North Dakota Energy Council Advances Carbon Capture Marketing Campaign – InForum

BISMARCK — A campaign to educate the public about carbon capture advanced through the selection process Wednesday, but one environmental group is questioning why the state government would support the effort.

A group at the North Dakota Energy Council on Wednesday, Feb. 21, told Bismarck-based AE2S Communications to educate people in the state about carbon capture and storage methods and the potential uses of carbon. Recommended to win a $300,000 contract to help.

The North Dakota Industrial Commission is scheduled to vote on the recommendation on February 27th.

AE2S was one of two companies to submit proposals for the $300,000 grant, presenting what it called a strategic communications and marketing plan to be finalized by the end of the year.

AE2S was approved by votes of three state energy councils: the Lignite Research Council, the Oil and Gas Research Council, and the Renewable Energy Council. The City Council is funded by taxes paid by the energy industry. AE2S was chosen over a public relations firm in Minneapolis.

AE2S’s presentation to these groups leveraged the Fargo-based Fieldstone Group, co-owned by the Western Dakota Energy Association, which represents local governments, and conservative talk radio host and columnist Scott Hennen. was emphasized.

Other partners identified are the University of Dakota Center for Energy and Environmental Research and North Dakota State University Extension.

David Ripplinger is a bioenergy economist at North Dakota State University Extension. He wrote a letter of support for the AE2S proposal to help the state’s residents understand this topic through “science-based education.”

He said the topic of carbon capture is controversial, especially as some landowners face the possibility of dangerous liquid pipelines being installed on their properties.

“This is a sensitive but important issue for our state, our agriculture, our rural communities and all of our citizens,” Ripplinger said in an interview. “So even though it’s sensitive, it doesn’t mean it’s not important and it doesn’t mean there shouldn’t be education.”

He said education and promotion are two different things.

“It’s not our job to promote things,” he said.

Agriculture is linked to carbon capture and storage through the ethanol industry and the farmers who grow corn to feed ethanol plants.

Two ethanol plants in North Dakota, Red Trail Energy in Richardton and Blue Flint Ethanol in Underwood, already pump carbon into underground storage.

A controversial carbon capture pipeline proposal by Summit Carbon Solutions would connect ethanol plants in five states, including one in North Dakota, to an underground storage facility northwest of Bismarck.

Scott Skokos is executive director of the Dakota Resource Council, which is helping organize landowners to oppose the Summit pipeline for reasons including safety, damage to property values ​​and farmland.

He says the government should not be involved, even though funding for educational activities comes from the energy industry.

“You’re using your tax dollars to do the work of private industry,” Skokos said.

He said the public generally trusts government sources more than private industry, and the energy industry is taking advantage of that government trust.

“This is essentially a national lobbying effort for carbon capture,” he says.

The Summit project was not mentioned at Wednesday’s meeting.

The captured carbon is designated for permanent sequestration in Mercer and Oliver counties, according to Summit’s application to the North Dakota Public Service Commission for the pipeline route. But Summit also said the pipeline could be used to transport CO2 to enhance oil recovery.

Some in the oil and gas industry see enhanced oil recovery as key to keeping North Dakota’s oil and gas industry booming in the future, said North Dakota State Geologist Kathy Nessett, but the Bakken The technology for using oil and gas in oil reservoirs is still being tested.

Other industrial uses for carbon dioxide include building materials and carbonated beverages.

There are also federal tax credits to incentivize carbon storage and use.

A poll released Tuesday by the North Dakota News Cooperative also included a question about the benefits of carbon capture to the environment and showed that 40% of North Dakotans have not yet formed an opinion on the issue. It was done.

Skokos said looking at polling details and anecdotal evidence, people outside of the Summit pipeline corridor are making little decisions.

“Some people are very knowledgeable,” Skokos said, including pipeline opponents.

Summit says it holds about 80% of the required easements in North Dakota, but is behind its original project schedule of starting operations in 2024. The company is still working on obtaining permits, including in North Dakota.

“I think the path from permitting to construction to operation could have been a little smoother,” Ripplinger said of the carbon capture pipeline. “Obviously that’s not happening.”

This article was originally published on NorthDakotaMonitor.com