42 U.S.C. § 13389 — Greenhouse gas intensity reducing strategies

(a) Definitions. This section defines seven terms. The Advisory Committee is the Climate Change Technology Advisory Committee created in part (f). Carbon sequestration means capturing carbon dioxide — through land, underground, biological, or other methods — so it doesn't reach the atmosphere. The Committee is the Committee on Climate Change Technology created in part (b). Developing country has the meaning given in another law, section 13387(m). Greenhouse gas means six specific gases: carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, and sulfur hexafluoride. Greenhouse gas intensity means the amount of greenhouse gas emitted compared to how much the economy produces — emissions divided by economic output. National Laboratory has the meaning given in another law, section 15801(3). (b) Committee on Climate Change Technology. Within 180 days after August 8, 2005, the President must set up a Committee on Climate Change Technology. The Committee's job is to pull together existing federal climate reports and coordinate federal climate-change-technology work under the strategy described in part (c). The Committee must have at least 7 members: the Secretary of Energy (who chairs it), the Secretary of Commerce, the Chair of the Council on Environmental Quality, the Secretary of Agriculture, the head of the EPA, the Secretary of Transportation, the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, and anyone else the President adds. Committee members must supply the staff the Committee needs to do its work. (c) National climate change technology policy. Within 18 months after August 8, 2005, the Committee must give the Secretary and the President a national strategy. That strategy promotes putting greenhouse-gas-intensity-reducing technologies developed by National Laboratories, other federal research facilities, colleges, and private industry to use in the market. When the Committee submits the strategy to the President, it must also make it public. The Committee must update the strategy every 5 years, or more often if it decides that's needed. (d) Climate Change Technology Program. Within 180 days after the Committee is set up, the Secretary — working with the Committee — must create a Climate Change Technology Program inside the Department of Energy. The Program helps the Committee coordinate federal research, development, demonstration, and deployment work aimed at cutting greenhouse gas intensity, and it carries out the programs this section authorizes. (e) Technology inventory. The Secretary must inventory and evaluate greenhouse-gas-intensity-reducing technologies — ones that exist or are being developed by National Laboratories, other federal facilities, colleges, and private industry — and make that inventory public. The goal is to figure out which technologies are ready for commercialization and deployment. Within 180 days after finishing the inventory, the Secretary must report the results and any recommendations to Congress. The Secretary must use the inventory's results to guide which technologies get commercialized and deployed. The Secretary must also periodically update the inventory — including whenever the Committee says it's needed — and make each update public. (f) Climate Change Technology Advisory Committee. The Secretary, working with the Committee, may (this is optional) set up a Climate Change Technology Advisory Committee under a separate law, section 7234. Its job is to find legal, regulatory, economic, and other obstacles to commercializing and deploying greenhouse-gas-intensity-reducing technologies in the United States. If created, the Secretary appoints its members, working with the Committee, from these groups: one representative from each National Laboratory; 3 members from energy-producing trade groups; 3 members from energy-intensive trade groups; 3 members representing end-use energy consumers; 3 federal employees who are experts in energy technology, intellectual property, and tax; and 3 members from colleges with energy-technology expertise, recommended by the National Academy of Engineering. Starting 1 year after August 8, 2005, and every year after that, the Advisory Committee must report to the Committee on Climate Change Technology describing its findings and its recommendations for removing or reducing barriers to using these technologies. (g) Greenhouse gas intensity reducing technology deployment. Using the strategy from part (c), the inventory from part (e), the inventory report from part (e), and any Advisory Committee reports from part (f), the Committee must develop recommendations for removing domestic barriers to commercializing and deploying these technologies. In making those recommendations, the Committee must weigh, together, four things: how cost-effective the technology is, fiscal and regulatory barriers, legal and other barriers, and intellectual property issues. The Committee may also identify a need for demonstration projects. Within 18 months after August 8, 2005, the Committee must report to the President and Congress. That report must identify barriers and commercial risks to deploying these technologies (based on the Advisory Committee's report) and include a plan for demonstration projects. When the Committee sends this report to Congress, it must also make it public, and it must update the report every 5 years or more often if needed. (h) Procedures for calculating, monitoring, and analyzing greenhouse gas intensity. The Secretary, working with the Committee and the National Institute of Standards and Technology, must develop standards and best practices for measuring, tracking, and analyzing greenhouse gas intensity. Before doing so, the Secretary must give the public notice and a chance to comment. (i) Demonstration projects. If Congress provides the money, the Secretary must support demonstration projects that meet five goals: they cut greenhouse gas intensity below what current U.S. technology achieves; they get the most return on federal money spent; they show clear public-private partnership roles; they could produce a large cut in greenhouse gas intensity if commercialized; and they help build a mix of different technologies so the government isn't betting on just one. Anyone getting money for a demonstration project must share costs as required by another law, section 16352. Congress may appropriate whatever money is needed to run this part. (j) Cooperative research and development agreements. While carrying out greenhouse-gas-intensity-reduction research and technology deployment work under this subtitle, the Secretary may enter cooperative research and development agreements — a type of partnership authorized under a separate law, section 3710a of title 15.