Deep Hole Plays Role in Global-Warming Studies
A public meeting on a proposed 9,000-foot-deep borehole in southern Tuscarawas County to fight global warming and to boost Ohio coal will be held tonight.
The $2.3 million test well — called the Ohio StratigraphicBorehole — will be drilled about two miles northeast of Port Washington off state Route 36 in Salem Township. The site was selected over locations in Carroll and Meigs counties.
The borehole is designed to identify underground geological formations capable of sequestering, or storing, carbon dioxide, a gas identified as the No. 1 source of global warming.
Storing carbon dioxide underground is seen by many as a means by which Ohio coal could still be used for energy without adding to global warming. The burning of coal produces carbon dioxide.
Drilling is scheduled to begin in the next few months, with testing conducted for several months after that. The entire project, including analysis of the data collected, is scheduled for completion by late 2008. The drilling will be funded with$1 million from the Ohio legislature and $1.3 million from the Ohio Air Quality Development Authority.
Evidence indicates that Ohio is well positioned for such boreholes because of deep saline formations where the carbon dioxide could be safely stored and nearby rock layers that would seal it underground, once the technologies are fully developed to capture emissions.
If the test well confirms favorable conditions for carbon dioxide storage, it could lead to future industrial development in the Port Washington region, state officials said.
A similar test well has been completed by the Midwest Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership involving Ohio and seven other states at FirstEnergy Corp.’s R.E. Burger Power Plant in Jefferson County.
The meeting is being sponsored by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Battelle and the Tuscarawas County Community Improvement Corp.
The meeting will be from 7 to 9 p.m. in Room 126 of the Science and Advance Technology Building of Kent State University’s Tuscarawas Campus. That’s at 330 University Dr. N.E. in New Philadelphia. Parking is available in Lot A.
Bob Downing can be reached at 330-996-3745 or bdowning@thebeaconjournal.com.
—–
Copyright (c) 2007, The Akron Beacon Journal, Ohio
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
NYSE:FE,