DOE’s latest coal funding push misallocates taxpayer money

The Clean Air Task Force (CATF) criticizes a $100 million DOE funding opportunity, "Improving Efficiency, Reliability, and Flexibility of Coal-Based Power Plants," for diverting funds from carbon capture innovation to refurbish aging coal plants. CATF asserts this violates the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), which mandates the development of transformational carbon capture technologies. Instead, CATF proposes that the DOE leverage the Office of Hydrocarbon and Geothermal Energy (HGEO) and the Office of Energy Dominance Financing (EDF) to prioritize enhanced oil recovery (EOR) and the build-out of CO2 pipelines. The document highlights that the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) of 2025 has increased the 45Q tax credit for EOR to $85 per ton, creating a timely opportunity for deployment, particularly in Wyoming and North Dakota. CATF recommends using Other Transaction Authority (OTA) and FAST-41 permitting to accelerate infrastructure development and hosting industry convenings in Q1 2026 to better align funding notices with industry needs.

• The Department of Energy's (DOE) "Improving Efficiency, Reliability, and Flexibility of Coal-Based Power Plants" notice of funding opportunity (NOFO) misallocates $100 million by focusing on refurbishing aging coal plants rather than the transformational carbon capture technologies required by the Energy Act of 2020 and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA).
• The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) of 2025 has increased the 45Q tax credit for carbon dioxide used in enhanced oil recovery (EOR) to $85 per ton, matching the credit for permanent storage and creating a financial incentive to scale carbon capture and utilization.
• There is significant unmet demand for captured CO2 for EOR in Wyoming and North Dakota, where oil field productivity is declining and oil and gas production is a primary source of state revenue.
• The DOE's Office of Energy Dominance Financing (EDF) has $2.1 billion in available appropriations from the Carbon Dioxide Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation (CIFIA) program that could be used to build shared CO2 pipelines.

APA

Bowers, S., & Wymer, J. (2026). DOE’s latest coal funding push misallocates taxpayer money. Clean Air Task Force. https://www.catf.us/2026/01/does-latest-coal-funding-push-misallocates-taxpayer-money/

Chicago

Bowers, Sam, and Jess Wymer. DOE’s latest coal funding push misallocates taxpayer money. Clean Air Task Force, 2026. https://www.catf.us/2026/01/does-latest-coal-funding-push-misallocates-taxpayer-money/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Bowers |first1=Sam |last2=Wymer |first2=Jess |title=DOE’s latest coal funding push misallocates taxpayer money |publisher=Clean Air Task Force |date=5 January 2026 |url=https://www.catf.us/2026/01/does-latest-coal-funding-push-misallocates-taxpayer-money/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{bowers2026does, author = {Bowers, Sam and Wymer, Jess}, title = {{DOE’s latest coal funding push misallocates taxpayer money}}, publisher = {Clean Air Task Force}, year = {2026}, month = jan, url = {https://www.catf.us/2026/01/does-latest-coal-funding-push-misallocates-taxpayer-money/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }