Pennsylvania's publicly owned forest lands could be used for the underground storage of carbon dioxide captured from coal-burning power plants and other industrial sources of the greenhouse gas that is a major cause of global climate change.

The process -- which is not yet commercially feasible -- involves capturing carbon emissions from a facility's smokestack, compressing the gases into a liquid and then pumping it at least a half mile underground.

According to a state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources study report scheduled for release next week, it would be appropriate and important to Pennsylvania's environmental and economic future to use public lands as part of a still undefined state strategy to rein in climate change.

"Coal is with us and will be part of the energy mix for the foreseeable future, but if we want to avoid frying the planet, we're going to have to do something about controlling carbon emissions," said John Quigley, DCNR chief of staff. "What is the fastest way for that to happen? Well, we've advanced the idea that public lands should be looked at, should be part of the mix."

There are more than 2.1 million acres of publicly owned land in Pennsylvania, and the state is by far the biggest landowner. It also owns the mineral rights under 85 percent of that property, thereby simplifying the legally complex surface rights-mineral rights ownership questions surrounding most private property.

Mr. Quigley said using public land to sequester carbon collected from utilities and industries and public financing to support a pilot carbon sequestration project could put the state in position to benefit economically from efforts to reduce carbon emissions by 80 percent by 2050 -- the minimum amount needed to reduce the impacts of climate change.

The report will recommend that a statewide geological assessment be undertaken to identify underground geological formations where potential carbon sinks could be located.

The document also says that any pilot project built to test the still emerging technology of carbon capture and sequestration should be sited in the western part of the state, where major industrial and utility sources operate and where much more is already known about the underlying geology because of extensive oil and gas drilling records going back 100 years.

The geological records from well drilling are important because the carbon, once compressed into a liquid, would be pumped deep underground into depleted oil and gas reservoirs, deep coal seams, or shale or saline formations. The technology may be 15 years from commercial application.

Mr. Quigley said no specific site for either construction of a demonstration carbon capture facility or the sequestration of the carbon that would be collected has been identified. Any decision to allow sequestration of carbon on public lands is probably years away, and, he said, would require legislative approval.

Full Story: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08124/878832-85.stm

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