42 U.S.C. § 15962 — Project criteria

(a) In general: To qualify for assistance under this part, a project must improve efficiency, environmental performance, and cost competitiveness well beyond what is already in commercial use or has been proven ready for commercial service as of August 8, 2005. (b) Technical criteria for clean coal power initiative: (1) Gasification projects: (A) The Secretary must use at least 70% of the funds from section 15961(a) only on coal-based gasification projects, including gasification combined cycle, gasification fuel cells and turbine combined cycle, gasification coproduction, hybrid gasification and combustion, and other advanced coal technologies that can produce a concentrated stream of carbon dioxide. (B) Technical milestones: (i) The Secretary must periodically set milestones for the emission and thermal efficiency levels gasification projects must be designed to reach, and these milestones must get stricter over time. (ii) By 2020, the milestones must aim for gasification projects that can: (I) remove at least 99% of sulfur dioxide, or emit no more than 0.04 pounds of SO2 per million Btu averaged over 30 days; (II) emit no more than 0.05 pounds of NOx per million Btu; (III) cut mercury emissions by at least 95%; and (IV) reach a thermal efficiency of at least 50% for coal above 9,000 Btu, 48% for coal between 7,000 and 9,000 Btu, and 46% for coal below 7,000 Btu. (2) Other projects: (A) The Secretary must use up to 30% of the section 15961(a) funds for projects other than gasification. (B) Technical milestones: (i) The Secretary must periodically set milestones for emission and thermal efficiency levels for these other projects too, and these must also get stricter over time. (ii) By 2020, the milestones must aim for projects that can: (I) remove at least 97% of sulfur dioxide; (II) emit no more than 0.08 pounds of NOx per million Btu; (III) cut mercury emissions by at least 90%; and (IV) reach a thermal efficiency of at least 43% for coal above 9,000 Btu, 41% for coal between 7,000 and 9,000 Btu, and 39% for coal below 7,000 Btu. (3) Consultation: Before setting these milestones, the Secretary must consult the EPA Administrator and interested groups, including coal producers, industries that use coal, organizations promoting coal technology, environmental groups, worker groups, and consumer groups. (4) Existing units: For projects at plants already running on August 8, 2005, instead of meeting the thermal efficiency numbers above, the milestones must aim for an overall efficiency improvement, compared to how the plant currently runs, of at least 7% for coal above 9,000 Btu, 6% for coal between 7,000 and 9,000 Btu, or 4% for coal below 7,000 Btu. (5) Administration: (A) When judging proposals against the efficiency milestones, the Secretary must adjust for the elevation of the project's site. (B) When applying the thermal efficiency milestones to projects that capture at least 50% of a facility's potential carbon dioxide emissions, the energy used to separate and capture that carbon dioxide does not count against the efficiency score. (C) The Secretary may favor projects that capture carbon dioxide or that reduce natural gas demand. (c) Financial criteria: The Secretary may not fund a project unless the recipient proves, to the Secretary's satisfaction, that (1) it is financially sound; (2) it will give the Secretary enough information to track whether the money is spent well; and (3) a market exists for the technology, shown by written statements of interest from potential buyers. (d) Financial assistance: The Secretary must fund projects that (1) meet the requirements of subsections (a), (b), and (c), and (2) are likely to (A) cut the overall cost of using coal to make energy or chemical feedstocks; (B) make coal more competitive against other energy sources, keeping a mix of fuel choices for U.S. electricity needs; and (C) show methods and equipment that could work at 25% of the coal-burning power plants operating as of August 8, 2005. (e) Cost-sharing: The Secretary must require cost-sharing on these projects, following section 16352 of this title. (f) Scheduled completion of selected projects: (1) When picking a project, the Secretary must set a reasonable deadline for finishing construction or the demonstration phase. (2) As a condition of funding, the recipient must agree not to ask for an extension of that deadline. (3)(A) Still, the Secretary may extend the deadline, at the Secretary's sole discretion, if the recipient cannot finish because of circumstances beyond its control. (B) Any such extension cannot be longer than 4 years. (g) Fee title: The Secretary may give fee title or other property rights bought under these cost-shared agreements to any entity, including the federal government itself. (h) Data protection: For up to 5 years after a project's operations phase ends, the Secretary may protect information from being released — including exempting it from the Freedom of Information Act's disclosure rules — if the information (1) comes from clean coal power initiative demonstration work, and (2) would count as a trade secret or confidential business or financial information if it had come from and first been produced by the private participant. (i) Applicability: Just because a technology is used, or an emission reduction is achieved, by one or more facilities that get assistance under this Act, that fact alone does not make the technology or reduction count as (1) "adequately demonstrated" under section 7411 of this title, (2) "achievable" under section 7479 of this title, or (3) "achievable in practice" under section 7501 of this title.