Senator Josh Becker tours first-in-the-nation facility to remove CO2 emissions from the atmosphere

On Thursday, November 9, State Senator Josh Becker (D- Menlo Park) (third from right) joined with U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm (center), Lieutenant Governor Eleni Kounalakis, State Senator Anna Caballero, and other officials to unveil America’s first commercial direct air capture (DAC) carbon dioxide removal facility in Tracy, California. The San Francisco-born startup Heirloom is unveiling a first of its kind facility in Tracy that will use limestone rocks to remove already-emitted CO2 from the atmosphere.

“Carbon removal is necessary to get California and the world to net zero and start restoring a safe climate,” said Becker, who chairs the Senate Budget Subcommittee No. 2 on Environmental Protection, Resources, and Energy. “Our state has a vital role to play when it comes to enabling the carbon removal markets and clean-energy transformation that we need. Here at Heirloom, we see tremendous progress and they are doing it right: powered by clean energy and creating high-tech, good quality, green jobs in our state. We must continue to accelerate this progress by passing legislation to establish carbon removal markets that can drive demand for carbon removal and mobilize financing of many more projects like this.”

After the tour, Senator Becker spoke to a crowd of approximately 200 individuals to celebrate the opening of this state of the art decarbonization facility, which will be 100% powered by renewable energy and has the capability to remove up to 1,000 tons of CO2 emissions annually.