Another example of where we might be at soon. Oil shale is mosts definitely being pushed by the White House as well.
Carbon capture plan: Basin Electric Power Cooperative plans to ask the U.S. government to help pay the cost, pegged at as much as $300 million, of a project to capture carbon dioxide at the company’s coal-fired power plant in central North Dakota.
Ron Harper, Basin’s chief executive officer, said the project could be used as a template for other coal-fired power plants seeking to curb CO2 emissions blamed for global warming. The company said it is “imperative” that the federal government share in the risk.
Harper said the company is doing preliminary engineering and cost studies for the project. He said initial cost estimates range from $200 million to $300 million but will be narrowed in a few months.
The company has pitched the project to Gov. John Hoeven and the state’s congressional delegation.
Basin, based in Bismarck, chose Powerspan Corp., of Portsmouth, N.H., to provide the technology to remove about 1 million tons of CO2 annually from one of two units at Basin’s Antelope Valley Station near Beulah, N.D. The 900-megawatt plant generates a total of about 7.5 million tons of CO2 in a year.
Basin generates about 1,950 megawatts of power for 2.5 million users in nine Midwestern and Western states. The company runs two coal-fired plants in North Dakota and one in Wyoming, and plans another in Wyoming and one in South Dakota.
Harper said 90 percent of Basin’s power comes from coal. None of the company’s power plants is designed to seize CO2 emissions now.
The project is expected to recover 57 million cubic feet of carbon, or about 3,000 tons of carbon dioxide daily. The CO2 will be piped to North Dakota’s oil patch and to Saskatchewan, where it will be pumped underground to force oil to the surface.
http://www.grandforksherald.com/articles/index.cfm?id=79841§ion=news
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