USE IT Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1166 To support carbon dioxide utilization and direct air capture research, to facilitate the permitting and development of carbon capture, utilization, and sequestration projects and carbon dioxide pipelines, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FEBRUARY 13, 2019 Mr. PETERS (for himself, Mr. MCKINLEY, Mr. VEASEY, Mr. SCHWEIKERT, and Mrs. BUSTOS) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committees on Science, Space, and Technology, Natural Resources, and Transpor- tation and Infrastructure, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall with- in the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To support carbon dioxide utilization and direct air capture research, to facilitate the permitting and development of carbon capture, utilization, and sequestration projects and carbon dioxide pipelines, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:05 Feb 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1166.IH H1166 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 1166 IH SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Utilizing Significant 2 Emissions with Innovative Technologies Act’’ or the ‘‘USE 3 IT Act’’. 4 TITLE I—ENCOURAGING 5 PROJECTS TO REDUCE EMIS- 6 SIONS 7 SEC. 101. RESEARCH, INVESTIGATION, TRAINING, AND 8 OTHER ACTIVITIES. 9 Section 103 of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7403) 10 is amended— 11 (1) in subsection (c)(3), in the first sentence of 12 the matter preceding subparagraph (A), by striking 13 ‘‘percursors’’ and inserting ‘‘precursors’’; and 14 (2) in subsection (g)— 15 (A) by redesignating paragraphs (1) 16 through (4) as subparagraphs (A) through (D), 17 respectively, and indenting appropriately; 18 (B) in the undesignated matter following 19 subparagraph (D) (as so redesignated)— 20 (i) in the second sentence, by striking 21 ‘‘The Administrator’’ and inserting the fol- 22 lowing: 23 ‘‘(5) COORDINATION AND AVOIDANCE OF DU- 24 PLICATION.—The Administrator’’; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:05 Feb 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1166.IH H1166 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 1166 IH (ii) in the first sentence, by striking 1 ‘‘Nothing’’ and inserting the following: 2 ‘‘(4) EFFECT OF SUBSECTION.—Nothing’’; 3 (C) in the matter preceding subparagraph 4 (A) (as so redesignated)— 5 (i) in the third sentence, by striking 6 ‘‘Such program’’ and inserting the fol- 7 lowing: 8 ‘‘(3) PROGRAM INCLUSIONS.—The program 9 under this subsection’’; 10 (ii) in the second sentence— 11 (I) by inserting ‘‘States, institu- 12 tions of higher education,’’ after ‘‘sci- 13 entists,’’; and 14 (II) by striking ‘‘Such strategies 15 and technologies shall be developed’’ 16 and inserting the following: 17 ‘‘(2) PARTICIPATION REQUIREMENT.—Such 18 strategies and technologies described in paragraph 19 (1) shall be developed’’; and 20 (iii) in the first sentence, by striking 21 ‘‘In carrying out’’ and inserting the fol- 22 lowing: 23 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In carrying out’’; and 24 (D) by adding at the end the following: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:05 Feb 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1166.IH H1166 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 1166 IH ‘‘(6) CERTAIN CARBON DIOXIDE ACTIVITIES.— 1 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In carrying out para- 2 graph (3)(A) with respect to carbon dioxide, the 3 Administrator shall carry out the activities de- 4 scribed in each of subparagraphs (B), (C), (D), 5 and (E). 6 ‘‘(B) DIRECT AIR CAPTURE RESEARCH.— 7 ‘‘(i) DEFINITIONS.—In this subpara- 8 graph: 9 ‘‘(I) BOARD.—The term ‘Board’ 10 means the Direct Air Capture Tech- 11 nology Advisory Board established by 12 clause (iii)(I). 13 ‘‘(II) DILUTE.—The term ‘dilute’ 14 means a concentration of less than 1 15 percent by volume. 16 ‘‘(III) DIRECT AIR CAPTURE.— 17 ‘‘(aa) IN GENERAL.—The 18 term ‘direct air capture’, with re- 19 spect to a facility, technology, or 20 system, means that the facility, 21 technology, or system uses car- 22 bon capture equipment to cap- 23 ture carbon dioxide directly from 24 the air. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:05 Feb 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1166.IH H1166 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 1166 IH ‘‘(bb) EXCLUSION.—The 1 term ‘direct air capture’ does not 2 include any facility, technology, 3 or system that captures carbon 4 dioxide— 5 ‘‘(AA) that is delib- 6 erately released from a natu- 7 rally occurring subsurface 8 spring; or 9 ‘‘(BB) using natural 10 photosynthesis. 11 ‘‘(IV) INTELLECTUAL PROP- 12 ERTY.—The term ‘intellectual prop- 13 erty’ means— 14 ‘‘(aa) an invention that is 15 patentable under title 35, United 16 States Code; and 17 ‘‘(bb) any patent on an in- 18 vention described in item (aa). 19 ‘‘(ii) TECHNOLOGY PRIZES.— 20 ‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—Not later 21 than 1 year after the date of enact- 22 ment of the USE IT Act, the Admin- 23 istrator, in consultation with the Sec- 24 retary of Energy, shall establish a 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:05 Feb 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1166.IH H1166 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •HR 1166 IH program to provide, and shall provide, 1 financial awards on a competitive 2 basis for direct air capture from 3 media in which the concentration of 4 carbon dioxide is dilute. 5 ‘‘(II) DUTIES.—In carrying out 6 this clause, the Administrator shall— 7 ‘‘(aa) subject to subclause 8 (III), develop specific require- 9 ments for— 10 ‘‘(AA) the competition 11 process; and 12 ‘‘(BB) the demonstra- 13 tion of performance of ap- 14 proved projects; 15 ‘‘(bb) offer financial awards 16 for a project designed— 17 ‘‘(AA) to the maximum 18 extent practicable, to cap- 19 ture more than 10,000 tons 20 of carbon dioxide per year; 21 and 22 ‘‘(BB) to operate in a 23 manner that would be com- 24 mercially viable in the fore- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:05 Feb 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1166.IH H1166 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •HR 1166 IH seeable future (as deter- 1 mined by the Board); and 2 ‘‘(cc) to the maximum ex- 3 tent practicable, make financial 4 awards to geographically diverse 5 projects, including at least— 6 ‘‘(AA) 1 project in a 7 coastal State; and 8 ‘‘(BB) 1 project in a 9 rural State. 10 ‘‘(III) PUBLIC PARTICIPATION.— 11 In carrying out subclause (II)(aa), the 12 Administrator shall— 13 ‘‘(aa) provide notice of and, 14 for a period of not less than 60 15 days, an opportunity for public 16 comment on, any draft or pro- 17 posed version of the requirements 18 described in subclause (II)(aa); 19 and 20 ‘‘(bb) take into account pub- 21 lic comments received in devel- 22 oping the final version of those 23 requirements. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:05 Feb 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1166.IH H1166 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 •HR 1166 IH ‘‘(iii) DIRECT AIR CAPTURE TECH- 1 NOLOGY ADVISORY BOARD.— 2 ‘‘(I) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is 3 established an advisory board to be 4 known as the ‘Direct Air Capture 5 Technology Advisory Board’. 6 ‘‘(II) COMPOSITION.—The Board 7 shall be composed of 9 members ap- 8 pointed by the Administrator, who 9 shall provide expertise in— 10 ‘‘(aa) climate science; 11 ‘‘(bb) physics; 12 ‘‘(cc) chemistry; 13 ‘‘(dd) biology; 14 ‘‘(ee) engineering; 15 ‘‘(ff) economics; 16 ‘‘(gg) business management; 17 and 18 ‘‘(hh) such other disciplines 19 as the Administrator determines 20 to be necessary to achieve the 21 purposes of this subparagraph. 22 ‘‘(III) TERM; VACANCIES.— 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:05 Feb 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1166.IH H1166 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 9 •HR 1166 IH ‘‘(aa) TERM.—A member of 1 the Board shall serve for a term 2 of 6 years. 3 ‘‘(bb) VACANCIES.—A va- 4 cancy on the Board— 5 ‘‘(AA) shall not affect 6 the powers of the Board; 7 and 8 ‘‘(BB) shall be filled in 9 the same manner as the 10 original appointment was 11 made. 12 ‘‘(IV) INITIAL MEETING.—Not 13 later than 30 days after the date on 14 which all members of the Board have 15 been appointed, the Board shall hold 16 the initial meeting of the Board. 17 ‘‘(V) MEETINGS.—The Board 18 shall meet at the call of the Chair- 19 person or on the request of the Ad- 20 ministrator. 21 ‘‘(VI) QUORUM.—A majority of 22 the members of the Board shall con- 23 stitute a quorum, but a lesser number 24 of members may hold hearings. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:05 Feb 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1166.IH H1166 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 10 •HR 1166 IH ‘‘(VII) CHAIRPERSON AND VICE 1 CHAIRPERSON.—The Board shall se- 2 lect a Chairperson and Vice Chair- 3 person from among the members of 4 the Board. 5 ‘‘(VIII) COMPENSATION.—Each 6 member of the Board may be com- 7 pensated at not to exceed the daily 8 equivalent of the annual rate of basic 9 pay in effect for a position at level V 10 of the Executive Schedule under sec- 11 tion 5316 of title 5, United States 12 Code, for each day during which the 13 member is engaged in the actual per- 14 formance of the duties of the Board. 15 ‘‘(IX) DUTIES.—The Board shall 16 advise the Administrator on carrying 17 out the duties of the Administrator 18 under this subparagraph. 19 ‘‘(X) FACA.—The Federal Advi- 20 sory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App.) 21 shall apply to the Board. 22 ‘‘(iv) INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY.— 23 ‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—As a condi- 24 tion of receiving a financial award 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:05 Feb 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1166.IH H1166 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 11 •HR 1166 IH under this subparagraph, an applicant 1 shall agree to vest the intellectual 2 property of the applicant derived from 3 the technology in 1 or more entities 4 that are incorporated in the United 5 States. 