CO2 Sequestration opponents make case
(The following was submitted by Anne Vehre, a leading opponent to CO2 Sequestration in Darke County.)

    GREENVILLE – As the county seat, Greenville is a beautiful city surrounded by rich farmlands and lovely villages. Residents throughout the city and the county form a community that takes great pride in their history and their heritage. Living within this community are intelligent and hardworking people, who back their efforts with compassion and common sense. These are the people, who along with generations before them, have made Darke County what it is today.
    Will the sequestration of one million tons of carbon dioxide at the Andersons Marathon Ethanol Plant (TAME) in Greenville’s Industrial Park lead to the destruction of what the community has worked so hard to preserve? Could it open the door to a time when future generations will look back not with pride but with disgust because their once beautiful community has become the underground disposal center for CO2 waste emitted from not only the ethanol plant but from large coal-fired power plants throughout the Midwest and other states?
    According to literature put out by Battelle, there are nine states included in the Midwest Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership. These states are Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, New York, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia – which contain large coal – fired power plants. However, not all of these plants are near the Mount Simon Sandstone region – nor are they in the Midwest.
    Although sequestration means to store something for later use, this is not the intent of the Battelle-led Midwest Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership (MRCSP). According to all the presentations Battelle officials have made, their intent is instead to permanently dispose of one million tons of CO2 emitted from TAME through a pipe contained within concrete that will be bored through the bottom of the area’s sole-source freshwater aquifer. This will be necessary if they are to reach the Mount Simon Sandstone aquifer 3,500 below the earth’s surface, where the CO2 will be released. And, yes, the Mount Simon Sandstone formation does contain a saltwater aquifer, which Dave Ball, manager for the project, verified at a Darke County Environmental Council meeting on Friday, February 20, at Edison Community College.
    In a statement made to the House Subcommittee on Geologic Carbon Sequestration, Don Broussard, spoke on behalf of the American Water Works Association (AWWA) which represents 4,700 water utilities that produce approximately 80% of the drinking water in the United States. Broussard said as the demand for water increases during the upcoming century and changes in climate impact traditional water supplies, water utilities will look for new sources of drinking water. He said the possibility exists that utilities might want to use some of these injection site aquifers as new potable sources. In fact, he said, several communities across the country, where waters were previously considered to be unusable, due to salinity that was above 10,000 TDS, are now using desalination technology to provide water to utility customers. If the injection sites are contaminated due to the injection of CO2, he said, they will not be usable sources of water.
    In an article released on October 27, 2007, by the Associated Press, Brian Skoloff reported the US government projects at least 36 states will face water shortages within the next five years. Although he said the states most threatened are Florida, Texas and California, thirteen other states, including Ohio, are not far behind. The Great Lakes are shrinking and Upper New York’s reservoirs have dropped to record lows, he said. Interestingly, in a 1999 projection report, Battelle listed the development of desalination technology as one of their 20-year goals.
    As if the disposal by injection of one million tons of CO2, which puts two major aquifers at risk, is not worry enough, there are other plans in the works, which recently came to light. In April 2009, The U.S. Department of Energy released a report put out by its National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL). It is the laboratory with which Battelle and MRCSP are associated. Within this report is the following statement:
    The Mt. Simon Sandstone is the most promising target for CO2 sequestration in the Midwest and has the largest sequestration potential of any individual geologic unit within the MRCSP region. Emissions from large point sources in the MRCSP region (large coal-fired power plants) total more than 825 million tons (750 million metric tons) of CO2 per year. The Mt. Simon storage capacity estimate is at 95,600 million tons (86,900 million metric tons) which suggests that the Mt. Simon should have the capacity to store at least 50 percent of the regional emissions from point sources for at least 100 years.
    Please note that 95,600 million tons is actually 95.6 billion tons! By publishing their figures in millions, rather than in billions, they are presenting them in a way that will more likely gain public acceptance, which is one of their objectives listed below:
     The NETL report states that MRCSP says its overall goal is to validate the information and technology developed under the Characterization and Validation Phases relative to research and field activities, public outreach efforts, and regional characterization. The specific objectives are listed below. They are followed by notations and questions asked by The Citizens Against CO2 Sequestration.

MRCSP’S OBJECTIVES:

* Conduct a successful test at The Andersons Marathon Ethanol (TAME) site to verify the concept of sequestering at least one million tons of CO2 into the Mt. Simon Formation, one of the Midwest’s largest potential deep saline storage targets. (Notation: TAME is a shortened version of the plant’s name.)
* Verify the ability of the Mt. Simon Formation to meet the goal of storing 50 percent of the region’s point source CO2 emissions for the next 100 years. (Notation: These CO2 emissions amount to 95.6 billion tons. Do they have bigger plans for TAME’s injection site after the experimental test is over?)
* Develop a thorough understanding of the science, technology, regulatory framework, risk factors, and public opinion issues associated with large-scale injection operations. (Notation: The plant site is being used as a large-scale experimental test site to determine risk factors that could possibly expose the entire Greenville area and county to risks that might not only threaten water supplies, but the livelihoods and lives of area residents as well. Who assumes this liability? What protection do area residents have? Also, what kind of studies have they done to influence public opinion?)
* Corroborate monitoring, verification, and accounting (MVA) activities and modeling and equipment operations. (Notation: Who monitors the persons doing the monitoring? Can these reports be trusted when grant and matching funds amounting to $93 million are at stake?)
* Refine capacity estimates of the target formation based on results. (Notation: It looks as if the Mount Simon area, which runs through western Ohio, including much of Darke County, has been targeted for this experimental project. Should residents like and accept the idea of being part of a target site for an experimental project - - especially one that poses risks?)
* Collaborate with local stakeholders and solicit input to identify factors that contribute to public acceptance. (Notation: Who are the stakeholders? What kind of factors or studies have they conducted of area residents that will help them gain public acceptance for this project? Should area residents like the idea of being studied?)
    This information and more will be discussed at the Concerned Citizens Action Meeting on June 29, 7 p.m., at the Lighthouse Christian Center All Season’s Place on Sebring-Warner Road in Greenville. Guest Speakers will be Kerwin Olson, Project Director and Lobbyist for Citizens Action of Indiana; Kathleen Boutis, President, Green Coalition of Western Ohio. There will also be a surprise speaker, with extensive legal background, who is highly respected in the area. This person will inform those in attendance about the legal problems involved with the CO2 sequestration process, and how it will impact property values, property damage issues, and loopholes that put financial risks upon local residents and officials rather than upon the government officials responsible for the project. The public is urged to attend.
    For more information, visit
http://citizensagainstco2sequestration.blogspot.com/

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