Government Assessment Underscores Pennsylvania's Carbon Dioxide Storage Potential and the Need for Substantive Legal Changes
This post was written by David Wagner.
Pennsylvania’s Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) recently posted two reports concluding that, with substantive changes to laws governing subsurface ownership rights and long-term liability issues, Pennsylvania’s geology could store carbon dioxide in a cost-competitive and manageable way. The reports also concluded that another key step is to identify specific storage areas.
A carbon capture and storage (CCS) network would collect carbon dioxide from coal-fired electricity generating plants and other industrial sources, compress it into a liquid, and then transport it through pipelines deep underground where it would be injected into the rock formations or other suitable geologic features.
The assessment explained that, assuming no additional costs for subsurface rights or long term liability costs, a Pennsylvania-based network would bear total capture and compression costs of $43 to $69 per ton, along with transport and storage costs of $3 to $4 per ton. This per-ton cost range is competitive with international CCS projects that exist or have been proposed. The reports added that, based on these numbers, the preliminary cost analysis for capture, transport and storage of carbon dioxide from six plants would be about $8 billion, with additional annual operating costs of $269 million. However, these estimates will vary depending upon further detailed engineering analysis and the actual volume of carbon dioxide that is captured, transported and stored.
John Quigley, DCNR’s Secretary, emphasized that “CCS cannot be a viable emission reduction solution unless and until certain substantial legal issues are worked out.” He explained that “[s]ome business entity would be required to gain legal control over vast amounts of underground storage space—as much as 100 square miles per plant, according to U.S. Department of Energy estimates. Federal and state laws are unclear on ownership rights for that storage space. Sweeping federal or state legislation would be needed to assemble the necessary property rights for a CCS network in Pennsylvania.”
