Ok, Here is an explanation of my previous post. I grew up in and around the oil fields of Texas and know that "*old* oil fields" are notorious for leaking and fouling the ground water. My brother-in-law is a regional director for the Texas Railroad Commission (the state regulator for the oil/gas industry). He has spent his 30 years at his job dealing with this issue. *Old* oil fields are the last place you want to sequester CO2. Or, build a half a Billion dollar pipe line to. It Leaks Out!!!
The well bore hole lining is typically no more than some sort of fiber (cotton seed husk), a little binder (something like gypsum or even clay dirt) and......well......water!!!! This is called drilling "mud" and it is rarely "air tight". The metal pipe coming up out of the ground only goes down about 60 ft. The rest is nothing but thin compressed Mud. Here is the Wiki link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drilling_fluid#Seal_permeable_formations The *old* fields have no records concerning the "Mud Log" (what was used to seal the bore hole walls). The only way an *old* well can be evaluated for CO2 sequestration is to fill it up and watch the pressure for a few years. If it proves leaky, what then? The oil industry is excited about being paid to sequester CO2! And, we will here more great things about EOR via CO2. But, there is no way to insure that the CO2 remains sequestered for the geological time that is needed. Simply pressurizing these *old* wells will fracture the *old* mud linings. The EPA page is a little deceptive in that it leads the reader to believe that all of the issues I am pointing out have been addressed. Follow the link to the actual document(s) and you will find they are simple "*Proposed* Rules"!!!! http://www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;rpp=10;po=0;s=class+vi+well;D=EPA-HQ-OW-2008-0390 I am all for CCS and I do try to stay up on the concepts being proposed. However, massive use of *OLD* wells should be looked at far more closely than is currently being done. Dr. Rau's post shows a real world example of how risky geological sequestration is. I have to ask myself; Am I being sold a Bill of Goods here? Thanks, <http://www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;rpp=10;po=0;s=class+vi+well;D=EPA-HQ-OW-2008-0390> -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "geoengineering" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/geoengineering?hl=en.
