Capturing Carbon

The Holy Grail of greenhouse gas reductions is capturing carbon dioxide before it reaches the atmosphere by sequestering it underground. Coal-fired utilities spew out tons of the stuff, but just turning to other sources of power may not be much of an option, given the country’s abundant coal resources and the relative expense of alternatives.

But sequestering carbon will be a tall order. The Interstate Natural Gas Association of America (INGAA), which represents natural-gas pipeline companies, released a study that showed one hurdle. Depending on how important coal-fired utilities will be in the future, sequestering sufficient amounts of CO2 could require that 66,000 miles of pipelines be put in place over the next 20 years or so. That is the infrastructure equivalent of what now supports the oil and oil products industries.

It is also on the high end of INGAA’s estimate. But it serves as yet another reminder that there are significant challenges to curbing the amount of greenhouse gases the nation emits each year. The subtext in the report is that Congress should start thinking about how it can achieve significant emission reductions soon.

“While there are no significant barriers to building the forecasted pipeline mileage, the major challenges to implementing [carbon capture and sequestration] are in public policy and regulation,” the report notes.

Jim Snyder