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Carbon capture has been gaining momentum across the country, and recent federal-level investments are driving increased interest and encouraging partnership among Western states in developing the carbon capture industry. A new Westwise blog post from Center for Western Priorities Policy Director Rachael Hamby explores this emerging technology's challenges, opportunities, and progress.
Carbon capture is currently prohibitively expensive and has yet to be deployed at scales meaningful enough to make a dent in global atmospheric carbon levels. Most dangerously, it’s a distraction from existing solutions that actually work and an excuse to continue burning fossil fuels and emitting carbon. Yet with the urgent need to address the climate crisis, some carbon capture may be necessary in addition to investment in renewable energy sources.
When it comes to public lands in the West, U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management lands may be considered as potential sites for underground storage of captured carbon, and for pipeline corridors to move carbon from where it is captured to where it is stored. It is imperative that these projects are sited thoughtfully and that the community and environmental impacts of proposed projects are evaluated thoroughly.
Learn more about the complexities of carbon caption on CWP's Westwise blog.
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We have fewer people willing to stick it out and get to the positions that pay them for the work they are already doing. Those of us who have stuck around keep getting more and more stuff piled on because everybody else is leaving.”
