New Research From Niels Bohr Institute

ADenother new piece of research coming out of Denmark, this time from the most respected Niels Bohr Institute, by professor Gary Shaffer.

See following links:

http://www.nature.com/ngeo/journal/v3/n7/abs/ngeo896.html
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/06/geological-storage-co2-emissions-only-viable-leakage-less-than-1-percent-1000-years.php
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/06/100627155110.htm

MUST READ - Educate yourself about the risks involved with CO2 Sequestration

I consider this a must read document -

http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/emissions/downloads/VEF-Technical_Document_072408.pdf

Stop PurGen Coal Plant - NJ

Our friends in NJ would like your support to stop the PurGen Coal Plant there.... please go to their web site to read more about their situation and the earthquakes that have happened in this area in the past.

Once again, if we were moving to alternative energy sources instead of catering to the coal industry CCS  would not be an issue.  Please support them. 

Stop PureGen

NJ Earthquake information http:/stoppurgencoalplant.org/nj-earthquakes-could-shake-purgens-foundation

Figuring out where to put the carbon

Figuring out where to put the carbon:


"Such estimates are complicated because there are several different mechanisms by which the CO2 can spread out from the point where it is released underground, and additional mechanisms that allow it to eventually become trapped. The spreading can occur by natural groundwater flows or by migration upward along a sloping aquifer, and the trapping can be caused by the CO2 dissolving in the water in deep aquifers, or by seeping through capillary action into cracks in the rock.

Juanes said his system accounts for all of the major known mechanisms by which carbon dioxide can get trapped in these underground formations. But for future research, he added, “The key uncertainty is the potential migration of CO2 vertically across geologic layers.” For instance, the pressure of the injected CO2 might produce faults and fractures in the rock, and this could create pathways to the surface and into the atmosphere. Juanes says his team is now working to better understand this potential mechanism."

Carbon Capture Viable for Indiana?

Carbon Capture: Viable for Indiana?:

"The two Indiana University professors that helped organize the summit were John A. Rupp, assistant director for research with the Indiana Geological Survey, and Kenneth Richards, associate professor in the School of Public and Environmental Affairs. The summit's fndings, recommendations and presentations can be downloaded from http://www.in.gov/oed/2573.htm."

"Some of the recommendations from the summit have begun to be implemented: the task force to assess state policy issues has been established, some technical challenges are being addressed by demonstration projects and the state is involved in investigations of several options for transportation of captured CO2. Two regional consortia that include the Indiana Geological Survey -- the Midwest Geological Sequestration Consortium and the Midwest Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership -- are investigating the technical challenges in the region by conducting deep subsurface injection projects in or near Indiana to examine the feasibility of underground CO2 storage."

Read the full article here

Indiana CCS Summit, Carbon Capture & Storage - Fall 2008

Here is the link to this report -  http://www.in.gov/oed/files/ccs-summit-print.pdf

Another link you will want to review is the summit's fndings, recommendations and presentations - all of these can be downloaded from http://www.in.gov/oed/2573.htm


A quote from the report referenced above -

"Some of the recommendations from the summit have begun to be implemented: the task force to assess state policy issues has been established, some technical challenges are being addressed by demonstration projects and the state is involved in investigations of several options for transportation of captured CO2. Two regional consortia that include the Indiana Geological Survey -- the Midwest Geological Sequestration Consortium and the Midwest Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership -- are investigating the technical challenges in the region by conducting deep subsurface injection projects in or near Indiana to examine the feasibility of underground CO2 storage."

Call to Action - Join the Fight Against CO2 Sequestration in Randolph County, Indiana

Join the fight against CO2 Sequestration in Randolph County on Tuesday, March 2nd.

The open forum is at 6:30 p.m. in the Community Room on Columbia Street in Union City, Indiana.

Every voice matters.

Potential impacts of CCS to underground sources of drinking water

Water is our most precious resource - one we often take for granted.  Much of the United States is predicted to have a water shortage.... we need to take great measures to protect it.

