SEA FUEL Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3227 To require the Secretary of Defense to carry out the Direct Air Capture and Blue Carbon Removal Technology Program, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 12, 2019 Mr. BEYER (for himself, Mr. SCHWEIKERT, and Mr. BROWN of Maryland) in- troduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services A BILL To require the Secretary of Defense to carry out the Direct Air Capture and Blue Carbon Removal Technology Pro- gram, 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 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Securing Energy for 4 our Armed Forces Using Engineering Leadership Act of 5 2019’’ or the ‘‘SEA FUEL Act of 2019’’. 6 SEC. 2. DIRECT AIR CAPTURE AND BLUE CARBON RE- 7 MOVAL TECHNOLOGY PROGRAM. 8 (a) PROGRAM REQUIRED.— 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:09 Jun 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3227.IH H3227 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 3227 IH (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Defense, in 1 coordination with the Secretary of Homeland Secu- 2 rity, the Secretary of Energy, and the heads of such 3 other Federal agencies as the Secretary of Defense 4 considers appropriate, shall carry out a program on 5 research, development, testing, evaluation, study, 6 and demonstration of technologies related to blue 7 carbon capture and direct air capture. 8 (2) PROGRAM GOALS.—The goals of the pro- 9 gram established under paragraph (1) are as follows: 10 (A) To develop technologies that capture 11 carbon dioxide from seawater and the air to 12 turn such carbon dioxide into clean fuels to en- 13 hance fuel and energy security. 14 (B) To develop and demonstrate tech- 15 nologies that capture carbon dioxide from sea- 16 water and the air to reuse such carbon dioxide 17 to create products for military uses. 18 (C) To develop direct air capture tech- 19 nologies for use— 20 (i) at military installations or facilities 21 of the Department of Defense; or 22 (ii) in modes of transportation by the 23 Navy or the Coast Guard. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:09 Jun 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3227.IH H3227 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 3227 IH (3) PHASES.—The program established under 1 paragraph (1) shall be carried out in two phases as 2 follows: 3 (A) The first phase shall consist of re- 4 search and development and shall be carried out 5 as described in subsection (b). 6 (B) The second phase shall consist of test- 7 ing and evaluation and shall be carried out as 8 described in subsection (c), if the Secretary de- 9 termines that the results of the research and 10 development phase justify implementing the 11 testing and evaluation phase. 12 (4) DESIGNATION.—The program established 13 under paragraph (1) shall be known as the ‘‘Direct 14 Air Capture and Blue Carbon Removal Technology 15 Program’’ (in this section referred to as the ‘‘Pro- 16 gram’’). 17 (b) RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT PHASE.— 18 (1) IN GENERAL.—During the research and de- 19 velopment phase of the Program, the Secretary of 20 Defense shall conduct research and development in 21 pursuit of the goals set forth in subsection (a)(2). 22 (2) DIRECT AIR CAPTURE.—The research and 23 development phase of the Program may include, with 24 respect to direct air capture, a front end engineering 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:09 Jun 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3227.IH H3227 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 3227 IH and design study that includes an evaluation of di- 1 rect air capture designs to produce fuel for use— 2 (A) at military installations or facilities of 3 the Department of Defense; or 4 (B) in modes of transportation by the 5 Navy or the Coast Guard. 6 (3) DURATION.—The Secretary shall carry out 7 the research and development phase of the Program 8 during a four-year period commencing not later than 9 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act. 10 (4) GRANTS AUTHORIZED.—The Secretary may 11 carry out the research and development phase of the 12 Program through the award of grants to private en- 13 tities and eligible laboratories. 14 (5) REPORT REQUIRED.—Not later than 180 15 days after the date of the completion of the research 16 and development phase of the Program, the Sec- 17 retary shall submit to Congress a report on the re- 18 search and development carried out under the Pro- 19 gram. 20 (6) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 21 There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out 22 the research and development phase of the Pro- 23 gram— 24 (A) $8,000,000 for fiscal year 2020; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:09 Jun 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3227.IH H3227 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 3227 IH (B) $10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 1 2021 through 2023. 2 (c) TESTING AND EVALUATION PHASE.— 3 (1) IN GENERAL.—During the testing and eval- 4 uation phase of the Program, the Secretary shall, in 5 pursuit of the goals set forth in subsection (a)(2), 6 conduct tests and evaluations of the technologies re- 7 searched and developed during the research and de- 8 velopment phase of the Program. 9 (2) DIRECT AIR CAPTURE.—The testing and 10 evaluation phase of the Program may include dem- 11 onstration projects for direct air capture to produce 12 fuel for use— 13 (A) at military installations or facilities of 14 the Department of Defense; or 15 (B) in modes of transportation by the 16 Navy or the Coast Guard. 17 (3) DURATION.—Subject to subsection 18 (a)(3)(B), the Secretary shall carry out the testing 19 and evaluation phase of the Program during the 20 three-year period commencing on the date of the 21 completion of the research and development phase 22 described in subsection (b), except that the testing 23 and evaluation phase of the Program with respect to 24 direct air capture may commence at such time after 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:09 Jun 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3227.IH H3227 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •HR 3227 IH a front end engineering and design study dem- 1 onstrates to the Secretary that commencement of 2 such phase is appropriate. 3 (4) GRANTS AUTHORIZED.—The Secretary may 4 carry out the testing and evaluation phase of the 5 Program through the award of grants to private en- 6 tities and eligible laboratories. 7 (5) LOCATIONS.—The Secretary shall carry out 8 the testing and evaluation phase of the Program at 9 military installations or facilities of the Department 10 of Defense. 11 (6) REPORT REQUIRED.—Not later than Sep- 12 tember 30, 2026, the Secretary shall submit to Con- 13 gress a report on the findings of the Secretary with 14 respect to the effectiveness of the technologies tested 15 and evaluated under the Program. 16 (7) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 17 There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out 18 the testing and evaluation phase of the Program 19 $15,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2024 through 20 2026. 21 (d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 22 (1) BLUE CARBON CAPTURE.—The term ‘‘blue 23 carbon capture’’ means the removal of dissolved car- 24 bon dioxide from seawater through engineered or in- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:09 Jun 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3227.IH H3227 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •HR 3227 IH organic processes, including filters, membranes, or 1 phase change systems. 2 (2) DIRECT AIR CAPTURE.— 3 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘direct air 4 capture’’, with respect to a facility, technology, 5 or system, means that the facility, technology, 6 or system uses carbon capture equipment to 7 capture carbon dioxide directly from the air. 8 (B) EXCLUSION.—The term ‘‘direct air 9 capture’’ does not include any facility, tech- 10 nology, or system that captures carbon diox- 11 ide— 12 (i) that is deliberately released from a 13 naturally occurring subsurface spring; or 14 (ii) using natural photosynthesis. 15 (3) ELIGIBLE LABORATORY.—The term ‘‘eligi- 16 ble laboratory’’ means— 17 (A) a National Laboratory (as defined in 18 section 2 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 19 U.S.C. 15801)); or 20 (B) a laboratory of the Department of De- 21 fense. 22 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:09 Jun 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3227.IH H3227 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS