Shocked, Shocked!! ND "Carbon Capture" Project At Coal Plant Stopped Cold By Departure Of Lead Contractor

[hatrack]

Project Tundra, a plan to retrofit a North Dakota coal plant with carbon capture technology, has hit a snag following the departure of the lead contractor. Before that departure, the utility overseeing the project, Minnkota Power Cooperative, had said it would decide this year whether to move forward with the multibillion-dollar plan.

“We are continuing to move forward with development efforts and remain optimistic about Project Tundra’s future,” Ben Fladhammer, a spokesman for Minnkota, said Monday. He gave no timetable for next steps, and said timing would depend on many factors, including the availability of federal funding, federal environmental rules and changes to project costs due to inflation.

EDIT

The incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump supports funding of carbon capture while also wanting to reduce regulations that have the effect of forcing coal plants to implement that technology. North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, Trump’s nominee for secretary of the interior, is one of several appointees who have touted carbon capture as a viable way to allow coal plants to operate in an environmentally friendly manner. But enthusiasm about carbon capture has yet to translate to substantial emissions reductions, and environmental advocates have long criticized the use of the technology for power plant retrofits as a boondoggle with high costs, steep technical challenges and an overreliance on taxpayer money.

EDIT

Project Tundra is a plan to install equipment that would capture emissions from Milton R. Young Station, a power plant near Beulah, North Dakota. Minnkota has said designing and building the system would cost about $2 billion. The project has been in the works since 2015, but progress has been limited to planning, engineering studies and obtaining some commitments of funding. The U.S. Department of Energy has singled out Project Tundra as having national importance. The department’s Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations last year awarded the project up to $350 million to help cover costs if construction moves forward. It was the only coal plant retrofit to receive this kind of award.



EDIT

Ed. - Click through the article, and you'll see a list of utilities "planning", "considering", "exploring the possibility" of installing the technology at coal-fired power plants. Blah blah blah blah BLAH.

https://insideclimatenews.org/news/10122024/north-dakota-coal-plant-carbon-capture-project-faces-new-delay/

[Think. Again.]

1. There's no other option, the public is going to have to shut down the fossil fuel industry...

...without any more of these false work-arounds, and without the help of the incoming administration.

Honestly, I don't have a lot of hope.