6 ‘‘(II) RESERVATION OF LI- 7 CENSE.—The United States— 8 ‘‘(aa) may reserve a non- 9 exclusive, nontransferable, irrev- 10 ocable, paid-up license, to have 11 practiced for or on behalf of the 12 United States, in connection with 13 any intellectual property de- 14 scribed in subclause (I); but 15 ‘‘(bb) shall not, in the exer- 16 cise of a license reserved under 17 item (aa), publicly disclose pro- 18 prietary information relating to 19 the license. 20 ‘‘(III) TRANSFER OF TITLE.— 21 Title to any intellectual property de- 22 scribed in subclause (I) shall not be 23 transferred or passed, except to an 24 entity that is incorporated in the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:05 Feb 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1166.IH H1166 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 12 •HR 1166 IH United States, until the expiration of 1 the first patent obtained in connection 2 with the intellectual property. 3 ‘‘(v) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIA- 4 TIONS.—There is authorized to be appro- 5 priated to carry out this subparagraph 6 $35,000,000, to remain available until ex- 7 pended. 8 ‘‘(vi) TERMINATION OF AUTHORITY.— 9 The Board and all authority provided 10 under this subparagraph shall terminate 11 not later than 10 years after the date of 12 enactment of the USE IT Act. 13 ‘‘(C) CARBON DIOXIDE UTILIZATION RE- 14 SEARCH.— 15 ‘‘(i) DEFINITION OF CARBON DIOXIDE 16 UTILIZATION.—In this subparagraph, the 17 term ‘carbon dioxide utilization’ refers to 18 technologies or approaches that lead to the 19 use of carbon dioxide— 20 ‘‘(I) through the fixation of car- 21 bon dioxide through photosynthesis or 22 chemosynthesis, such as through the 23 growing of algae or bacteria; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:05 Feb 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1166.IH H1166 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 13 •HR 1166 IH ‘‘(II) through the chemical con- 1 version of carbon dioxide to a material 2 or chemical compound in which the 3 carbon dioxide is securely stored; or 4 ‘‘(III) through the use of carbon 5 dioxide for any other purpose for 6 which a commercial market exists, as 7 determined by the Administrator. 8 ‘‘(ii) PROGRAM.—The Administrator, 9 in consultation with the Secretary of En- 10 ergy, shall carry out a research and devel- 11 opment program for carbon dioxide utiliza- 12 tion to promote existing and new tech- 13 nologies that transform carbon dioxide 14 generated by industrial processes into a 15 product of commercial value, or as an 16 input to products of commercial value. 17 ‘‘(iii) TECHNICAL AND FINANCIAL AS- 18 SISTANCE.—Not later than 2 years after 19 the date of enactment of the USE IT Act, 20 in carrying out this subsection, the Admin- 21 istrator, in consultation with the Secretary 22 of Energy, shall support research and in- 23 frastructure activities relating to carbon 24 dioxide utilization by providing technical 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:05 Feb 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00013 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1166.IH H1166 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 14 •HR 1166 IH assistance and financial assistance in ac- 1 cordance with clause (iv). 2 ‘‘(iv) ELIGIBILITY.—To be eligible to 3 receive technical assistance and financial 4 assistance under clause (iii), a carbon diox- 5 ide utilization project shall— 6 ‘‘(I) have access to an emissions 7 stream generated by a stationary 8 source within the United States that 9 is capable of supplying not less than 10 250 metric tons per day of carbon di- 11 oxide for research; 12 ‘‘(II) have access to adequate 13 space for a laboratory and equipment 14 for testing small-scale carbon dioxide 15 utilization technologies, with onsite 16 access to larger test bays for scale-up; 17 and 18 ‘‘(III) have existing partnerships 19 with institutions of higher education, 20 private companies, States, or other 21 government entities. 22 ‘‘(v) COORDINATION.—In supporting 23 carbon dioxide utilization projects under 24 this paragraph, the Administrator shall 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:05 Feb 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00014 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1166.IH H1166 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 15 •HR 1166 IH consult with the Secretary of Energy, and, 1 as appropriate, with the head of any other 2 relevant Federal agency, States, the pri- 3 vate sector, and institutions of higher edu- 4 cation to develop methods and technologies 5 to account for the carbon dioxide emissions 6 avoided by the carbon dioxide utilization 7 projects. 8 ‘‘(vi) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIA- 9 TIONS.—There is authorized to be appro- 10 [Text truncated for display. 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