CO2 sequestration is also known as "CCS"  or "GCS" - for geological carbon sequestration.

Risks to our drinking water -

The following quotes come the article linked at the end of this posting.

"There are several potential scenarios by which a USDW may be impacted by GCS activities. Potential pathways include upward migration, fractured cap rock, faults, trace contaminants included in the CO2 stream, a microannulus outside the final casing, and the mobilization of metals from native minerals."


"The success of GCS relies on the structural integrity of confining units, for trapping CO2 in underlying permeable formations. Injection of CO2 into the receiving aquifer has the potential to cause deformation, trigger seismicity, reactivate faults, and compromise seals in wells. Each of these processes could increase the risk of leakage jeopardizing containment and the protection of groundwater quality." 

"Risk is typically defined as the product of the probability of occurrence of an event and the negative consequence of the event. There are concerns that there is limited likelihood data concerning the consequences of GCS, which might result in either over or underestimation of chances of occurrence. Water purveyors take pride in meeting their mandate to protect the public health by providing safe clean drinking water.

While the probability of a USDW being significantly impacted may be low, the negative consequences of any such incident have the potential to be very high. The proposed rule requires operators of GCS facilities to provide financial assurances adequate for corrective actions, plugging and abandonment of wells, post injection site care and closure, and emergency response for failed injection wells. The question of how to structure liability for long-term risks to USDWs associated with the geologic sequestration of CO2 has not yet been resolved."

Read the full article here

Shell CO2 stocking plans under fire in the Netherlands

Our friends in the Netherlands are in the midst of a battle with Shell Oil to stop a CO2 project under their densely populated city - whenever a government and/or company want to do something that impacts the environment, the people living there should have a say.... they oppose it. We hope Shell respects the wishes of the people who live there - Barendrecht is their HOME.


A carbon capture and storage facility that is planned in the Netherlands faces harsh criticism and active protesting.
 
A plan by oil giant Shell to store 300,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year in a depleted gas reservoir beneath the Dutch city of Barendrecht has drawn the ire of residents and local officials who have vowed to thwart it.


"We are going to do everything to oppose this project," declared Barendrecht deputy mayor Simon Zuurbier, who voiced fears for the safety of the city's 50,000 inhabitants.
 
"We are taking legal action to get it cancelled and we'll approve none of the required permits."
Read the full article here

Bad Utility Legislation in the 2010 Indiana General Assembly:

From our friend in Indiana -

www.citact.org



Bad Utility Legislation in the 2010 Indiana General Assembly:
The Taxpayer Wallet and the Ratepayer Wallet are Still the Same Wallet!

http://www.citact.org/pdfs/fact_sheets/01-10/01-11-2010_2010_Leg_Session_Bad%20Bills.pdf


Current Bad Bills
HB 1081: Various Utility Matters
Authors: Dale Grubb, Eric Koch
Status: In the House Commerce, Energy, Technology and
Utilities Committee
Summary: CAC opposes this bill. Indiana utilities know they are going to have to move toward renewables and energy efficiency, so they want to define the term “renewable” to suit their needs. This bill defines coal as renewable, and would also force us to pay for all electric transmission lines and gas pipelines needed for biofuels facilities to go online in Indiana. Ratepayers pay for electrical service, not to subsidize industries that have nothing to do with the delivery of electricity to our homes. This bill is also loaded with trackers, which allow the utilities to raise our rates when their costs go up without having to lower our rates when their costs go down.

SB 69: Low-carbon and non-carbon dioxide emitting plants
Authors: Phil Boots
Status: In the Senate Utilities and Technology Committee
Summary: CAC opposes this bill. Non-carbon or low-carbon is industry code for nuclear power as well as the pipe dream known as Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS). This bill would expand Indiana's definition of Construction Work in Progress (CWIP) to include nuclear power plants and CCS. This means that we would be forced to pay for the construction of excessively expensive power plants before they produce any electricity, or even if they never produce any electricity. This bill assumes that we have nothing better to do with our money than to finance utility CCS experiments or provide interest-free loans so that utility companies can build unneccessary and enormously expensive power plants (the starting cost of a new nuclear power plant is $10 billion). This bill also allows the utilities to pad their pockets with more trackers.


The Great Indiana Carbon Pipeline
SB 115: Eminent domain for carbon dioxide pipeline
Authors: Beverly Gard
Status: In the Senate Corrections, Criminal and Civil Matters Committee
SB 211: Carbon dioxide storage and transportation
Authors: Beverly Gard
Status: In the Senate Energy and Environmental Affairs Committee
Summary: CAC opposes these bills. The utilities know that they are going to begin being held accountable for their carbon dioxide emissions, and they want to make sure that they can pass all of the costs and liability onto us. They are working to set the stage to begin Carbon Capture and Sequestration. The idea is to shoot the carbon dioxide deep into the ground, under our homes, businesses, and farms, and hope that it stays there. They have no idea how this will impact our health or our environment, so SB 211 proclaims that carbon dioxide is safe, forces us to pay for the transportation and “storage” of it, and forces us to be liable in the event of a catastrophe. It also removes regulatory authority from the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission. SB 115 allows them to claim eminent domain and take our property if it is in the
way of building a pipeline to get the carbon to the place where they want to “store” it. They are also using the "divide and conquer" strategy, by placing SB 115 in the Corrections, Criminal, and Civil Matters Committee, and SB 211 in the Energy and Environmental Affairs Committee. It was the Senate Utilities and Technology Committee that discussed and vetted this issue this summer during the Regulatory Flexibility Committee hearings, but the utilities know that they have a better chance of sneaking these bills through if they present it to legislators that have never dealt with this complicated and controversial issue.

Take Action!
Write, call, or e-mail your legislators, as well as the Chairs of the House and Senate Utility Committees!
• Tell the Senators to vote no on SB 69, SB 115, and SB 211!
• Tell the Representatives to vote no on HB 1081!
• Make sure to remind them that the taxpayer wallet and the ratepayer wallet are the same wallet and that if they don’t want to raise taxes, they should not consider legislation that will raise utility rates for unnecessary investments on behalf of utility profits!
• Let them know that coal and nuclear are NOT renewable energy!
• Tell them that the best investments for energy in Indiana are in energy efficiency,
wind, solar, and geothermal.
These are the technologies that will create jobs, and benefit the health, environment, and pocketbooks of ALL Hoosiers!


To look up and/or e-mail your legislators, visit:
http://www.in.gov/apps/sos/legislator/search/

Please help the Netherlands STOP CO2 under Barendrecht

Dutch "green" minister favors Shell at the expense of Barendrecht guinea pigs.

BEWARE - "Black" project will be sold as "green" in Copenhagen. The Dutch Minister of Environmental Affairs and former Shell Director, Jacqueline Cramer, has not forgotten her friends at Shell. She offers Shell a subsidy of 30 million Euro for a very profitable Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) project with storage under the town of Barendrecht (50.000 inhabitants). The Dutch government has recently chosen for an old-fashioned Coal future, building four new Coal-fired power stations. In order to reduce the negative effects the Dutch government promotes a CCS policy by storing CO2 throughout The Netherlands. Because of this policy a fifth Coal-fired power station will be needed, or else the equivalent energy amount has to be imported. Minister Cramer will sell this policy at the Copenhagen Conference as "green". She will not reveal that her policy is a Coal future for the next 30 years. Minister Cramer defends the project by showing expert reports, concluding the experiment is a safe one. However, all these reports have been commissioned by her own department and are heavily criticized by independent and authoritative experts. The inhabitants of the town of Barendrecht have protested for more than a year now, recently at a town hall visit of the minister. The people are outraged! The Stichting CO2isNEE (“CO2 is NO” Foundation) has been founded to protect the citizens from this irresponsible experiment. However, the stubborness of both the minister and the Dutch Government promises the fight to be a long one. We, the people of Barendrecht, ask you to forward this message to as many people as possible in order to help us in our fight against this project of the Dutch Government. We are grateful for your help.

Contact: e-mail: stichtingCO2isNEE@gmail.com

I wish I knew what this video said.... but since it is not in English I don't know - I'm including it here for those who know the language

The World's Largest CO2 Storage Research Project with EOR

Note - "CO2 Storage with EOR" -- Storage = Sequestration

http://www.cslforum.org/publications/documents/IEAGHGWeyburnProjectPoster0307.pdf

Al Gore's Mistake About CO2 and Climate

From our friends in the Netherlands - the opposition group

SUMMARY IN ENGLISH
In June 2009 the city council of Barendrecht, a small city south of Rotterdam, voted against the plans to store large quantities of CO2 in the underground of the village. This local decision was based on facts not on emotions. The three most important arguments for the local CDA party to vote against CO2 storage are:

• There are no guarantees for the safety of the residents, nor are all questions regarding the safety of CO2 storage answered. Especially because of the infinite period of storage.
• There are questions whether the scientific research concerning CO2 storage in Barendrecht is objective and unbiased.
• There is no basis, nor support for CO2 storage in Barendrecht.

The Dutch national government can overrule the decision of the local government. Whether or not the national government will overrule Barendrecht will be clear in the autumn of 2009 when the minister of Economic Affairs and the minister for the Environment will decide to continue with CO2 storage in and under Barendrecht.

If you have questions or want more local information feel free to send us an e-mail: \n Dit e-mail adres is beschermd door spambots, u heeft Javascript nodig om dit onderdeel te kunnen bekijken "> CO2@cdabarendrecht.nl

De gemeenteraad van Barendrecht heeft op 29 juni 2009 definitief nee gezegd tegen het demonstratieproject ondergrondse CO2 - opslag in Barendrecht. De gemeenteraad heeft het besluit gebaseerd op feiten, cijfers en argumenten. De veiligheid voor onze bewoners en toekomstige generaties is niet maximaal gewaarborgd.

Consequenties Principebesluit 29 juni 2009

Het college en de klankbordgroep van de gemeenteraad hebben verder besproken welke concrete consequenties het principebesluit van 29 juni (nee tegen het CO₂-project) heeft voor het gemeentelijke beleid. Geconcludeerd is dat de gemeente niet meewerkt aan onderzoeken en geen vergunningen verleent die op een of andere manier kunnen worden beschouwd als voorbereiding op de CO₂-opslag. Indien de gemeente wordt verzocht gegevens of rapportages te verstrekken, worden die slechts verstrekt indien de gemeente dit op grond van de Wet openbaarheid van bestuur (Wob) verplicht is.

Besluit provincie en ministers
De verwachting is dat de provincie en de minsters eind 2009 een definitief besluit nemen over de plannen in Barendrecht.

Midwest Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership cancels Ohio CCS project despite DOE funding

The 35-member Midwest Regional Carbon Sequestration Project (MRCSP) has cancelled a $92.8m proposal to inject one million tons of carbon dioxide over four years from an ethanol plant in Greenville, western Ohio.

Battelle Memorial Institute, a major, non-profit research and development organisation which manages MRCSP, issued a terse communiqué saying the decision was based on “business considerations.”

“That’s all I can tell you,” Katy Delaney, a Battelle spokeswoman says in response to queries from Recharge.

The move came after the US Energy Department in May 2008 awarded MRCSP $61m to fund the third phase of carbon capture and storage research over 10 years at the Greenville site.

The CO2 would have been injected into the Mount Simon Sandstone formation, which is more than 3,000 feet beneath the surface. It stretches across much of the Midwest region and has the potential to store more than 100 years of CO2 emissions from major point sources in the region, according to DOE.

Specifically, the third phase, for which MRCSP members would have contributed almost $32m, was to validate that the injection and storage could be done on a safe, permanent and economic basis.

Local officials and state representatives had increasingly opposed the project fearing it would lower property values and increase seismic activity.

Click here to continue

As Paul Harvey would say, click here for "the rest of the story"

Darke County CITIZENS CELEBRATE - MRCSP Phase III CO2 Project in Greenville Ohio - WILL NOT HAPPEN

Battelle announced today that Greenville, OH was no longer on the list for consideration of a large-scale CO2 project. A jubilant committee celebrates on the town "circle" - this community has never been so united! Look for us in both the Democrat and Republican booths at the Great Darke County Fair.......

THANK YOU DARKE COUNTY FOR YOUR SUPPORT!

Read the full article here!

National Mining Association Carbon Capture and Storage - Barriers to CCS

http://www.nma.org/pdf/fact_sheets/ccs.pdf Read entire article here

I find this to be an interesting statement - Avoiding application of the federal Superfund program to in• jections of CO2;

At present, uncertainty over siting requirements and long-term liability issues associated with the underground storage of CO2 have deterred project developers, financiers and insurers from moving forward with CCS. However, CCS as a tool for mitigating CO2 emissions and ensuring a secure and affordable energy supply for America represents a vital public interest that merits a federal-level program to clarify and resolve these long-term liability issues and to clear the way for the rapid and widespread commercialization of the technology. Some of the key issues that must be resolved in order to foster widespread commercialization of CCS include:
Determining responsibility for post-closure monitoring;•
Avoiding application of the federal Superfund program to in• jections of CO2;
Avoiding characterization of CO• 2 as a waste and CCS activities as waste disposal to avoid triggering expensive “cradle to grave” regulations of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA); and
Resolving property rights issues, including pore space owner• ship, trespass and interstate issues relating to CO2 transportation and placement.

Property Rights Issues Could Stymie Geologic Carbon Sequestration, an Industrial Info News Alert

SUGAR LAND, TX--(Marketwire - August 17, 2009) - Written by John Egan for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas) -- Efforts in the U.S. to geologically sequester carbon-dioxide emissions could be delayed or derailed unless state and federal governments find a way to address property rights issues, lawyers at Stoel Rives LLP (Portland, Oregon) told Industrial Info. The Waxman-Markey energy bill, currently being considered by the U.S. Senate, awards bonus carbon-dioxide allowances to utilities that will deploy carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) technologies at coal-fired power plants by 2015. Property rights are critical to geologic carbon sequestration, because the underground areas needed to store carbon dioxide are extremely large and could cross state borders. The potential interstate nature of carbon sequestration projects means that the federal government could take a leading role in creating a consistent legal framework for acquiring the property rights for these projects.

For details, view the entire article by subscribing to Industrial Info's Premium Industry News at http://www.industrialinfo.com/showNews.jsp?newsitemID=149353, or browse other breaking industrial news stories at www.industrialinfo.com.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy related markets. For more than 26 years, Industrial Info has provided plant and project opportunity databases, market forecasts, high resolution maps, and daily industry news. For more information send inquiries to powergroup@industrialinfo.com or visit us online at www.industrialinfo.com.

CO2 Opposition Yard Signs

Wednesday afternoon we received another 100 yard signs, less than 48 hours later they are GONE!

More on the way!

900 up..........and counting!

Darke County, Ohio OPPOSES CO2 Sequestration ------ as State Representative, Dick Adams said last evening to the attendees at the High School in Arcanum, OH - "I haven't met ONE PERSON who is for this project! We need to protect our environment and agriculture in Ohio!"

We are very fortunate to have the support of our elected officials!

"Faith into Action" Community Meeting - August 12, 2009

Advocate Photo - click here to be taken to The Daily Advocate for the full story

Wednesday, August 12, 2009
7 pm
Harmon Field, Greenville, OH