From the “nobody could convince them it was a bad idea in the first place” department…
UPDATE: More details now emerging – see below the read more line
The Canadian Press – ONLINE EDITION
Carbon injected underground now leaking, Saskatchewan farmer’s study says
By: Bob Weber, The Canadian Press
A Saskatchewan farm couple whose land lies over the world’s largest carbon capture and storage project says greenhouse gases that were supposed to have been injected permanently underground are leaking out, killing animals and sending groundwater foaming to the surface like shaken-up soda pop.
Cameron and Jane Kerr, who own nine quarter-sections of land above the Weyburn oilfield in eastern Saskatchewan, released a consultant’s report Tuesday that claims to link high concentrations of carbon dioxide in their soil to the 8,000 tonnes of the gas injected underground every day by energy giant Cenovus in its attempt to enhance oil recovery and fight climate change.
“We knew, obviously, there was something wrong,” said Jane Kerr.
Cameron Kerr, 64, said he has farmed in the area all his life and never had any problems until 2003, when he agreed to dig a gravel quarry.
That gravel was for a road to a plant owned by EnCana — now Cenovus — which had begun three years earlier to inject massive amounts of carbon dioxide underground to force more oil out of the aging field.
Cenovus has injected more than 13 million tonnes of the gas underground. The project has become a global hotspot for research into carbon capture and storage, a technology that many consider one of the best hopes for keeping greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere.
By 2005, Cameron Kerr had begun noticing problems in a pair of ponds which had formed at the bottom of the quarry. They developed algae blooms, clots of foam and several colours of scum — red, yellow and silver-blue. Sometimes, the ponds bubbled. Small animals — cats, rabbits, goats — were regularly found dead a few metres away.
Then there were the explosions.
“At night we could hear this sort of bang like a cannon going off,” said Jane Kerr, 58. “We’d go out and check the gravel pit and, in the walls, it (had) blown a hole in the side and there would be all this foaming coming out of this hole.”
Read the entire story here
UPDATE: The Winnepeg Free Press has far more details in this story here
He said provincial inspectors did a one-time check of air quality. Eventually, the Kerrs paid a consultant for a study.
Paul Lafleur of Petro-Find Geochem found carbon dioxide concentrations in the soil last summer that averaged about 23,000 parts per million — several times those typically found in field soils. Concentrations peaked at 110,607 parts per million.
Lafleur also used the mix of carbon isotopes he found in the gas to trace its source.
“The … source of the high concentrations of CO2 in the soils of the Kerr property is clearly the anthropogenic CO2 injected into the Weyburn reservoir,” he wrote.
“The survey also demonstrates that the overlying thick cap rock of anhydrite over the Weyburn reservoir is not an impermeable barrier to the upward movement of light hydrocarbons and CO2 as is generally thought.”
It reminds me of this 1965 sci-fi movie:
h/t to WUWT reader AnonyMoose
Update: Reader _Jim finds the trailer:
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Can I say it: “Good gas gone bad.”
.
Gee, no one could see THAT coming…. duh.
This is great news, we could do with a bit of climate warming in Saskatchewan
Obama approved the Future Gen Coal plant in Illinois for his friends. It has both carbon sequestration and incredible cost overruns. Let see how that “experiment” plays out. Surely they will have to drive trucks past a picketing james Hansen.
“I really hate it when the R&D Dept makes for the front door.”
Old- cartoon.
Then people wonder why there is little confidence in the whole scheme…
As a Canadian, I can’t help but laugh.
“Paul Lafleur of Petro-Find Geochem found carbon dioxide concentrations in the soil last summer that averaged about 23,000 parts per million — several times those typically found in field soils. Concentrations peaked at 110,607 parts per million.”
and
—
The Alberta government has committed $2 billion to similar pilot projects in Alberta. The United States has committed $3.4 billion for carbon capture and storage.
Norway has been injecting carbon dioxide into the sea floor since 1996. There are carbon capture and storage tests planned in Australia, Germany, Poland, the United Kingdom, China and Japan.
“I would like to see it stopped,” Jane Kerr said. “I don’t think it’s doing what it’s supposed to do.”
—
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
I don’t think I’m supposed to laugh, but I can’t help it.
Carbonated well water – time to set up a bottling plant.
Crack in the World – Trailer:
REPLY: Thanks! – added – Anthony
This is stupid, but the orbitting mirrors to reflect sunlight away from the Earth still remains the number 1 stupid idea of all time.
