Cramer Questions Secretary Perry During Committee Hearing

Statement

Congressman Kevin Cramer questioned U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Rick Perry at today's House Energy and Commerce hearing.

Cramer pressed Secretary Perry to support demonstration phase work within the Fossil Energy Research and Development program for carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS). In order to get these technologies to commercialization, Cramer suggested going further than basic research as suggested in President Trump's fiscal year (FY)19 budget proposal.

In the budget proposal, the research and development funding for carbon capture was reduced by roughly 75 percent in comparison to FY18. Cramer highlighted efforts in North Dakota by the University of North Dakota Energy and Environmental Research Center and Minnkota Power testing new technologies stating. "They will bridge coal's past and coal's future as a clean resource," he said.

Cramer has introduced the CO2 Regulatory Certainty Act and Clean Coals Jobs Act, and highlighted policy proposals to make existing tax tools usable for North Dakota energy producers as they develop commercially available carbon capture technologies for coal.

To view the video of the exchange click here.

Source