The Public Service Commission has approved a pipeline project, to carry carbon dioxide from the Great Plains Synfuels Plant to underground storage nearby.
The project consists of 2.9 miles if 12 inch diameter pipe, plus 3.9 miles of 6 inch diameter pipe.
"This is really taking North Dakota into the whole world of capturing and storing carbon dioxide from our energy production in our own state," said PSC Chair Julie Fedorchak.
Fedorchak said this is a pathway to North Dakota becoming a leader in this area.
"The whole challenge of capturing our carbon dioxide globally, and reducing those emissions — it makes so much sense to me that the quickest way to do that, and reduce our global emissions, is to capture itg off existing sources and store it," Fedorchak said.
Great Plains’ parent company – Basin Electric Power Cooperative – plans to start construction on the $25 million project in September, with an in-service date of August, 2022.
Fedorchak says this is one step – the other being the siting of “injection wells.”
There is a pending sale of the Great Plains plant to Mitsubishi.
