin to acknowledge the difficult issue of liability indemnification, which is fundamentally important, given that uncertainty regarding lingering liability is one of the chief hurdles to private sector involvement in large-scale CCS demonstration projects."

"Current research is moving America ever closer to technologies that can tap our domestic fossil resources with less and less environmental impact. The goal of near-zero or zero-emission technologies, capable of capturing CO2, is now foreseeable. Key to these technologies is the assumption that effective sequestration/storage options will be available to dispose of the CO2 once captured. S. 1013 seeks to provide answers to assure such disposal is not just technically possible, but also commercially viable."

To see the Western Business Roundtable letter on S. 1013 to the Senate, click here.

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