DOE Offers $100 Million for CO2 Sequestration

The Department of Energy has offered four years' worth of grants totaling up to $25 million per year to help build a national infrastructure to support sequestration of carbon dioxide, which makes up 81% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. The grants would continue a program that DOE began two years ago involving some 160 organizations in 40 states in a host of activities needed for a national program to sequester CO₂ (see page 36). The organizations include state and local agencies, utilities and utility boards, regulators, universities, DOE labs, and others. The 40 states, DOE says, account for 97% of U.S. coal-fired CO₂ emissions and essentially all the geologic sinks in the U.S. that could be potentially suitable for carbon injection. Funded activities include assessing sequestration options that are suitable to different regions, as well as conducting field validation tests of sequestration capacities, permanence, and safety. DOE says the funds also can be used for outreach and community education for the sequestration program