Oregon
Oregon geologist looks to volcanic rock to store carbon dioxide as tool to fight climate change • Oregon Capital Chronicle
Layers of volcanic rock in eastern Oregon, the Willamette Valley and the Columbia Basin have created fertile soil for farming and ranching, but in the future it could provide fruitful ground for a whole other industry designed to fight climate change.
Oregon’s state geologist is pitching a novel idea of using the region’s rocky basalt layer – born of lava that flowed millions of years ago from cracks in the Earth’s crust – to be a bank for storing planet-warming carbon dioxide.
Ruarri Day-Stirrat, state geologist and executive director of the Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries, discussed the potential for geologic carbon sequestration at a State Land Board meeting in Salem last month, and will seek funding to begin investigating potential sites in eastern Oregon. It involves using machines to capture carbon dioxide from the air or to capture it directly from a source like a big livestock operation or a factory, turning it into a solid mineral and storing it in rocky layers deep in the earth. The strategy is still a very new one, and so far not cost-effective or scalable in the fight against climate change. But places like Oregon, Washington and Iceland that have lots of volcanic rock are unique in their potential to store carbon deep underground.
“At the moment, it’s definitely in that seed idea,” Day-Stirrat told the Capital Chronicle. “We want to drill a stratigraphic test well to understand whether it’s even plausible – not even feasible – but plausible.”
At the encouragement of the State Land Board – which includes Gov. Tina Kotek, Secretary of State LaVonne Griffin-Valade and state Treasurer Tobias Read – he’ll present the idea to the state Legislature in January and start to raise funding.
There’s potential to store more than 14,000 megatons of carbon dioxide in the basalt beneath Oregon and Washington, according to a 2013 U.S. Geological Survey study. That’s equivalent to more than 200 years worth of carbon dioxide emissions from Oregonians and Oregon industry. In eastern Oregon, quite a bit of that rocky layer is deep beneath land owned by the state, which is where Day-Stirrat sees the greatest potential for development.
But it’s expensive to drill and develop a project, and could be counterintuitive to the mission of reducing pollution and slowing climate change if energy must be used to capture the carbon dioxide, mineralize it and to inject it into the ground. Modeling from the En-ROADS simulator developed by the nonprofit Climate Interactive and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology shows that direct carbon capture and storage is not the most effective way to spend money in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and it would be far more effective in the next 75 years to spend money to decarbonize the energy sector and to tax polluters.
“We should be investigating a lot of different solutions. And yes, each project has more or less cost. And at the moment, we’re probably doing all the cheap ones, and they’re cheap for a reason,” Day-Stirrat said.
Northwest projects
Some direct air capture and geologic carbon storage projects are already underway. In the Dalles, Google is building its own $20 million direct carbon capture facility. The University of Wyoming is also running a test project near Hermiston, with more than $10 million from the U.S. Department of Energy to eventually capture carbon dioxide emissions from a natural gas plant, mineralize them and inject them into underground basalt.
In those facilities, a chemical filter grabs or locks carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and holds onto it until it is isolated, turned to a solid and then injected into the earth.
Test projects are also happening in Washington, and a consortium that includes the Rocky Mountain Institute, a Colorado-based climate nonprofit, and the Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries is trying to create a direct carbon capture and storage hub in the Northwest.
To initiate a project in eastern Oregon, Day-Stirrat said his agency needs to be able to drill more than 3,500 feet beneath the ground to see how deep the water table is, where water flow zones are and if there are any plausible areas to store mineralized carbon and if it’s possible to get the mineralized carbon that deep. Standards set by the Environmental Protection Agency do not allow any geologic carbon sequestration to happen in an area where water could be compromised, Day-Stirrat said.
“Direct air capture still has a ways to go. But there’s a lot of research and development money going into understanding the technology and what the scale up globally could look like,” he said.
Day-Stirrat, 45, said he expects in his lifetime to see it used as a tool for reducing emissions and slowing the worst outcomes of climate change.
