March 08, 2018

Manchin Storage Hub Bill Approved By Energy And Natural Resources Committee

Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Joe Manchin’s (D-WV) bill, the Capitalizing American Storage Potential Act (S. 1337), was approved by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. This bill would make sure that a regional storage hub qualifies for the Department of Energy’s (DOE) successful Title XVII innovative technologies loan guarantee program. A regional storage hub can help ensure we are optimizing the use of our domestic energy resources while attracting manufacturing investment and creating jobs.  

“The Appalachian Storage Hub will allow West Virginia and its neighbors to realize the unique opportunities associated with Appalachia’s abundant natural gas liquids like ethane, naturally-occurring geologic storage, and expanding energy infrastructure. In fact, a storage hub will attract manufacturing investment, create jobs and significantly reduce the rejection rate of natural gas liquids like ethane, butane, and propane, by capturing and utilizing these products - thereby reducing emissions,” Senator Manchin told the Committee.

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee also approved Senator Manchin’s bill, the Rare Earth Element Advanced Coal Technologies Act (S. 1563), which would authorize funds for DOE’s Office of Fossil Energy to ensure that our national labs are able to continue to work towards the commercialization of technology that extracts critical minerals (also known as rare earth elements) from coal and coal byproducts. The Energy Technology Maturation Act (S. 1799), a bipartisan bill supported by Senator Manchin, which enhances efforts to bring innovative technologies being worked at in our national laboratories, such as the National Energy Technology Lab in Morgantown, WV, into commercialization was also approved by the committee. 

To watch a video of Senator Manchin urging the committee to approve the legislation, please click here.

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