Which Regions Will Benefit from Federal Carbon Capture Hubs?

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Getting rid of carbon dioxide pollution from the atmosphere could be a massive moneymaker for the energy sectors in four U.S. regions.

In May, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) launched a $3.5 billion program for establishment of four regional hubs in the U.S. to capture carbon emissions. Now, attention has shifted to the potential contenders.

It’s anyone’s guess as to who will win the carbon capture derby. But a white paper published by the Carbon180 advocacy group suggests, based on government criteria, that areas of Alabama, California, Illinois, Kansas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Pennsylvania are among those with a good chance of landing one of the four carbon capture hubs.

Meanwhile, an analysis from the Great Plains Institute identifies 14 U.S. regions as being prime targets for hubs to capture carbon and hydrogen.

They are:

  • Denver

  • Houston

  • Northern Illinois

  • Kansas

  • Louisiana

  • The border area of Michigan and Ohio

  • Northern California

  • Southern California

  • North Dakota’s Bakken Shale

  • Oklahoma

  • The Pacific Northwest

  • Texas’ Permian Basin

  • Utah

  • Western Pennsylvania

Early speculation points to the O&G-rich Gulf of Mexico region as a top candidate for a DOE-blessed hub, putting states like Louisiana and Texas in a particularly favorable position. Louisiana already is being touted as the “carbon capture capital of the South,” in the wake of utility company Cleco picking the central part of the Pelican State for a $900 million carbon capture project.

The DOE plans to announce in late 2022 which proposed hubs will receive a chunk of the $3.5 billion earmarked for these projects.

At least two of the hubs are supposed to be in “economically distressed communities in the regions of the United States with high levels of coal, oil, or natural gas resources,” the DOE says. Each hub is expected to be able to capture and store at least 1 million tons of CO2.

You can be sure that ahead of the DOE’s financial decision, the web will be a hub of conjecture about which places could see a gusher of carbon capture cash.