“I’d be disappointed if it doesn’t,” he said.
GET THE MORNING HEADLINES.
A 73-year-old man was sentenced on Tuesday to 20 years in prison for the 1983 killing of his then-girlfriend. It was a case that went unsolved for more than 40 years.
The sentence was announced by Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield.
In July 1983, Teresa Peroni, 27, was reported missing after attending a party in the Selma area of Josephine County southwest of Grants Pass. She was last seen walking in the woods with her boyfriend Marcus Sanfratello.
Authorities deemed Peroni’s disappearance suspicious, but they lacked evidence to bring charges against anyone.
In 1997, a human skull was found on private property near where Peroni disappeared. In 2024, authorities in Josephine County reopened the case. In addition to re-interviewing witnesses, they collected new DNA evidence to build a case against Sanfratello.
With the DNA, experts at the University of North Texas confirmed the skull was Peroni’s.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Man arraigned on murder charge in Oregon for death of then-girlfriend in 1980s cold case
A grand jury indicted Sanfratello of second-degree murder, on June 27, 2025.
Police arrested Sanfratello in Chico, California the next day. He was then extradited to Oregon to face the charge of murder.
Under a plea agreement, Sanfratello pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter.
He will serve at least 10 years in prison, Oregon’s attorney general’s office said.
“For Teresa Peroni’s family, this has been a 43-year wait for an answer they never should have had to wait for,” Rayfield said in a news release. “Cases like this remind us of why we don’t give up. It doesn’t matter how many years have passed — if someone took a life, we’re going to keep working until we can hold them accountable.”
Oregon
100+ Women Who Care of Central Oregon Donates Nearly $20,000 to M Perfectly – The Source – Bend, Oregon
The Oregon Ducks are set for one of the biggest timelines of their recruiting cycle, as many top targets are nearing commitments. This time around, the Ducks have a ton of top targets still remaining on their board compared to past seasons, as the Ducks have eight total commitments at this time.
Oregon coach Dan Lanning and his staff still need to land a safety commitment, but three-star safety Elijah Butler out of Maryland recently included the Ducks in his final six schools.
Oregon Target Elijah Butler Makes Exciting Recruiting Announcement
Butler announced his top six schools ahead of a crucial part of his recruitment, according to a graphic by Leyton Roberts. The Ducks made the cut alongside the Maryland Terrapins, Virginia Tech Hokies, Auburn Tigers, Florida Gators, and the Alabama Crimson Tide. The talented prospect would be a great addition for any of these teams, as they could all use a safety prospect at this point in the recruiting timeline.
Butler is from the state of Maryland, which makes the Terrapins one to watch.
It is also worth noting that he has been labeled as one of the best players in the state of Maryland, as he currently ranks as the state’s No. 9 prospect, according to Rivals. This is important as the Terrapins have always made solid attempts to land their in-state stars, including last season when they landed one of the better players in the state’s history, Zion Elee.
As of now, the prospect hasn’t been predicted to land with any of these schools, which means it is likely still a tight race entering the official visit schedule. He has yet to schedule an official visit with all of the schools he has listed in his top six, as he is still missing three key official visits. Butler has scheduled official visits with Alabama, Auburn, and Florida, according to 247Sports. This means he still needs to set one with Oregon, Virginia Tech, and Maryland if he wants to take one to each school.
If the Ducks are able to get Butler on a visit, then they would likely be in a more favorable position to land his commitment, as it currently. seems they are one of the trailing teams from this list. It seems highly unlikely that the Ducks will gain his commitment unless they get him on an official visit, which is still possible at this point, as plenty of top prospects across the nation are still scheduling their official visits.
As of now, the Ducks have 27 prospects set to take an official visit, according to 247Sports. Among all of the prospects who have scheduled a visit thus far, only one of the players is listed as a safety. That player is a three-star target, Junior Tu’upo. This leads one to believe that the Ducks could try to get Butler on a visit, or at a minimum, pitch their program to the prospect from St Frances Academy.
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