A Midwest pipeline promises to return carbon dioxide to the ground

Most pipelines that snake around the United States carry carbon that was buried underground for millions of years and then dug up, destined to be burned in a combustion engine or furnace or boiler and emitted into the atmosphere. If it gets built, the project will prove a new business model for carbon capture in the biofuels industry and expand the country's network of carbon dioxide pipelines, infrastructure that some researchers and climate advocates say is necessary to bring U.S. emissions down to zero. Summit's project is designed to connect biorefineries dotting the midwest to saline formations in North Dakota.Dane McFarlane and Elizabeth Abramson / / Great Plains Institute Brad Crabtree of the Great Plains Institute, an energy nonprofit that advocates for policies that support scaling up carbon capture and storage, said that the project not only benefits the climate but also creates a significant economic opportunity in the region. Beyond lowering the emissions associated with ethanol, Summit's pipeline project is a step toward building the infrastructure that some researchers and climate advocates say is necessary to bring U.S. emissions down to zero. They found that even if the U.S. electrifies vehicles and buildings, and replaces almost all fossil fuel electricity with renewables, we'll likely need to capture CO2 from cement production, from gas-fired power plants, from biofuels and hydrogen production, and maybe even from machines that can suck carbon directly out of the air — and transport it to a place where it can be used or sequestered underground.