STATEMENT OF

DR. MARK D. MYERS

DIRECTOR

U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

BEFORE THE

COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND NATURAL RESOURCES

UNITED STATES SENATE

LEGISLATIVE HEARING ON

S. 731

NATIONAL CARBON DIOXIDE

STORAGE CAPACITY ASSESSMENT ACT OF 2007

APRIL 16, 2007

Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee, thank you for the opportunity
to provide the Department of the Interior views on S. 731, "National
Carbon Dioxide Storage

Capacity Assessment Act of 2007."

The Administration supports the goals of the bill and agrees that the
activities authorized by this bill would address a critical information
need for our nation. We cannot, however, commit to meeting the
timeframes established by this bill. We could support this bill if it
were amended to address our concerns regarding the bill's mandatory
language and statutorily prescribed timeframes. The activities
authorized by this bill would need to compete among the Administration's
other priorities for funding. I look forward to working with the
committee to address these issues.

Geologic Carbon Sequestration

The challenges of addressing carbon dioxide accumulation in the
atmosphere are significant and the goals of S. 731 are a step forward
toward addressing information needs related to geologic storage of
carbon dioxide. Fossil fuel usage, a major source of carbon dioxide
emissions to the atmosphere, will continue in both industrialized and
developing countries. Therefore, a variety of strategies are being
investigated to reduce emissions and remove carbon dioxide from the
atmosphere. Geologic carbon sequestration is one such strategy.

Numerous carbon dioxide concentration stabilization targets have been
modeled to evaluate the technical and economic feasibility of carbon
dioxide capture and storage in the context of a mitigation strategy. The
current atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration is approximately 380
parts per million volume and rising at a rate of approximately 2 parts
per million volume annually, according to the most recent information
from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The fraction
of carbon emissions from all sources that must be eliminated or
sequestered to impact the magnitude of climate change is large. For
example, to stabilize carbon dioxide concentrations at about 550 parts
per million volume, the amount of carbon dioxide requiring elimination
or sequestration may be as much as 70 percent. Reductions of this
magnitude could involve implementation of several mechanisms, including
geological and biological sequestration, fuel shifts from fossil sources
to renewable biological sources, increased electricity generation from
solar and wind systems and nuclear power, and increased efficiency of
power generation, transmission, and end use. Each of these mechanisms
has distinct geological, hydrological, ecological, economic and social
implications that must be assessed on a wide range of scales, from
molecular to basin scales, to allow rational policy discussions and
decisions on implementation and deployment of technologies.

Geological storage of carbon dioxide in porous and permeable rocks
involves injection of carbon dioxide into a subsurface rock unit and
displacement of the fluid or formation water that initially occupied the
pore space. This principle operates in all types of potential geological
storage formations such as oil and gas fields, deep saline water-bearing
formations, or coal beds. Because the density of injected carbon dioxide
is less than the density of formation water, carbon dioxide will be
buoyant in pore space filled with water and rise vertically until it is
retained beneath a nonpermeable barrier (seal). A critical issue for
evaluation of storage capacity is the integrity and effectiveness of
these seals.

Views on S. 731

S. 731 deals specifically with the geologic storage of carbon dioxide.
The 2005 IPCC Special Report on *Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage*
indicated that, in emissions reductions scenarios striving to stabilize
global atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations at targets ranging from
450 to 750 parts per million volume, the global storage capacity of
geologic formations may be able to accommodate most of the captured
carbon dioxide. However, geologic storage capacity may vary on a
regional and national scale, and a more refined understanding of
geologic storage capacity is needed to address this knowledge gap.

S. 731 requires the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the
Director of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), to develop a methodology
for conducting a national assessment of geological storage capacity for
carbon dioxide, convene a review committee to evaluate the methodology,
allow for a public comment period, and conduct a national assessment of
geological storage capacity for carbon dioxide.

While the USGS does not currently have experience assessing the national
capacity of geologic sequestration of carbon dioxide, USGS experience
with national and international assessments of natural resources could
allow USGS to develop geologically based methodologies to assess the
National capacity for geologic sequestration of carbon dioxide. We
envision the national geologic carbon dioxide storage assessment
methodology would be largely analogous to the peer-reviewed
methodologies used in USGS oil, gas, and coal resource assessments. In
addition, the USGS' knowledge of regional groundwater aquifer systems
and groundwater chemistry would allow USGS to develop methods to assess
potential storage in saline water-bearing formations ("saline
aquifers"). Previous studies have postulated the existence of very large
carbon dioxide storage capacities in saline aquifers, but the extent to
which these capacities can be utilized remains unknown. The USGS could
create a scientifically based, multi-disciplinary methodology for
geologic carbon dioxide storage assessment that can be consistently
applied on a national scale.

Under this bill, the USGS would coordinate and cooperate with the
Department of Energy, the Environmental Protection Agency, other
Department of Interior bureaus, State geological surveys and other
relevant entities that are carrying out carbon sequestration activities
to ensure the usefulness and success of the assessment. Many states
already have some storage capacity data already developed, most of which
is compiled in the National Carbon Sequestration Atlas published by the
Department of Energy. The data for this atlas was compiled by the
Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnerships which my colleague from the
Department of Energy previously mentioned.

[Concerns with S. 731]{.underline}

Section 3 of the bill requires that the Secretary develop a methodology
within 270 days of enactment of the bill with subsequent mandatory
requirements for review and comment, independent verification, and final
publication. Additionally, Section 4 of the bill requires the Secretary
to complete a national assessment within two years after the methodology
is finalized. The Administration supports a national assessment, but the
activities authorized under this bill must compete under the normal
prioritization, budgetary, and funding processes. To ensure that this
happens, the bill would have to be amended to provide flexible
timeframes that will ensure that the national assessment will be funded
consistent with other Administration and Congressional priorities. The
bill does not provide sufficient time to develop the methodology and
carry out the required assessment. USGS needs flexibility to ensure that
we are able to develop the best product. Furthermore, to ensure
appropriate flexibility in budgetary management, the Administration
recommends that this bill be amended to authorize rather than require
the national assessment. We would like to work with the committee to
revise the bill to address these issues. If the bill is amended to
satisfactorily address these concerns, the Administration would support
it.

In conclusion, the Administration agrees with the goals of the bill to
develop a standard, peer reviewed methodology to assess the nation's
geologic storage capacity of carbon dioxide and produce a national scale
assessment using this methodology. We would also like to underline the
importance of using a collaborative and non-duplicative inter-agency
approach to build on the existing data, including DOE's National Carbon
Sequestration Atlas. The activities authorized in this bill would
ultimately result in a geologically based, robust, and peer-reviewed
national scale assessment and I look forward to working with the
Committee on important revisions to the bill to ensure that the
Administration would be able to support it.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for the opportunity to present this testimony.
 I will be pleased to answer questions you and other Members of the
Committee might have.