本文转自《The Hill》发布的题为“Big Oil’s carbon capture tax credit betrayal”的报道。

作者：BY JOHN NOE 

发表日期：2018.07030

原文链接：http://thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/399455-big-oils-carbon-capture-tax-credit-betrayal

Instead of finding ways to responsibly reduce production, the fossil fuel industry has decided carbon capture is the preferred way to tackle their climate pollution.

化石燃料行业决定采取碳捕集方法来解决气候污染问题，而不是找寻负责任地减少生产的方法。

Tax credits recently finalized in Congress under Section 45Q will purportedly lead to an uptick in carbon capture projects that will help us bury more CO2 underground. But according to the International Energy Agency, upwards of 90 percent of these projects will simply sell the captured carbon back to oil companies to be injected underground to coax more oil to the surface.

国会最近根据第45Q条最后确定的税收抵免政策，称这将导致碳捕获项目的增加，将有助于我们将更多的二氧化碳埋存在地下。 但据国际能源署（International Energy Agency）称，这些项目中有90％以上只是将捕获的碳排放回石油公司，然后注入地下以吸收更多的石油。

Over time this process, buoyed by a consistent supply of subsidized CO2, could unlock 81 billion barrels of oil. No wonder the fossil fuel industry is so enthusiastic and its allies in Congress are finally willing to acknowledge carbon emissions are a thing we have to deal with.

 随着时间的推移，在持续供应二氧化碳补贴的推动下，这一过程可以释放出810亿桶石油。 难怪化石燃料行业如此热情，其在国会的盟友终于愿意承认碳排放是我们必须应对的事情。

If we are going to go full tilt into Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS) deployment, as bipartisan support on Capitol Hill would indicate, we need to make sure it is done right. Unfortunately, but not unsurprisingly, certain oil companies are engaging in bad faith when it comes to the details. While many in the growing Carbon Capture Coalition are focused on important carbon utilization technologies and research, there is a parallel effort by Big Oil to undermine basic environmental protections and data collection. These requirements are necessary to assess our ability to safely store captured carbon permanently underground without it escaping back into the atmosphere over time. Yet, despite backdoor efforts to circumvent and discredit important environmental safeguards by many in the industry, some companies are already complying.

如果我们要全力投入碳捕获和封存（CCS）的部署，正如国会两党支持所表明的那样，我们需要确保它正确完成。 不幸的是，但并不令人意外的是，某些石油公司在细节问题上表现得很恶劣。 虽然不断增长的碳捕集联盟中的许多人都专注于重要的碳利用技术和研究，但大石油公司同时努力破坏基本的环境保护和数据收集。 这些要求对于评估我们将捕获的碳永久安全地储存在地下而不会随着时间的推移逃逸回大气层的能力是必要的。 然而，尽管业内许多人通过后门努力来规避和诋毁重要的环境保护措施，但一些公司已经在遵守这一规定。

Members of Congress who want to build enduring support for carbon capture and utilization technology should push back against these attempts to undermine carbon storage both through legislation and through the tax credit implementation process at the Treasury Department.

希望为碳捕获和利用技术建立持久支持的国会议员应该通过立法和财政部的税收抵免实施程序，反对这些破坏碳储存的企图。

Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.) and Rep. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) are driving the persistent efforts to deregulate the tax code at the request of allies in the oil industry via the Energy Advance Center. This undercuts the hard work to date on carbon utilization and breeds suspicion that, given the oil industry’s history of dishonest engagement around carbon emissions, is entirely reasonable.

参议员John Hoeven（R-N.D）和众议员Kevin Cramer（R-N.D）正不断努力，应石油行业盟友的要求，通过能源推进中心(Energy Advance Center)解除对税法的管制。这削弱了迄今为止在碳利用方面的艰苦工作，并且让人怀疑，鉴于石油行业关于碳排放的不诚实参与的历史，这是完全合理的。

Complicating matters further is the new revelation that the carbon capture tax credit is compromised. Since 2009, companies accrued well over $500 million in tax credits while EPA has no record that any of the captured carbon is actually contained in “secure geologic storage,” a condition necessary to qualify for the tax credit in the first place. Companies claimed the credits but avoided the monitoring and reporting requirements needed to show actual sequestration.

使问题进一步复杂化的是新的启示，即碳捕获税收抵免受到损害。 自2009年以来，公司积累了超过5亿美元的税收抵免，而EPA没有记录任何被捕获的碳实际上包含在“安全地质储存”中，这是首先获得税收抵免的必要条件。 公司声称信用额度，但避免了显示实际隔离所需的监控和报告要求。

We still do not know which companies claimed the tax credits, but the small number of eligible carbon capture projects indicate it could only be a handful of operators. Exxon Mobil, for example, owns the largest carbon capture facility in the world and would have been eligible to receive tax credit if they followed the rules.

我们仍然不知道哪些公司申请了税收抵免，但少数符合条件的碳捕获项目表明它只能是少数几家运营商。 例如，埃克森美孚拥有世界上最大的碳捕获设施，如果遵守这些规则，就有资格获得税收抵免。

Exxon’s contracts with the buyers of its captured carbon would, in theory, reveal the full story. IRS indicated this is not public information, but given the vast discrepancy in the credits claimed versus amount reported to EPA, it is certainly in the public’s interest to find out what really happened with our tax dollars.

从理论上讲，埃克森美孚与其捕获碳的购买者的合同将揭示完整的故事。 美国国税局表示这不是公开信息，但鉴于所声称的信用额与向环保署报告的金额存在巨大差异，因此找出我们的税收资金真正发生的情况肯定符合公众的利益。

Congress should conduct an investigation into the integrity of the Section 45Q tax credit, including which companies claimed what, when and why the regulations were ignored. This is basic corporate accountability and oversight necessary to ensure the credit doesn’t continue to favor enhanced oil recovery companies and that the public maintains trust in the process of storing captured carbon safely underground at scale.

国会应该对第45Q节税收抵免的完整性进行调查，包括哪些公司声称忽视规则的内容，时间和原因。 这是企业的基本责任和必要的监督，以确保信贷不会继续有利于提高石油回收公司，并且公众对在大规模地安全地储存捕获的碳的过程中保持信任。

John Noel is the National Oil & Gas Program director for advocacy organization Clean Water Action.

John Noel是倡导组织Clean Water Action的国家石油和天然气计划主管。