Virginia congressman pushes for methane capture and tax credits for clean hydrogen

Beyer and Republican Rep. Doug Lamborn of Colorado introduced a bill on Wednesday to address these issues.

“There are innovative technologies to contain or capture methane leaks, but the biggest challenge is finding and tracking those leaks,” Beyer said. “Our legislation would make it easier to identify methane leaks and ensure timely and effective containment measures.”

According to the Climate and Clean Air Coalition, methane is “the second-largest contributor to global warming after carbon dioxide” – but the latter is much larger. While carbon dioxide accounts for about 76% of human-caused global greenhouse gas emissions, methane accounts for just 16%, according to the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions. Agriculture and fossil fuels are the largest anthropogenic (human-influenced) sources of methane.

The Methane Monitoring Science Act authorizes NASA $1.8 million to develop a federal strategy for large-scale methane monitoring. NASA is to work with other government agencies to ensure a coherent, maximally efficient, government-wide strategy and may use satellites, ground-based, and airborne equipment to detect and track methane emissions.

Beyer was also part of a congressional coalition this week for another environmental cause. He and several others led a letter from 66 members of Congress calling on the Biden administration to set rules for a clean hydrogen tax credit that they believe will reduce emissions.

“The 45V tax credit is an essential part of the [Inflation Reduction Act]which will help decarbonize hard-to-abate industries. Treasury’s proposed rules for 45V remain critical to ensuring that 45V does not increase net carbon pollution, and we urge Treasury to develop rules consistent with its proposal,” the lawmakers wrote.

Congress recommended a “three-pillar framework” for regulations to prevent “greenwashing” of more traditional forms of energy production.

“The hydrogen tax credit [can be] part of a solution to this problem by stimulating demand for new sources of clean electricity generation while meeting its primary goal of reducing carbon dioxide emissions,” they wrote.