Researchers see Idaho role for reducing carbon dioxide

Researchers at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory believe the state has a major role to play in reducing carbon dioxide gases in the atmosphere.

By The Associated Press

http://helenair.com/articles/2004/08/31/helena/a11083104_01.txt

Their work with experts at several universities, financed by a $1.6 million federal grant, has found that changes in farming practices can significantly reduce the levels of the most common greenhouse gas and that Idaho’s underground rock formations could be used to trap gas imported from other areas.

”Farmers can change how they plow the soil, to reduce tilling, and use different fertilizers” to leave more organic material and the carbon trapped inside it in the soil, said Bob Smith, a professor of geology at Idaho State University.

Although the changes to farming practices are something that can be started immediately, Smith said, geologic carbon-trapping is about 20 to 30 years away from being viable.

But just changing agricultural practices across the United States could offset the carbon dioxide given off by about 25 million cars. The effect of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases is a global problem, and the United States has set a goal of reducing its greenhouse gas emissions 18 percent by 2012.

Check us out online!

Geologically, Smith said Idaho’s lava rock formations could be used for storing carbon dioxide created by industries burning coal and other fossil fuels. Carbon could be stripped from a plant’s emissions, pressurized into a liquid and then shipped to Idaho, where it would chemically bond with the lava rock to form stable calcium carbonates that will not return to the air.

The challenge is making options like that cost effective. Taxes imposed by other nations have had some effect, said Pamela Tomski, who studies carbon capture technologies for nonprofit EnTech Strategies.

”Right now, there are no economic incentives to do it in the U.S.,” Tomski said, although some states and organizations are contemplating their own proposals.

INEEL engineer David Shropshire, who is on a committee that is advising state officials on the issue, said people have to be made aware of the issue and options for dealing with it to create the market that will make techniques and technologies for putting carbon into the earth cost-effective.

”It’s the farmers who’ll benefit the most initially,” he said. ”Improved soil carbon storage will increase crop yield, and if a market gets started, there’ll be an opportunity to gain something from that value.”