DUSTIN BLEIZEFFER Star-Tribune staff writer | Posted: Sunday, July 6, 2008 12:00 am
You wind advocates bristling at the alleged bipartisan support in Congress for extending the soon-to-expire federal tax credit for commercial wind development might not want to read this.
Remember when Congress, in 2005, signed a 20-year extension of the Price-Anderson Nuclear Industries Indemnity Act granting them legal immunity from environmental accidents? Well, that's different than a production tax credit, I understand. But it may provide some perspective in regard to how far Americans are willing to go to allow energy industries to operate with a reasonable amount of risk to environmental and human health.
In other words; there is no energy industry in the U.S. that doesn't benefit from some type of government subsidy or legal protection scheme.
Now, several Wyoming leaders want Congress to extend the same type of legal immunity that the nuclear industry enjoys to the fossil fuels industry. Specifically; carbon sequestration.
Rep. Tom Lubnau, R-Gillette, says it's the right thing to do, and it should be the federal government doing it not Wyoming.
"It doesn't make sense for the 550,000 citizens of Wyoming to take the responsibility for themselves and their children and the end-users who live in 35 states throughout the country," said Lubnau.
Lubnau has earned much national attention for his legislative work in Wyoming to pave a legal pathway to carbon sequestration. Along the way, he's worked with many geologists and scientists who say the chances of a catastrophic failure, or CO2 leak from underground sequestration, is highly unlikely.
If it's done right, there should be only a few 20-inch diameter holes reaching a mile or two into the earth to a natural geologic trap that's proven to have held oil and natural gases for millions of years. If a leak does occur, the CO2, in theory, would freeze a number of times before reaching the surface.
Protection of environmental and human health in the event of a leak is paramount, said Lubnau. But lawmakers are also asking themselves, "If there is a leak, who is liable for the financial credit that was created when the carbon was stored underground?"
The implications of creating the legal framework for large-scale carbon sequestration are global in scale, and much of the pioneering work is being done in Wyoming. And who thought that a state legislator from America's "Coal Capitol," Campbell County, would help lead the charge on some the world's most sweeping environmental legislation?
"This is so that people in Wyoming are able to work in 10 years," said Lubnau.
Now, while Wyoming looks out for its existing industries, it should also help advance a budding industry that's already "green."
Wyoming wind advocate Bruce Morley said politicians should not fall to the temptation of pitting one energy resource over another. That's something state leaders seem to understand given Wyoming's diverse portfolio of energy resources.
"There is a role for government to direct, and to formulate the big picture," said Morley.
Energy reporter Dustin Bleizeffer can be reached at (307) 577-6069 or dustin.bleizeffer@trib.com.