Heitkamp was on the board of Bismarck-based Dakota Gasification before being elected to the Senate in 2012.

She claims the Advanced Clean Coal Technology Investment in Our Nation Act will give predictability and stability to the coal industry, which is constantly challenged by cheaper natural gas prices and increasing pressures from the US Environmental Protection Agency.

The ACCTION act readily challenges the EPA’s proposals brought about last September.

The proposal limits carbon emissions to 1100 megawatts per kilowatt hour, less than half the current level.

Heitkamp said the technology to meet the proposed EPA standards existed but was “just not capable of being commercially deployed in every situation”

The bill proposes several incentives for companies to invest in technologies with an emphasis on carbon dioxide capture and storage and using the by-product for enhanced oil and gas recovery.