For decades, Alaska shipped liquefied natural gas to Japan, which burned the fuel to generate power — and also generated ample climate-warming carbon emissions.
Now, the Biden administration wants to study whether those Japanese emissions could be captured, liquefied and shipped back to Alaska. There, they’d be injected and locked away underground in Cook Inlet, just west of Anchorage, to help stem the warming of the climate.
Officials from the U.S. Department of Energy announced Tuesday at an Anchorage workshop that they’re starting a formal study of the concept, building on Japan-U.S. cooperative agreements announced by the White House last month.
“Even as the decline of natural gas in the Cook Inlet heralds the end of a previous and impressive energy area in this region, awareness and interest is growing here in the region’s potential to become a storehouse for capturing carbon emissions — both domestically and internationally,” said Brad Crabtree, assistant secretary for the Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management.
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Crabtree spoke Tuesday to an audience at Anchorage’s Sheraton hotel that, in addition to Alaska policymakers and fossil fuel executives, included some 15 representatives of Japan’s energy industries and government.
The Department of Energy’s new study is a reflection of the growing interest in injecting and storing climate-warming carbon pollution in underground reservoirs in Alaska — a trend amplified, in part, by provisions in President Joe Biden’s signature climate law to incentivize greater use of the technology.
Alaska lawmakers are currently debating a bill sponsored by GOP Gov. Mike Dunleavy that would establish a legal system for carbon injection and storage. And one Japanese company recently hired an Alaska-based lobbyist, at $7,500 a month, to track carbon-related policy developments in the state.
Many climate advocates are skeptical of carbon storage’s potential to meaningfully reduce global warming, saying it’s expensive, unproven on a large scale and enables continued dependence on fossil fuels.
But Crabtree, in an interview after his announcement, said that certain substantial sources of carbon pollution aren’t tied to fossil fuel combustion. Cement manufacturing, he noted, generates emissions not just from burning fuels but from a specific chemical process that converts limestone into lime.
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“I don’t see this as enabling oil and gas at all,” he said. “I see this as enabling the transformation of our energy industrial economy to be fully decarbonized.”
Brad Crabtree (Photo by Nathaniel Herz/Northern Journal)
Alaska, however, has to overcome a significant obstacle in order to participate in the carbon storage industry, according to Crabtree: While it has “enormous” storage potential in the form of depleted oil and gas reservoirs, it produces relatively low quantities of emissions from its few major power plants and industrial facilities.
That’s where Japan, and possibly South Korea, come in.
Japan is the world’s fifth-highest energy consumer, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s most recent statistics. But while Japan has committed to being carbon neutral by 2050, it has limited capacity to deposit emissions underground, as well as risks to the integrity of storage from earthquakes, Crabtree said.
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Japanese businesses have already signed study agreements with international partners to explore the idea of shipping carbon to Malaysia and Indonesia and storing it there. Now, Crabtree’s office will examine whether the same idea is possible in the U.S., with a focus on Alaska.
An official from a Japanese company following those developments, who requested anonymity because of their political sensitivity, described the interest from his country as “very, very early.”
“It’s a tool that’s being evaluated,” the official said. “The economics are painfully expensive.”
Oil companies have long injected carbon into their reservoirs to help extract more petroleum. But the federal government has licensed very few projects solely dedicated to storing carbon to keep it out of the atmosphere.
As of September, the Environmental Protection Agency had issued just two permits that have led to projects, both in Illinois, according to E&E News.
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Enhanced tax credits for CO2 storage in Biden’s climate law have boosted industry interest in new projects, but there’s now a major permitting backlog at the EPA. And because the tax credit only applies to carbon captured in the U.S., Japanese emissions shipped to Alaska wouldn’t qualify, Crabtree said.
The energy department’s study, with help from a newly hired contractor, will examine whether the cross-border carbon shipment concept makes technical and economic sense — and what costs and prices for capture and storage would allow such projects to move forward.
One idea is that if Alaska can produce climate-friendly fuels, like hydrogen, to ship to Asia, the same tankers could return to the state carrying carbon emissions.
“We create this value chain of, potentially, exporting energy to Japan and backhauling carbon dioxide, which we then sequester in our rocks,” said John Boyle, Alaska’s commissioner of natural resources.
Studying the technical feasibility should be just the first step, said Kelsey Schober, director of government affairs at Alaska’s branch of the Nature Conservancy, which recently published a study on carbon capture and storage in the state.
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“It can’t be the only step. We also have to ask: What are the impacts? Who’s going to feel those impacts the most? Have they been consulted about these projects?” she said.
From an environmental perspective, Schober added, the potential benefits of carbon capture and storage depend on where the pollution is coming from. It’s more valuable, she said, if it’s being used for industries — like cement manufacturing or steelmaking — that are difficult to decarbonize.
“We have to think about prioritizing avoiding and reducing direct emissions — not just using CCUS technologies as a way to bail out existing emission levels,” she said, using an acronym for carbon capture and underground storage.
Nathaniel Herz welcomes tips at [email protected] or (907) 793-0312. This article was originally published in Northern Journal, a newsletter from Herz. Subscribe at this link.
Alaska Airlines and its 7,000-member flight attendants’ union have reached a tentative labour agreement after more than a year and a half of negotiations, reported CNN.
The terms of the deal have not been disclosed, but the union described it as a “record contract.”
It is expected that the agreement includes a significant pay increase, a common demand across the airline industry, especially from unions whose members have not received a pay raise in years.
In April, the union announced to members that it was seeking pay raises of between 43% to 56%, depending on seniority, through 2026. These pay raises would include back pay covering the year and a half during which they have been working under the terms of the previous contract.
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The union credited its members’ actions over the past two years of bargaining for ensuring they had the leverage to “extract every last dollar from Alaska Airlines management.”
Alaska Airlines expressed satisfaction with reaching an agreement and thanked the union negotiators. “With our combined efforts, we’ve been able to reach an agreement that provides quality of life and continued career growth at Alaska,” the airline said in a statement. The agreement still requires approval from union leadership and rank-and-file members to be implemented.
In February, union members voted 99.5% in favour of authorising a strike. However, under the Railway Labor Act, which governs airline workers, they could not go on strike despite the contract reaching its scheduled end date in December 2022. As a result, union members continued to work under the terms and pay of the expired contract. These restrictions on striking do not apply to most private sector employees.
In February, flight attendants from Alaska Airlines, along with those from American, United, and Southwest, held unprecedented coordinated pickets to demand new contracts.
Since then, Southwest flight attendants have reached an agreement that included an immediate 22.3% raise as of May 1, and US$364 million in retroactive wages.
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Meanwhile, flight attendants at American and United are still negotiating for new deals. American flight attendants have requested to be released from restrictions so they can strike, but even if granted, there would be months of cooling-off periods before they could walk out, as mandated by the Railway Labor Act.
By Alaska Division of Forestry & Fire Protectionon
8:00 PM Update – Division of Forestry & Fire Protection firefighters are responding to a lightning caused fire along the Susitna River west of Willow. Susitna Fire (#235) is burning actively in black spruce west of Willow Creek Parkway. Helitack has responded and is dropping buckets of water. An additional helicopter has been requested to shuttle firefighters to the fire.
Additional information will be provided here as it becomes available.
‹ High demand continues for fire resources
Categories: Active Wildland Fire, Alaska DNR – Division of Forestry (DOF)
Ten Great Basin Smokejumpers listen to a spotter go through a briefing before a practice jump on June 13, 2024. Photo by Beth Ipsen, BLM AFS
Map showing fire perimeter of McDonald Fire on June 23rd.
Size: 47,304 acres
Personnel: 83
Start Date: June 8, 2024
Cause: Lightning
FAIRBANKS, Alaska – McDonald Fire managers have extended fire response to include the 3,565-acre Clear Fire (#204), about 15 miles to the northwest of the McDonald Fire. The Clear Fire is burning in proximity to military impact areas and will continue to be monitored.
Firefighters on the McDonald Fire are monitoring burnout operations on the east side of the 5 Mile Creek cabins, and crews continue creating a contingency fireline on the west side of the cabins.
To protect military infrastructure, firefighters removed hazardous fuels and installed sprinklers, pumps, and hose. These firefighters will receive equipment Sunday to set up sprinkler systems.
Three lookouts have been established to provide timely fire behavior updates to firefighters on the ground. Firefighters will continue to patrol the Richardson Highway corridor and adjacent subdivisions.
Today’s light southeast winds could move smoke into the Fairbanks area and may impact air quality. Please use caution and turn on headlights while driving as smoke may impact visibility. Fire danger in the area remains critically high.
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Weather: Near Red Flag conditions are forecasted this afternoon and possibly again Monday afternoon as sunny, dry, and very warm conditions are expected to continue into next week. Temperatures are expected to reach a high of 81 degrees, with a low humidity of 24%.
Burn Permits: The DOF has issued Burn Permit Suspensions for Fairbanks, Salcha, Delta, Tok, and Railbelt areas. The fire danger in these areas remains HIGH. Please check https://dnr.alaska.gov/burn/fireareas or call the burn permit hotline for the Fairbanks Area Forestry at (907) 451-2631 for the most current updates.
Air Quality: An Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (ADEC) air quality advisory is in effect for the Central and Eastern Alaska due to wildfire smoke through 2 p.m. today. Low-level smoke will affect communities near the McDonald Fire. During the evening hours, smoke will settle in the flats, impacting a larger number of communities in the area. The ADEC expects increased smoke production from wildfires in Canada, northeast Alaska and McGrath during the advisory period. Find information on how to protect yourself from wildfire smoke at the Smoke Management page on https://akfireinfo.com/smoke-management/.
Evacuation Notices: The Fairbanks North Star Borough (FNSB) issued a Level 2: SET evacuation notice for the approximately 20 cabins that are near the fire’s southern edge. The FNSB also has areas along the lower Salcha River, Harding Lake, Hollies Acres, Canaday, Salcha and Johnson Road neighborhoods in a READY status. Find more information and an interactive map of these areas on the Fairbanks North Star Borough Emergency Services website.
Temporary Flight Restriction: Location is 30 nautical miles southeast of Fairbanks to provide a safe environment for firefighting aircraft. The TFR is posted at https://tfr.faa.gov/save_pages/detail_4_0375.html.
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Bureau of Land Management, Alaska Fire Service, P.O. Box 35005 1541 Gaffney Road, Fort Wainwright, Ak 99703
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The Bureau of Land Management Alaska Fire Service (AFS) located at Fort Wainwright, Alaska, provides wildland fire suppression services for over 240 million acres of Department of the Interior and Native Corporation Lands in Alaska. In addition, AFS has other statewide responsibilities that include: interpretation of fire management policy; oversight of the BLM Alaska Aviation program; fuels management projects; and operating and maintaining advanced communication and computer systems such as the Alaska Lightning Detection System. AFS also maintains a National Incident Support Cache with a $18.1 million inventory. The Alaska Fire Service provides wildland fire suppression services for America’s “Last Frontier” on an interagency basis with the State of Alaska Department of Natural Resources, USDA Forest Service, National Park Service, Bureau of Indian Affairs, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the U.S. Military in Alaska.
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‹ Smokejumpers mobilize to new starts around the state
Categories: Active Wildland Fire, BLM Alaska Fire Service
