The European Union (EU) and Norway are increasing cooperation to commercialize carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology by handing out upward of 140 million Euros to support European CCS projects and exploring the possibility of storing CO2 in the North Sea. See their website for more information on this effort.  For information in general about EU CCS activities visit the European Commission’s carbon capture and geological storage website.

Closer to home a report sent by the Department of Interior (DOI) to Congress provides recommendations for a national program to help reduce greenhouse gases by selecting appropriate underground geological formations on public lands to inject and store CO2 emissions from coal-fired power plants and other CO2 producing facilities. The report, Framework for Geological Carbon Sequestration on Public Land, prepared by the Bureau of Land Management with assistance from the U.S. Geological Survey, EPA and DOE’s Office of Fossil Energy, recommends criteria for identifying potential sites for geological carbon sequestration and a proposed regulatory framework for leasing these public lands. It discusses issues that are being addressed, including environmental protection, public participation, rights-of-way and federal liability.

The report recommends that candidate sites must have sufficient capacity to accept the volume of carbon dioxide expected for the life of the sequestration project and the geologic structure to ensure long-term containment of the carbon dioxide. The recommendations call for research to address several unknowns related to carbon sequestration, so that proper mitigating measures to protect the environment can be included in land use authorizations. The report examines authorities under the Mineral Leasing Act and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act.