Scientists pursue project in eastern Oregon that could stem climate change

Scientists and energy executives are pursuing capturing carbon emissions produced in Oregon and storing them underground, a novel process that could reduce the effects of climate change some day. 

The project, located in Hermiston, would involve capturing carbon dioxide emitted by the town’s natural gas facility and storing it in rock thousands of feet below the earth’s surface. Putting carbon dioxide below-ground instead of releasing it into the air would help bring Oregon and Washington closer to their carbon reduction goals to fight climate change, project leaders said. 

“This project is wrapped around trying to offer solutions for carbon disposal,” said Fred McLaughlin, director of the University of Wyoming’s Center for Economic Geology Research. 

The university is leading the project in partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, the oil company Oxy Low, and the natural gas company Calpine, which runs the Hermiston natural gas facility. The facility burns natural gas to create energy, which is sold to power companies in Oregon, Washington and California. The Department of Energy has awarded researchers $10.5 million to determine how feasible it would be to store the carbon emissions from the facility underground. 

The Hermiston area is rich in basalt, a type of rock that can store carbon. When carbon dioxide is injected into basalt, it solidifies and turns into a rock, a process that takes about two years. Officials would insert carbon emissions from the Hermiston natural gas facility through wells drilled deep into the basalt layer. 

If greenlighted by the Department of Energy, the Hermiston project would be the first location in the country to offer carbon-emitting industries the option to store carbon dioxide in basalt on a commercial scale, project leaders said. 

Storing carbon in basalt would keep the emissions from entering the atmosphere, which is a primary cause of climate change. Project leaders are still estimating the amount of carbon dioxide that could be stored at the site. 

The project has been lauded by energy executives as a way for Oregon to reach its carbon reduction goals. 

In Oregon, former Gov. Kate Brown signed an executive order in March 2020 that directed state agencies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 45% below 1990 greenhouse gas levels by 2035 and 80% below 1990 levels by 2050. Carbon emissions makeup 79% of all greenhouse gas emissions, which are gases that contribute to climate change when released into the air, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 

Critics of carbon storage argue that projects like the Hermiston one prolong the use of carbon-emitting energy sources like natural gas, but the project’s proponents disagree.

“We have great renewables here in the Pacific Northwest,” said Todd Schaef, senior research scientist at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, “but we need a leveling component.” 

That leveling component is natural gas, according to Schaef, who sees it as a back-up energy source for when renewable energies like wind or solar are unable to meet all of the region’s electricity demands. 

The Hermiston project is currently in phase two of a four-phase implementation process. A 24-month long study will begin this summer to determine how feasible the project would be. 

Researchers will drill a well into the basalt to understand what would happen if millions of tons of carbon dioxide were injected into the rock. Researchers will also determine whether the project could affect the area’s groundwater or overlap with earthquake fault lines. 

Once the study is completed, Department of Energy officials will decide whether next steps should be taken. If the project moves forward, the social and economic impacts of carbon storage in Hermiston would be studied, and meetings and webinars would be held with the public to let them know what the project is about, its impacts and why it’s needed, according to the project’s leaders. 

Upon approval and funding from the Department of Energy, the fourth and final phase would establish the project’s infrastructure and require obtaining a permit for injecting carbon dioxide into deep rock formations. In the U.S., this type of permit has never been issued to a project using basalt to store carbon. 

“We might be one of the first that ever gets to do that,” said Schaef from the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. “I would love to be one of the first that does it right, and sets that precedent for here’s the bar you have to meet.” 

Officials said the project would likely span 30 years.