The Sleipner gas field off the shore of Norway, is the only one in the world that sends carbon dioxide underground not to bring up more oil, but purely to protect the climate. It is far cheaper for Sleipner to bury the stuff than to pay that tax. If we all were as sensible as the Norwegians, there would be a carbon tax everywhere, carbon sequestration would be economic, and the human-induced greenhouse effect would be slowed. I fervently hope that happens. What worries me is the possibility that that will be the end of the story, that we will relax, thinking we've found a magic bullet that lets us go on driving gas-guzzling SUVs to our hearts' delight.
Bullets only work when there's a single target, one problem, one neat cause, one effect.
In this case we have at least two problems, energy and climate, and many causes and effects. Carbon dioxide is the most prevalent climate-changing gas, but not the only one. Climate change is a major side effect of fossil fuel burning, but not the only one. We can't begin to sequester every carbon dioxide molecule coming from burning coal, oil, and gas, but even if we could, we would still have oil spills, acid rain, urban smog, messed up aquifers, strip mines, Middle East security worries, depletion, and all the other headaches associated with nonrenewable, unevenly located, sloppy fossil fuels. The good is the enemy of the best.