U.S. SENATE — Last Sunday, four bipartisan energy bills, as well as a tax extension for carbon capture, championed by Senator Steve Daines were signed into law. The bipartisan bills, the “EFFECT Act,” “American Mineral Security Act,” “Public Lands Renewable Energy Development Act,” and “USE It Act,” all help protect Montana energy jobs and support Montana’s energy industry.
“These bipartisan bills will help create and protect Montana energy jobs, promote renewable energy on public lands, and provide reliable, affordable energy to all Montanans,” Daines said. “I’m glad to have worked across the aisle to accomplish these major wins for Montana’s energy industry.”
Supporting Montana energy jobs has been a top priority for Senator Daines. He is committed to creating more jobs in this industry and ensuring all Montanans have access to these resources.
Background:
“EFFECT Act:” The bill updates Department of Energy (DOE) authorities that enable carbon capture storage and utilization investment on existing coal and gas facilities, such as the Colstrip Power Plant.
“American Mineral Security Act:” This bill promotes the research and development of critical minerals which serve as an essential function to the manufacturing of energy, defense, currency, agriculture, health care, and electronic products and whose absence of which would have an impact on the economic or national security of the US. It will also direct the Secretary of Energy and the Secretary of the Interior to jointly operate a program to design more efficient methods to extract, refine, and recycle critical materials. Additionally, it requires the Department of the Interior to designate and publish a list of critical minerals and work with states to conduct resource assessments to identify deposits of critical minerals.
“Public Lands Renewable Energy Development Act:” This bill creates and protects jobs in the energy sector. It will help increase renewable energy development on federal lands and expand associated economic benefits to local communities by developing a streamlined permitting process that will drive investment and development of renewable sources.
“Use It Act”: This bill supports carbon capture, utilization and sequestration research by creating a program for the research, development and commercialization of direct air carbon capture.
A two-year extension of 45Q tax credit for Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage: This will move the expiration of the tax credit from December 2023 to December 2025. This will provide much-needed certainty to producers and developers who are still awaiting needed regulations from the U.S. Department of the Treasury to take advantage of this credit.