Ranking Member Bowman's Opening Statement at Hearing on Marine Carbon Dioxide Removal
(WASHINGTON, DC) – Today, the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology's Subcommittees on Energy and Environment are holding a joint hearing titled, Navigating the Blue Frontier: Evaluating the Potential of Marine Carbon Dioxide Removal Approaches.
Good morning and thank you, Chairman Williams and Chairman Miller, for convening this hearing today. And thank you to our panel of witnesses for appearing before the Committee to discuss the importance of conducting well-coordinated research into marine carbon dioxide removal. This research is critical not only to advancing technologies and methods that may significantly reduce greenhouse gases in our atmosphere, but also to informing us of any risks and potential unintended impacts of these approaches early on so that we can ensure that they have proper guardrails. And to better determine if any of these methods should ever be deployed at all.
First let’s talk about why this is important. If we look back to DOE’s 2023 Carbon Management Liftoff report, DOE’s modeling studies suggest that reaching our energy transition goals could require capturing and permanently storing 400 to 1,800 million tons of carbon dioxide annually by 2050. Marine carbon dioxide removal seeks to enhance the already large role that the ocean plays as a naturally large carbon sink, and several of these approaches have a substantial potential to help our planet meet these targets.
However, many of these emerging technologies and methods are far from ready to be deployed, and some may pose risks that are greater than we should be willing to accept. These technologies continue to require extensive research to understand their efficacy in storing carbon and any ecological impacts they may have. We all understand the vast importance of the ocean to our ecosystem and communities, so we want to make sure that Congress and the federal government have all the data they need to make informed decisions on these technologies before they are used on a widespread basis.
That is why this Committee is developing legislation to better coordinate our research and development efforts between the Department of Energy and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Coupling DOE’s incredible network of national labs and research infrastructure with NOAA’s world-class expertise in ocean science will ensure that our academic institutions, local communities, industry, and ultimately us policymakers have all the tools needed to fully understand the benefits and risks associated with this carbon removal pathway.
With that, I want to again thank our excellent panel of witnesses for being here today, and I look forward to hearing your testimony. I yield back.
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