Carbon sequestration bills are needed
By Independent Record - 12/31/2008
We think western-Montana Democratic legislators are on the right track when it comes to helping carbon sequestration become a reality in the state.
An IR State Bureau story Tuesday cited four of them who have requested bills addressing the issue.
Sen.-elect Ron Erickson of Missoula, a retired UM environmental studies professor, wants to beef up rule making for the process of pumping waste carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels into the ground, including giving ownership of that space to the surface owners. He also is pushing a bill requiring coal companies to capture their carbon or offset it by buying carbon credits.
Rep. Betsy Hand of Missoula has a bill requiring “carbon neutral” building construction, Rep. Dan Villa of Anaconda is sponsoring legislation to look at offsetting carbon dioxide with less-polluting natural gas, and Sen. Dave Wanzenried of Missoula has a measure authorizing monitoring of greenhouse gas emissions.
Passage of such measures won’t be easy in a Legislature that’s almost evenly divided politically. As the Lee State Bureau pointed out, no lawmaker of either party from east of the Continental Divide, where Montana’s coal mines, power plants and oil refineries are, have introduced legislation on this topic.
Still, carbon sequestration is the future. Montana already lags behind Wyoming in passing legislation necessary to make it happen, and there’s no time like the present to begin catching up.
An IR State Bureau story Tuesday cited four of them who have requested bills addressing the issue.
Sen.-elect Ron Erickson of Missoula, a retired UM environmental studies professor, wants to beef up rule making for the process of pumping waste carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels into the ground, including giving ownership of that space to the surface owners. He also is pushing a bill requiring coal companies to capture their carbon or offset it by buying carbon credits.
Rep. Betsy Hand of Missoula has a bill requiring “carbon neutral” building construction, Rep. Dan Villa of Anaconda is sponsoring legislation to look at offsetting carbon dioxide with less-polluting natural gas, and Sen. Dave Wanzenried of Missoula has a measure authorizing monitoring of greenhouse gas emissions.
Passage of such measures won’t be easy in a Legislature that’s almost evenly divided politically. As the Lee State Bureau pointed out, no lawmaker of either party from east of the Continental Divide, where Montana’s coal mines, power plants and oil refineries are, have introduced legislation on this topic.
Still, carbon sequestration is the future. Montana already lags behind Wyoming in passing legislation necessary to make it happen, and there’s no time like the present to begin catching up.
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Reader Comments:
Ty_Webb wrote on Dec 31, 2008 2:00 PM:
" Artificial carbon sequestration is still completely untested and guaranteed to be very expensive when it becomes feasible (4-6 years off, minimum.) Beyond this, it will require huge amounts of energy to implement (causing MORE pollution) while putting both our water supply and surface vegetation at serious risk. These facts, however, are not the worst part of the IR's ignorance.
Natural carbon sequestration exists abundantly throughout nature, as all living plants and trees safely and effectively store (sequester) carbon. Forests soak up vast amounts of carbon every day until they are chopped down for fuel, paper or building materials. Carbon is then stored in the finished products or released into the air when used as fuel. Therefore, tree- or plant-based products are a great way to sequester carbon--but this requires a renewable source to be sustainable (and profitable.)
We are taught to believe this renewable source does not exist, but it does. Hemp grows 16 feet in three months on marginal land (soaking up carbon like a sponge) and can be used to replace ALL petroleum and timber products. Farmers could make good money providing the raw materials for environmentally-friendly manufacturers of paper, building materials and automobiles (just to name a few.) Henry Ford made a car primarily out of hemp, and even developed a fuel far superior to E85 before the plant was outlawed through a massive propaganda campaign (sponsored by those most threatened by hemp's future as the "New Billion Dollar Crop," as reported by Popular Mechanics in 1938.)
This information is well-documented and available all over the internet, if one is so inclined to actually look. It is truly a shame that our 'independent' newspaper (owned by Lee enterprises) does not see these facts as being newsworthy. If they were to do their research, they would also discover that our entire 'War on Drugs' is a dismal failure--as the statistics gathered by Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (www.leap.cc) easily prove.
Our environmental and economic crises require immediate solutions, and these solutions do exist--they just do not support the status quo (read: old money.) Hemp cultivation can help rebuild this country and usher in a golden age for both farmers and manufacturers, once our 'journalists' realize the information exchange enabled by advancing internet technology is NOT the enemy. Either we learn to embrace change, or we will go the way of the dodo bird. "
Natural carbon sequestration exists abundantly throughout nature, as all living plants and trees safely and effectively store (sequester) carbon. Forests soak up vast amounts of carbon every day until they are chopped down for fuel, paper or building materials. Carbon is then stored in the finished products or released into the air when used as fuel. Therefore, tree- or plant-based products are a great way to sequester carbon--but this requires a renewable source to be sustainable (and profitable.)
