Energy Secretary Abraham Creates Regional Partnerships to Develop Carbon-Sequestration Options; Initiative to Address Options

9/2/2003

From: Jeanne Lopatto, 202-586-4940 or Drew Malcomb, 202-586-5806, both of the U.S. Department of Energy

WASHINGTON, Sept. 2 -- In the most comprehensive move yet in the continuing effort to address U.S. carbon dioxide emissions, Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham has selected seven regional teams to help develop the framework needed to develop carbon sequestration technologies and put them into action. The seven teams -- called Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnerships -- include leaders from more than 140 organizations spanning 33 states, three American Indian nations, and two Canadian provinces. Recognizing the value of flexibility and the inadequacy of a one size fits all approach to carbon sequestration, each team will evaluate and promote the technologies and infrastructure best suited to its unique region.

"Even as we focus our attention on other aspects of our energy security -- including electrical power grids and crude oil supplies -- the fact remains that we must continue finding ways to ensure that coal, our most abundant power source, remains a viable energy alternative," Secretary Abraham said. "The Energy Department has accomplished a great deal in the field of emission reductions and energy efficiencies, but we will continue our focus on coal, since it is a major part of the energy resources we need to support the nation's growing economy and consumer demand."

The partnerships support President Bush's Global Climate Change Initiative, which calls for an 18 percent reduction in U.S. greenhouse gas intensity by 2012. Focused on domestic greenhouse gas emissions, the partnerships complement the work of the Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum, an international effort spearheaded by the Department of Energy (DOE) and the U.S. State Department to develop and deploy carbon capture and storage technologies worldwide. Along with the United States, delegations from 13 countries and the European Union attended the inaugural meeting of the forum in June.

The new partnerships, collectively valued at more than $18.1 million, stem from the solicitation Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnerships Phase I, which was issued by DOEs National Energy Technology Laboratory in December 2002. The Department of Energy will provide approximately $11.1 million to support the partnerships over the next two years. Each group will receive up to $1.6 million, with organizations contributing, on average, 39 percent.

During Phase I of the partnerships, each team will work within its own multi-state region to:

-- Establish regional baselines for CO2 sources and sinks;

-- Identify and address issues for carbon sequestration technology deployment;

-- Assess environmental permitting, public awareness, and effects on ecosystems;

-- Develop avenues for public education and involvement;

-- Identify the most promising means of capturing, storing, and transporting CO2;

-- Evaluate procedures for long-term monitoring of CO2 storage, and;

-- Prepare implementation and technology validation plans.

At the end of two years, the partnerships will recommend technologies for small-scale validation testing in a Phase II solicitation expected to be issued in late 2005. Phase II will also continue to develop the infrastructure for deploying these technologies by expanding on progress in environmental permitting, public involvement and education, and protocols for ensuring permanent storage.

The regional partnerships provide a critical link to the Administrations plans for FutureGen, a highly efficient and technologically sophisticated coal-fired power plant that will produce both hydrogen and electricity, and sequester the carbon dioxide emissions. The partnerships will provide the regulatory, infrastructure, and site-selection basis for wide-scale deployment of FutureGen technology options.

Below are brief profiles of each partnership, and their proposed scope of work:

Midwest Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership, led by Battelle Memorial Institute, Columbus, Ohio, will identify greenhouse gas sources in its region -- which covers Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, and West Virginia -- and determine the technical feasibility and cost of capturing and sequestering emissions in deep geologic formations, agricultural lands, forests, and degraded lands. Existing regulations and policies will be examined to determine if they hinder the cost-effectiveness of CO2 sequestration options; and ways of overcoming these barriers will be outlined. The partnership is composed of universities, geological surveys from the region, and Consol Energy.

Midwest Geological Sequestration Consortium, headed by the University of Illinois -- Illinois State Geological Survey in Champaign, Ill., will look at ways of storing CO2 within the deep, uneconomic coal seams and mature oil fields and saline reservoirs that lie beneath the 60,000 square mile Illinois Basin. Options will be assessed to determine the technical and economic feasibility of using these three geologic sinks for long-term storage in most of Illinois, western Indiana, and western Kentucky. The teams effort will have three phases: (1) developing a database and assessing CO2 capture and transport in the region, (2) investigating storage capacity for each of the three sinks, and (3) evaluating integrated options for capture, storage, and transportation within an environmental and regulatory framework.

Northern Rockies and Great Plains Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership, led by Montana State University, Bozeman, Mont., will identify and catalogue CO2 sources and promising geologic and terrestrial storage sites; develop a risk-assessment and decision-support framework to optimize the areas carbon-storage portfolio; enhance market-based carbon storage methods; identify advanced greenhouse gas measurement technologies to improve verification of long-term storage, support voluntary trading and stimulate economic development; call upon community leaders to define carbon sequestration strategies; and create forums that involve the public. Idaho, Montana and South Dakota are served by this partnership, which comprises 13 organizations, the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, and the Nez Perce Tribe.

Plains CO2 Reduction Partnership, led by the Energy & Environmental Research Center at the University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, N.D., will take a three-step approach to carbon sequestration that involves: (1) characterizing technical issues and the publics understanding of CO2 sequestration (2) identifying regional opportunities for sequestration, and (3) detailing an action plan to be carried out in Phase II of the Carbon Sequestration Regional Partnership solicitation. The partnerships region includes the Williston and Powder River basins. The partnership includes 29 coal-fired utilities, 27 ethanol production facilities, and the Dakota Gasification facility that, together, account for about half of the region's CO2 emissions.

Southeast Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership, led by the Southern States Energy Board, Norcross, Ga., will pinpoint CO2 sources and sinks as well as transport requirements for nine states, and enter these into a geographical information system database. An outreach plan will be developed to engage stakeholders to help identify and implement regional CO2 -- sequestration measures. The most promising CO2 methods will be reviewed by permitting and regulatory agencies to determine the adequacy of proposed measures, identify gaps, and evaluate the need for proposed regulations. Life-cycle storage options will be evaluated according to environmental risk; measurement, monitoring, and verification protocols; public acceptance; and value-added benefits.

Southwest Regional Partnership for Carbon Sequestration, led by the Western Governors' Association and New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, Socorro, N.M., will assess existing regulatory and permitting requirements, determine the most appropriate sequestration strategies, and evaluate and rank sequestration technologies for CO2 capture and storage in the southwest region -- which includes Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Utah. A website will be set up to share information, store data, and help with decision-making and future management of carbon sequestration in the region. Twenty-one partners -- including the Western Governors Association; the Navajo nation; power producers; seven coal, oil and natural gas companies; and five utilities make up this partnership.

West Coast Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership, led by the California Energy Commission, Sacramento, Calif., will identify, characterize, and locate CO2 sources in the region and determine long-term capture and sequestration methods by enlisting the help of federal, state, and local government agencies, and industry sources. Technology discussions, regional meetings, and joint research will maintain an open dialogue with stakeholders so that a strategy for terrestrial and geologic carbon sequestration projects that meet the areas needs for the near- and long-term can be developed. This team is composed of a host of representatives from universities, national labs, nonprofit organizations, technology vendors, oil and gas companies, and policy organizations in Alaska, Arizona, California, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington.