As long as there is oil and gas in the ground in upstate NY, some enterprising out-of-state corporation will want to wrestle it out of the earth.
A new proposal by “Southern Tier CO2 to Clean Energy Solutions” has been unveiled in the past two weeks — a massive carbon-capture project that includes drilling in shale formations to inject (and store) carbon dioxide that cleverly circumvents current drilling laws. The company plans on capturing methane gas displaced by the CO2. The plans call for thousands of wells to be drilled.
Haven’t we been here before with hydrofracking frenzy?
The details of the Southern Tier CO2 were reported in the online publication “Waterfront” published by Watkins Glen-based journalist Peter Mantius. His story also outlines a recent meeting the Texas-based company had with landowners in Chemung, Tioga and Broome counties. The company has sent out more than 6,000 information packets to landowners about signing a lease agreement for use of their land for the drilling.
Shale drilling to get at oil and natural gas? This happened in NY when hydrofracking was the rage. But in this case, the drilling would be pumping solely carbon dioxide into the ground, resulting in methane gas surfacing. This extraction regime slickly circumvents New York State law that prevents traditional hydrofracking, which requires millions of gallons of water per well, all loaded with chemicals.
Southern Tier CO2 is touting the proposal as an environmentally friendly carbon sequestration project. And on the surface it seems it could be.
But some of the gain will be lost initially because the carbon dioxide needed will, of necessity, be purchased from Gulf of Mexico sources and delivered to drill sites by rail, the company says. Train transit doesn’t sound very carbon neutral. Longer-term plans call for Southern Tier CO2 to build power plants across the Southern Tier and use equipment that can remove carbon dioxide directly from atmosphere.
If talk of lease-agreements brings back memories, it should. Many thousands of acres of NY state land was under contract with hydrofracking companies as the debate raged over whether it should be allowed.
At first blush, it appears the company’s scheme bears a striking resemblance to the defunct Inergy/Crestwood Midstream plan to store liquid propane gas in salt caverns on the shore of Seneca Lake. That plan also seemed to appear almost out of thin air.
Another similarity is the huge scale of both plans.
Inergy/Crestwood officials positively preened when touting that the salt cavern storage facility they wanted would be a hub for LPG storage and transportation to serve the entire Northeastern U.S. Southern Tier CO2, President Bryce Phillips and the company are talking about getting huge tracts of land under lease installing sophisticated equipment to capture carbon dioxide directly from the air — and building power plants.
Pretty big plans, too.
Add to that, among the many drill sites envisioned, a network of buried pipelines would transport CO2 and methane to supply operations and transport for stored. There would be pipelines with natural gas going hither and yon. That infrastructure — like the wells — will scream for a thorough environmental review. Environmentalists are likely to question the impact on the environment by burning the gas generated, too.
The concepts of carbon sequestration and carbon credits have plenty of skeptical critics who question how efficient they are at battling climate change. And for the moment the Southern Tier CO2 project remains firmly on the launch pad. Phillips says his company needs to lock up a minimum of 100,00 acres before forging ahead.
If they hit that number, hard questions will arise quickly.
Bottom line?
Out-of-state corporations look at pristine upstate NY acreage to drill and store. Finger Lakes residents see the land as a place to protect for wine and agricultural production and tourism.
They have shown they will do what it takes to protect it.
And will again, if needed.
Fitzgerald has worked at six newspapers as a writer and editor, as well as a correspondent for two news services. He splits his time between Valois, N.Y., and the Pacific Northwest. Email him at Michael.Fitzgeraldfltcolumnist@gmail.com. Visit his website at michaeljfitzgerald.blogspot.com.
WRITE ON: CO2, methane and climate change
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17.11.2023
As long as there is oil and gas in the ground in upstate NY, some enterprising out-of-state corporation will want to wrestle it out of the earth.
A new proposal by “Southern Tier CO2 to Clean Energy Solutions” has been unveiled in the past two weeks — a massive carbon-capture project that includes drilling in shale formations to inject (and store) carbon dioxide that cleverly circumvents current drilling laws. The company plans on capturing methane gas displaced by the CO2. The plans call for thousands of wells to be drilled.
Haven’t we been here before with hydrofracking frenzy?
The details of the Southern Tier CO2 were reported in the online publication “Waterfront” published by Watkins Glen-based journalist Peter Mantius. His story also outlines a recent meeting the Texas-based company had with landowners in Chemung, Tioga and Broome counties. The company has sent out more than 6,000 information packets to landowners about signing a lease agreement for use of their land for the drilling.
Shale drilling to get at oil and natural gas? This happened in NY when........
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