Thing is that ‘they’ want to do the same stupidity here in The Netherlands. Pump CO2 underground hoping they can resolve the climate challenge (change or whatever term comes next…).
Underground sequestration of CO2?
FAIL!!
See now the problem here is the government just likely went with the lowest bidder for CO2 Sequestration. If only they had contacted me, I would quote them a more honest price and do a truly high-quality job if sequestering their CO2. I’m sure the Canadian government doesn’t want to be caught looking like the big destroyers of earth letting all that CO2 run wild, so I’ll submit my new quote to them post-haste.
The plants and algae are blooming from the increased CO2 concentration… but the animals are dying!
CO2 accumulation in your basement is much worst than Radon. They will need to put in CO2 detectors in their houses now and use those badges that change color when they take a walk outside.
I prefer my CO2 diluted in the atmosphere rather than at high concentration at ground level.
On the plus side trees are growing like crazy.
Anyway, the leaking ought to be detectable at the injection wellhead. It would seem that there is a “challenge” with the local geology. That does not mean that sequestration will not work elsewhere. Flooding with CO2 is not new and can be successful.
Somewhere, on a planet far, far away, there’s a TV show called “Stupid Earthling Tricks.”
I’m skeptical that CO2 could kill any animals as the effect would be logarithmic and would amount to very little effect even at high concentrations. I would look toward solar or ocean influences…it’s natural variation.
REPLY: You also aren’t very good at looking beyond your nose:
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2010/06/27/quote-of-the-week-36-carbon-sequestrations-fatal-flaw/
CO2 is of course heavier than air, the gravel pit makes a perfect trap for small animals and unsuspecting humans.
Read up on Lake Nyos and Lake Kivu. Note the pictures of the dead animals here.
Then tell us again how CO2 in high concentrations leaking out of the ground aren’t a problem. CO2 bubbling out of the ground from any source, be it natural or sequestered, will find any low spots on the surface, and any living things in that low spot have the potential to be killed by asphyxiation. Even something as simple as making wine can kill you if you allow the CO2 to collect around you. It only takes 8% air concentration to kill you in about 10 minutes. See this hazmat source.
However, I predict you’ll try to save face and come up with some lame excuse as to why your version of “no worries” is right and we are wrong to be concerned.
-Anthony
Who could have guessed?
What a waste of money/energy!
Interestingly, part of the research that I have been involved in deals with measuring fugitive emissions such as CO2. We had actually contacted these people at Weyburn Saskatchewan with a proposal to monitoring possible escaping gases. They never gave us the time of day.
Another interesting tidbit…David Suzuki (the off-the-wall enviro-nut) even slammed the nonsensical idea of burying CO2 underground as we don’t have any idea of what its effects may be.
From ghostbusters :
then:
This is exactly the sort of lunacy that ensues when one has people thinking up solutions to non-existent problems.
What percentage of global CO2 emissions is pumped down that pipe? I bet it is measured in less than a second of global man made emissions. It is doing absolutely nothing on a global scale yet probably costs a considerable amount of money to operate and maintain.
OMG–I remember that movie; great for getting a kid’s imagination going. Thanks for the trip back to early youth!
Now I have to watch “Crack in the World”. Think Netflix has it?
Bad news for the cows (if confirmed), BUT the farmer’s crop yields ought to fantastic.
Growing things are the only sensible “carbon sequestration”, not that it really matters. CO2 doesn’t drive anything (except the head on your beer).
But at least adding CO2 to agriculture has a positive benefit.
Dead animals may have been killed by sudden hypoxia due to high concentrations of heavier than air CO2.
I seem to remember a tragic incident in Africa in which several people died near a lake which discharged dense gas – ? CO2, CH4 or CO – memory fails me.
Checked Wiki Lake Nyos 1700 people killed by CO2 asphyxiation.
Here are a couple quiz questions for people who still believe in carbon sequestration under habitable lands:
How do you know when the chosen substrate (which you have carefully tested/validated) is unsuitable?
How long does the carbon have to be sequestered?
This situation looks like it has answered both questions: you know you have failed AFTER you have already sequestered your full design capacity of CO2.
It seems that there are only 2 options left at this time:
1. Immediately vent the CO2 into the atmosphere.
2. Wait until someone is killed and then vent the CO2 into the atmosphere.