Big Sky Carbon Sequestration Partnership

I want to highlight a project happening in several western states aimed at preparing the 'Big Sky' region for mediation of energy use and carbon storage in the future. Centered at Montana State University, the Big Sky Carbon Sequestration Partnership (part of the U.S. Department of Energy) is focused specifically on Montana, Wyoming, Idaho and South Dakota, although the work they do will have regional, national and global significance.

This partnership acknowledges that energy consumption is necessarily part of our country's well-being and growth. The key is to find ways to use local resources in a carbon neutral way in order to continue to meet society's energy needs. BSCSP is working on ways to harness the energy in the abundant fossil fuel reserves found in the Big Sky region, and safely and effectively store or offset the carbon emitted through sequestration and land-use mediation.

To this end, BSCSP is working on implementing two major sequestration test sites in underground geologic locations. The two test sites are in a mafic volcanic formation and in an underground saline aquifer, but the partnership is also studying and developing sequestration techniques for coal seams too deep for mining, and for empty oil reservoirs. As far as offset options, BSCSP is exploring terrestrial sequestration through mediation and management of land-use of agricultural crop lands, forests and range lands for livestock.

A cool interactive map can be found at BSCSP's Carbon Atlas site. Here you can explore the interactive GIS (geographic information system) map that the partnership has created through extensive field mapping and research. You can see regional variations in the amount of carbon currently emitted, projections of energy demand in the year 2020, and a comprehensive database showing where potential geologic carbon sequestration features are located: basaltic formations (mafic volcanic formations), deep coal beds, hydrocarbon reservoirs (old oil wells), and saline aquifers.