Geologists say Midwest rock formations could store carbon dioxide for 'eons'

[Sherman A1]

Two proposals for carbon pipelines throughout the Midwest would pipe carbon dioxide from dozens of ethanol plants to rock formations in North Dakota and Illinois where the CO2 would be buried deep underground. Rock formations like the Mount Simon Sandstone offer the ability to bury the carbon for “eons of time” more than a mile below the surface.

Crops and soil can absorb and store carbon dioxide — the chief greenhouse gas driving climate change — for potentially thousands of years.

But that can be undone in a season. So scientists talk about imprisoning that carbon dioxide in rocks — and the potential to lock it out of the atmosphere for millions of years.

Unlike soil, which can send carbon back into the atmosphere if disturbed when a farmer tills cropland, vast rock formations offer the ability to bury the carbon for “eons of time” more than a mile below the surface, said Steve Whittaker, the director of energy and minerals at the Illinois State Geological Survey.

https://www.kcur.org/news/2021-12-07/geologists-say-midwest-rock-formations-could-store-carbon-dioxide-for-eons

[quaint]

1. I'd like to see information from scientists not involved with the oil industry.

I have questions and concerns.