No Carbon Left Behind
Open-Access Carbon Management in Wyoming
What is the Carbon Blueprint project?
Carbon Blueprint is a DOE project led by a consortium of small businesses, state and federal institutions, and Wyoming companies (see Team) that is exploring what an open-access Wyoming carbon hub could look like. The project is working with stakeholders including community groups, state and federal entities, private industry, and tribal nations. The Carbon Blueprint is developing a tribal engagement program for carbon management, as well as a focus on commercial development and community engagement.
The project will design a new approach to carbon management, a collaborative and open-access carbon management hub focused on the concept of No Carbon Left Behind – no stranded CO2, now or in the future. The Nation is going to need many carbon hubs for our energy transition. The project will develop a Roadmap or Blueprint that will develop a set of lessons learned for other open-access carbon hubs including key practices for grounding carbon hub development in community engagement and workforce development.
What is this project’s purpose?
The Carbon Blueprint provides an opportunity to imagine how Wyoming’s carbon economy — the money, jobs, technology, natural resources, and people that will be impacted by the energy transition — could change and grow as carbon management technologies develop across the state. Just like an architectural blueprint, the purpose of this project is to sketch out potential futures, identifying the things Wyomingites would like to build, well before steel goes into the ground.
Carbon management refers to the many types of infrastructure, processes, and engineering that can be used to help reduce the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions released into the atmosphere from certain processes, like when certain types of power facilities generate electricity from coal or natural gas, and then either permanently store the captured CO2 or use it for something else.
What does this blueprint consider?
The blueprint aims to consider all the ways that energy and carbon management infrastructure can provide benefits to Wyoming residents, including:
- Workforce and jobs
- Economic development
- Community infrastructure
- Safety and health considerations
- Industrial and local business partnerships
- Storage (sometimes called sequestration) opportunities
- Transport needs for captured carbon-dioxide (or CO2)
- Impacts on and opportunities for tribal communities
- Wyoming community & business conversations
Why Wyoming?
Wyoming is no stranger to carbon management. The state has emerged as a global leader in the rapidly evolving carbon management industry. Some development is already underway, and we are potentially on the edge of a carbon management boom in the state. Now is the time to plan for No Carbon Left Behind.
The Carbon Blueprint project will help ask critical questions about how the state and all Wyomingites envision future carbon management systems serving the needs and future desires of local, Wyoming communities.
The state is a natural place to carry out this work. Wyoming is home to:
- High-quality underground rock formations that are well-suited for long-term storage of CO2
- Statewide interest and experience in investing in energy and carbon management infrastructure
- Well-established industries and businesses in Wyoming with advanced expertise in capturing, transporting, and storing CO2 as a business opportunity
- Policies and regulations that clearly define how to capture, store, and transport CO2, minimizing the risk to investors
- Skilled workers in vital industries, including coal, oil and gas, and construction
