Carbon Removal Day: Advancing Geologic Carbon Sequestration in the Pacific Northwest for Carbon Capture and Removal

Washington has set an ambitious commitment to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions 95% below 1990 levels by 2050. To meet this statutory goal, the State will need safe, permanent geologic carbon sequestration—a process in which carbon dioxide removed from the atmosphere or captured at industrial point sources is stored in a geologic formation for millennia with little or no likelihood of leakage. Fortunately, Washington is underlain by the Columbia River Basalt Group (CRBG), which has enormous potential to be part of the decarbonization solution. Pioneering laboratory and field research by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) has led to an estimate that the CRBG could permanently sequester over 40 billion tons of CO2—about eight times the United States’ current total annual emissions. Over the last year, a team of public and private researchers has taken a closer, deeper look at roughly 500 square miles (1300 square kilometers) of the CRBG in south-central Washington. This study, known as the Washington TrapRock Geophysical Research Surveys and supported with funding from the…