On March 17, 2021, U.S. Senators Chris Coons (D-Del.) and Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-La.) and U.S. Representatives Marc Veasey (D-Texas) and David McKinley (R-W.Va.) introduced the Storing CO2 And Lowering Emissions (SCALE) Act. The bill is intended to help develop infrastructure buildout to transport CO2 from the capture site to be used as feedstock for the manufacture of other products, to oilfields where it is injected to enhance oil recovery, or to underground storage locations.  CO2 capture projects are expensive and the EPA permitting process for storage facilities is lengthy.  Thus, project financing and permitting are key drivers to determine the speed and scope at which global climate goals with respect to greenhouse gas reduction are achieved.  The 45Q tax credit for carbon capture and sequestration incentivizes carbon capture but is not by itself economically sufficient to provide the necessary equipment and transportation infrastructure.

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The energy industry continues to evolve as sectors converge and as demand, supply and consumer preferences change. The global economy is shifting to lower-carbon sources of energy, coinciding with (or resulting from) a renewed focus on environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues. “Energy transition” is commonly used to describe the recent full-court press towards cleaner

Since US President Biden’s inauguration, the Biden administration has taken several actions to restrict the issuance of oil and gas permits for production on federal public lands and federal offshore waters, but the extent of the shift in policy undertaken remains uncertain as the US Department of Interior has continued to issue permits for drilling