A Federal Energy Regulatory Commission chair under former President Donald Trump was named Wednesday to the board of a carbon removal startup backed by some top corporate investors.
CarbonCapture hopes Neil Chatterjee, currently a senior adviser at the Hogan Lovells law firm, can help the startup clear the regulatory hurdles associated with powering the direct air capture facilities it’s racing to develop in California, Wyoming and other states.
“Every DAC plant is also a clean energy project,” Adrian Corless, CEO of CarbonCapture, said in a news release. “That’s why I’m thrilled to welcome Neil to our team. His deep understanding of the energy landscape in the US and abroad will be incredibly important as we source large amounts of clean energy in the face of grid expansion challenges and bottlenecks.”
The direct air capture plants CarbonCapture intends to build would use fans, carbon-absorbing materials, electricity, heat and piping to filter carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store it permanently underground.
