Family Life

05.11.09 | Terry Diener

A new state report says depleted oil and gas wells, coal beds that cannot be mined, and salt caverns in north-central and western Pennsylvania are likely places to store carbon in order to use clean coal technology and curb greenhouse gas emissions. Pennsylvania is taking the first steps toward developing a system to capture carbon dioxide emissions from industrial plants.

The gas will be compressed and cooled and then transported via pipelines for storage in underground "sinks" for thousands of years. The report by the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources says western Pennsylvania is a primary likely storage location.

Officials say a lot is known about subsurface rock formations after a century and a half of oil and gas drilling. But reliable data is scarce in central and eastern Pennsylvania, where fewer wells have been drilled.