Projects to Stash Carbon Dioxide Underground Get a Boost

 

Jordan Silva

Environmental Econ

Blog 3

Dr. Eubanks

 

Projects to Stash Carbon Dioxide Underground Get a Boost

 

            This article provides great insight to a newer form of technology to help fight climate change. Any industrial site must capture their carbon dioxide waste before it hits the atmosphere and damages the planet. The capturing of carbon dioxide, however, is extremely costly and company’s lack the incentive needed to make this crucial change. “In 2018, Congress approved a lucrative tax break for companies that trap carbon dioxide.” This is the incentive companies needed to start and fund the expensive project. ““That was one of the keys we’ve been waiting for,” said Robert McLennan, chief executive of Minnkota Power Cooperative, an electric utility planning to retrofit a coal plant in North Dakota. The project aims to capture 3 million tons of carbon dioxide per year, equivalent to the pollution from 640,000 cars, and bury the gas more than a mile underground. At an estimated cost of $1 billion, he said, the venture wouldn’t be financially viable without the credit.” Incentives matter, without them, innovations and new technologies can be halted because it would cost more to take the necessary action to reduce pollution. These industrial sites would lose money by making the choice to stash carbon dioxide underground without the government tax credit. The tax credit, “is worth up to $50 for each ton of carbon dioxide captured and permanently stored underground, and up to $35 per ton if the captured gas is buried during enhanced oil recovery. For large projects, that break could be worth hundreds of millions of dollars over the measure’s 12-year lifetime.”

            Stashing carbon dioxide will also save communities that base their survival on the local industrial plant. It would save jobs and prevent many plants from shutting down. The carbon dioxide that is captured could be sold to nearby oil fields or buried for the tax credit. Taking a toxic waste out of the air and being able to earn a profit by repurposing it is a perfect solution to the pollution problem many company’s face.