Secretary of Energy Chu Visits Charleston, Discusses Carbon Capture

In an event co-sponsored by Robinson & McElwee, Secretary of Energy Chu came to town yesterday to talk about carbon sequestration, a process which would separate the carbon dioxide from power plant emissions and force it underground under great pressure in order to prevent its contribution to global warming. Grants are being given to WVU and other research institutions to investigate ways this can be accomplished. The Associated Press/WSAZ reports on it here. The Gazette and Daily Mail reports are not yet available.



Carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) is not easily accomplished. Not only is the technology involved in sequestering carbon difficult to implement on a large scale, there are improtant public policy issues to be resolved, such as who owns the underground geologic formations into which the carbon is sent, and will the costs of obtaining those rights cause CCS to be prohibitively expensive. The WV Legislature has a group studying the issue under the leadership of former DEP Secretary Stephanie Timmermeyer, and anyone interested in the subject would benefit from a review of its preliminary report, released in July.