We are taught to believe this renewable source does not exist, but it does. Hemp grows 16 feet in three months on marginal land (soaking up carbon like a sponge) and can be used to replace ALL petroleum and timber products. Farmers could make good money providing the raw materials for environmentally-friendly manufacturers of paper, building materials and automobiles (just to name a few.) Henry Ford made a car primarily out of hemp, and even developed a fuel far superior to E85 before the plant was outlawed through a massive propaganda campaign (sponsored by those most threatened by hemp's future as the "New Billion Dollar Crop," as reported by Popular Mechanics in 1938.)
This information is well-documented and available all over the internet, if one is so inclined to actually look. It is truly a shame that our 'independent' newspaper (owned by Lee enterprises) does not see these facts as being newsworthy. If they were to do their research, they would also discover that our entire 'War on Drugs' is a dismal failure--as the statistics gathered by Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (www.leap.cc) easily prove.
Our environmental and economic crises require immediate solutions, and these solutions do exist--they just do not support the status quo (read: old money.) Hemp cultivation can help rebuild this country and usher in a golden age for both farmers and manufacturers, once our 'journalists' realize the information exchange enabled by advancing internet technology is NOT the enemy. Either we learn to embrace change, or we will go the way of the dodo bird. "
patriot wrote on Dec 31, 2008 10:57 AM:
" Finally the IR has presented an opinion, thank you.
However the rush to judgement for carbon sequestration is amazing. Will the Montana legislature hobble the private sector by transferring a substantial amount of resources to the government sector and foster technological innovation. It empowers the government to choose which prospective alternative energy technologies should be supported. We are then betting our energy future on the wisdom and knowledge of the energy scientists on individual state governments and the US congress.
Global warming should not be used as an excuse to increase the size of government. The most assured means to obtain effective alternative energy technologies is to allow the private sector to continually experiment (and often fail) with different ideas.
Computer models and theoretical calculations are not evidence, they are just theory.
VRC and mtsilvertip have made some good points. I can hardly wait for skooters ( Al Gore's ) response, as they fly off in their private jet to vacation on some Pacific island retreat. "
However the rush to judgement for carbon sequestration is amazing. Will the Montana legislature hobble the private sector by transferring a substantial amount of resources to the government sector and foster technological innovation. It empowers the government to choose which prospective alternative energy technologies should be supported. We are then betting our energy future on the wisdom and knowledge of the energy scientists on individual state governments and the US congress.
Global warming should not be used as an excuse to increase the size of government. The most assured means to obtain effective alternative energy technologies is to allow the private sector to continually experiment (and often fail) with different ideas.
Computer models and theoretical calculations are not evidence, they are just theory.
VRC and mtsilvertip have made some good points. I can hardly wait for skooters ( Al Gore's ) response, as they fly off in their private jet to vacation on some Pacific island retreat. "
enu22 wrote on Dec 31, 2008 9:15 AM:
" Carbon Sequestration legislation should and will become reality. Think of this "common-sense" legislation as another step in the process of limiting and preventing polution. If companies polute why shouldn't they pay toward cleaning up their mess? Doesn't it make good sense to have companies "pay to clean up their pollution as they go" rather than rely on taxpayer money and government bureaucrats to do the job after the fact? Times are changing and we must change with the times. "
mtsilvertip wrote on Dec 31, 2008 7:48 AM:
" Just what we need. Another backdoor attempt to stop all mining, manufacturing and power generation in Montana.
Aren't we in trouble enough? Do we really need to sacrifice more jobs on the alter of a politically correct cause celeb religion that has no basis in science, only disproven computer simulations, and has been proven false repeatedly?
Why not worry about CREATING jobs instead of doing everything possible to destroy them?
Why don't legislators do something to improve our lives, not make them harder, especially when there is no reason for the suffering that will be caused through job loss and higher utility rates. "
Aren't we in trouble enough? Do we really need to sacrifice more jobs on the alter of a politically correct cause celeb religion that has no basis in science, only disproven computer simulations, and has been proven false repeatedly?
Why not worry about CREATING jobs instead of doing everything possible to destroy them?
Why don't legislators do something to improve our lives, not make them harder, especially when there is no reason for the suffering that will be caused through job loss and higher utility rates. "
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enu22 wrote on Dec 31, 2008 11:05 PM: