RTE signs Letter to the Senate Committee for Appropriations

Photo by Katie Harbath

In a letter dated June 30, 2025, Remineralize the Earth (RTE) joined 37 other coalition partners to urge the Senate Energy and Water Development Subcommittee to maintain robust investment in carbon dioxide removal (CDR) technologies for Fiscal Year 2026. Continued federal support is essential to maintain United States CDR technologies’ global competitiveness, mitigate climate change, and sustain job creation in this burgeoning industry.

Recent developments at the EPA saw Administrator Lee Zeldin’s abrupt freeze and attempted termination of nearly $20 billion in Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund grants, demonstrating the vulnerability of funding for climate change mitigation initiatives. This episode underscores that unwavering federal support for CDR technologies in the form of Congressional appropriations is a bulwark against political whiplash that could impede the nation’s climate progress.

“It is critical that Congress seizes this opportunity to continue investing in CDR — ultimately unlocking economic growth, creating jobs across the country, and ensuring the U.S. remains at the forefront of global innovation,” stated the letter, which was addressed to Appropriations Committee Chair Senator Susan Collins (R-ME), Ranking Member Senator Susan Murray (D-WA), and Energy and Water Development Subcommittee Chair Senator John Kennedy (R-LA).

The coalition’s letter urges Congress to support a diversified suite of CDR pathways, including enhanced rock weathering (ERW) and biomass carbon removal. The letter also calls for robust investment in efforts to improve measurement, monitoring, reporting, and verification (MMRV) tools to bolster industry transparency and accountability.  

The letter points out that the US Department of the Treasury and Internal Revenue Service already have a well-established system for funding similar projects. For example, the Section 45Q tax credit is a U.S. federal tax credit designed to incentivize the capture and storage, or utilization of carbon from direct air capture facilities and industrial sources. It provides financial rewards for projects that capture and permanently store carbon in geological formations or use it in industrial processes. The letter argues that other federal agencies should build on the experience of the Treasury and the IRS in awarding 45Q credits to develop robust tools for newer removal methods, such as ERW or marine carbon removal.

As the Senate prepares to debate this issue, the coalition’s plea arrives at a critical juncture. With Congress poised to decide how aggressively to back CDR, RTE and its partners stress that continued federal support is vital not just for climate mitigation but for sustaining a dynamic U.S. industry ready to advance clean energy solutions on a global scale. 

Adam Abdelaziz is a science writer and communications strategist with a passion for digital storytelling. Holding a Juris Doctor from the University of Denver and an MSc in International Relations from Kingston University, Adam loves distilling complex research into clear articles and news features that will inform and, hopefully, inspire. As a trilingual communicator (English, Arabic, Portuguese), he leverages his background to contribute to RTE’s mission. When he’s not crafting accessible content on the promise of soil remineralization, Adam can be found volunteering with animal rescue teams or diving into classic literature.