Captured Carbon Can Be Safely Stored Underground: Study

Pfffft Goes Promise of Pumping C02 Underground
http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2011/01/12/PromiseOfPumpingCO2/
Farmers say high profile carbon sequestration experiment is a bubbling, dangerous failure.
By Andrew Nikiforuk, 12 Jan 2011, TheTyee.ca
Canada's poster child for so-called clean energy and "the world's first CO2 Measurement, Monitoring and Verification Initiative" may have sprung a serious leak in Saskatchewan.
And it's the sort of geological and political disclosure that just might unravel plans to spend billions of taxpayers' dollars on constructing elaborate carbon cemeteries across the country, if not the world.
The story, which includes explosions, dead animals, and an international cast of characters, also raises some critical questions about transparency and the quality of government regulation in a carbon-centric economy.
Nearly a decade ago, the Paris-based International Energy Agency linked up with the Petroleum Technology Research Centre (PTRC) in Regina, Saskatchewan to study the Weyburn oilfield as a perfect model graveyard for greenhouse gases. It lies underneath 50,000 acres of flat farmland.
At the time EnCana Corporation (now Cenovus Energy) had started to flood the aging crude field with gallons of salt water and tonnes of CO2 piped from a North Dakota coal gasification plant nearly 320 miles away.
Carbon dioxide, an atmospheric climate warmer and ocean acidifier, simply coaxed more oil from the reservoir and enhanced production rates. Much of the CO2 also stayed in the reservoir.
As a consequence the IEA, the U.S. government, Alberta Research Council and 20 industrial firms -- including Cenovus -- spent more than $40 million to monitor what would become the world's largest demonstration project for storing carbon underground.
MORE:
http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2011/01/12/PromiseOfPumpingCO2/

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Sask. farmers worried about CO2 leaks
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/saskatchewan/story/2011/01/11/sk-carbon-complaint-1101.html
Last Updated: Tuesday, January 11, 2011 The Canadian Press
A Saskatchewan farm couple say greenhouse gases that were supposed to be stored permanently underground are leaking out, killing animals and sending groundwater foaming to the surface like shaken-up soda pop.
Cameron and Jane Kerr, who own land above the Weyburn oilfield in eastern Saskatchewan, have released a consultant's report that claims to link high concentrations of carbon dioxide in their soil to gas injected underground every day.
Energy giant Cenovus injects 8,000 tonnes of the gas every day in an attempt to enhance oil recovery and fight climate change.
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A consultant found high concentrations of carbon dioxide in the soil that matches the carbon dioxide Cenovus has been injecting, he says.
The Saskatchewan NDP government had agreed to conduct a year-long study to find out what was going on, but that hasn't happened since the government changed in 2007.
The suggestion that the Weyburn capture-and-storage project might be leaking could have implications for similar projects that try to store carbon underground, a technique being studied around the world with billions of dollars of public financing.

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CO2 Levels at Leaking Canadian Carbon Storage Project Could Asphyxiate You In One Place
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2011/01/co2-levels-leaking-canadian-carbon-storage-project-asphyxiate-you.php
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY 01.12.11 Science & Technology
Some more on the leaking carbon sequestration project in Canada that has killed farm animals, and caused all sorts of strange problems for farmers Cameron and Jane Kerr. A new piece in The Tyee fills in some of the background details and the current situation. All of it highlights the serious questions that remain about CCS projects and calls into doubt the continue support by politicians and polluters who seemingly hold out hope for the climate change mitigation technology. Here's what's going on in Saskatchewan:
Going back to 2004, the Kerrs began noticing some leaks. This is shortly after both the IEA and the Petroleum Technology Research Centre claimed that there were no leaks in the Weyburn field CO2 storage project, which now stores more than 17 million metric tons of CO2 and is the world's largest geologic carbon sequestration project. Since that time the public monitoring data on the project "appears to have disappeared."
A year earlier, the Kerrs observed strange things happening in a gravel pit, which promptly filled with water after being dug--the water started hissing bubbles, foaming, and becoming discolored. Ducks, rabbits and nearby goat died. In 2007 the pond exploded.
The provincial government promised to do a year-long study, but never did. Which prompted the Kerrs to undertake the study, which Eco-Justice and others helped with and was released yesterday.
Here's the really scary part:
In one location alone [Paul Lafleur, of Petro-Find Geochem] detected concentrations as high as 110,607 parts per million (ppm), twice the amount needed to asphyxiate a person. Near the Kerr's home he also recorded concentrations of 17,000 ppm, a level "that far exceed the threshold level for health concerns." As a consequence "CO2 could enter the home in dangerous concentrations through the crawl space due to negative pressures caused by a natural gas heating furnace."
Given that Cenovus's closest injection well lies a mile away from the Kerr home, Lafleur concluded that the CO2 was probably seeping through open fractures and faults that intersect the Weyburn field. In other words, there were cracks in the [carbon] cemetery.
In addition a Saskatchewan lab confirmed that the CO2 found at Kerr's place clearly originated from "the CO2 injected into the Weyburn reservoir."
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2011/01/co2-levels-leaking-canadian-carbon-storage-project-asphyxiate-you.php

More on Carbon Capture & Storage:
Canadian Carbon Sequestration Project Leaking, Killing Farm Animals & Causing Algae Blooms
Carbon Capture And Storage Will Happen - Here's Why We Should Support It
Leaking Underground Carbon Storage Schemes Could Contaminate Drinking Water Aquifers
Will Carbon Capture & Storage (CCS) Conflict With Mineral & Property Rights?