Published: August 18, 2008 07:46 pm      

Carbon dioxide storage test begins in SWVa.

SWORDS CREEK, Va. — With a simple flip of a switch, state and federal officials embarked Monday on a historic six-month test in rural Southwest Virginia aimed at reducing carbon dioxide emissions from burning coal.

“It’s a red letter day for Russell County, but more importantly it is a red letter day for the entire nation,” said U.S. Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Va., who joined Assistant Secretary for Fossil Energy James A. Slutz in activating a large drilling rig as part of the U.S. Department of Energy sponsored test. “With the work we are doing today, we are proving that coal has a future for many years to come.”

Monday’s test involved 1,000 tons of carbon dioxide being injected into a mountainous coal seam in Russell County. Boucher said the goal of the test is to prove that unmineable coal seams are suitable for sequestering carbon dioxide.

“This is the largest and most prominent project launched in the central Appalachian region to evaluate coal seams as carbon dioxide storage repositories,” Boucher said.

Slutz said federal officials have defined the Southwest Virginia project as one of the most aggressive carbon capture projects in the nation. Slutz said the Russell County project was one of several projects and partnerships underway on the federal level.

“Right now we are looking at all of the options to understand what will work,” Slutz said. “Different parts of the country have different geographical opportunities.”

The $4.4 million project will be monitored until next January when test results are due. Boucher said a second and much larger test with a price tag of $100 million will follow where up to 100,000 tons of carbon dioxide will be injected into a coal seam. Boucher said he is working to ensure the second and much larger test also is completed in Southwest Virginia.

Boucher said the region will see many benefits if the second large-scale project is conducted in Southwest Virginia, including the creation of a necessary research and development facility to monitor the test work. Boucher said the Virginia Tobacco Commission recently allocated a large sum of money for the construction of two new research and development centers for energy and the environment in the region. He said it is anticipated that one or both of the facilities will manage the second large-scale test.

“We also anticipate a major economic boost for the region through enhanced methane recovery when carbon dioxide is injected into unmineable coal seams,” Boucher said. “It is anticipated that an additional 650 billion cubic feet of natural gas could be recovered in our region through carbon dioxide injection. The value of that resource would be approximately $3.9 billion in enhanced methane production.”

Boucher said the use of unmineable coal seams for carbon dioxide sequestration also will improve the region’s ability to attract new coal-to-liquid plants in order to create new transportation fuels.

“Our region would also enjoy the prestige that accompanies the contribution our region will make to solving one of our nation’s most pressing energy needs,” Boucher said.

Boucher helped to secure the federal funds needed to launch Monday’s test, J. Michael Onifer, senior vice president of established business units with CNX Gas, said.

“It is important research related to clean coal technology for the future, and is something CNX Gas is glad to be a part of,” Onifer said.

Boucher said carbon dioxide controls are coming.

“Majorities in both houses of the Congress now support the imposition of mandatory controls through a cap and trade program,” Boucher said. “Both major party candidates for president also support those mandatory controls, and the Supreme Court has now held that carbon dioxide is a pollutant resulting in a legal mandate for the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate carbon dioxide. If Congress does not pass mandatory control legislation, the EPA will control emissions through regulation. Most interested parties would prefer that Congress rather than the EPA perform the regulatory function, and for these reasons, it is now virtually certain that legislation will pass the Congress imposing controls during the coming four years.”

When the new federal controls are imposed, Boucher said carbon dioxide from coal combustion will have to be captured and sequestered.

“Unmineable coal seams will be a major way that CO2 is sequestered since there is a large capacity for coal seams to accommodate CO2 across the nation and because coal seams are situated near to major users such as power plants and coke making ovens,” Boucher said. “Today we begin the process of demonstrating to the nation that coal seams can realize this potential.”

Monday’s test was held in conjunction with Virginia Tech, Marshall Miller and Associates, CNX gas, the Virginia Center for Coal and Energy Research, and various other local, state and federal entities.

— Contact Charles Owens at cowens@bdtonline.com