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Carbon Capture In Wyoming | Earth Wise

January 25, 2023 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Wyoming produces about 40% of our country’s coal and many towns in the state were built because of and make their living from it.  With coal’s plummeting share in the nation’s electricity, there is a great deal of anxiety among residents of those towns.

As carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere continue to climb, there is a growing sense that cutting emissions will not happen quickly enough and it will be necessary to pull the greenhouse gas out of the atmosphere.  The current long-term government climate strategy assumes that carbon removal will account for 6 to 8 percent of the nation’s greenhouse gas reductions by 2050.

The Inflation Reduction Act passed in August provides $3.5 billion to help build “direct air capture hubs” around the country, with an emphasis on fossil fuel-dependent communities such as many in Wyoming. 

The town of Rock Springs, Wyoming is home to the Jim Bridger Coal Plant. A company called CarbonCapture, Inc., is launching Project Bison, which will build a direct air capture facility outside of town that is set to begin operations next year.  It will initially capture 10,000 metric tons of CO2 per year but plans to expand that to 5 million tons a year by 2030. 

That would be far more than any current carbon capture plant can do. The largest plant in the world, located in Iceland, pulls in only about 4,000 metric tons a year.

There are many problems associated with carbon capture.  It uses up very large amounts of energy, possibly presents environmental problems, and is very expensive.  In short, the technology has a long way to go before becoming viable.  However, this may ultimately be another example where necessity is the mother of invention.

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Carbon Removal Is Coming to Fossil Fuel Country. Can It Bring Jobs and Climate Action?

Photo, posted July 22, 2012, courtesy of Max Phillips via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Widespread Drought | Earth Wise

September 7, 2020 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

united states drought

As the U.S. enters the last part of the summer, fully one-third of the country is experiencing at least a moderate level of drought.   Much of the West is reaching severe drought conditions and New England has been unusually dry and hot.  In total, over 50 million Americans are living in drought-affected areas.

According to the U.S. Drought Monitor program, more than 93% of Utah, Colorado, Nevada, and New Mexico are experiencing drought to some degree.  More than 60% of both Utah and Colorado are in severe drought.   More than three-quarters of Oregon, Arizona, and Wyoming are also in drought.  And most of these areas had no sign of drought this time last year.

Severe drought conditions result in stunted and browning crops, limited pasture yields, dust storms, reduced well water levels, and an increase in the number and severity of wildfires.

Warm air temperatures and minimal snowfall in spring set the stage for this summer’s drought conditions.  A ridge of high pressure over the northeastern Pacific Ocean pushed the jet stream farther north than usual.  And, once again, there has been a failure of the southwestern monsoon in Arizona and New Mexico and the Four Corners region.  Monsoon rains provide half of the year’s precipitation in many of those areas. 

Instead, there has been extreme heat in the region.  Phoenix has already smashed the record for the most days over 110oF in a calendar year (42 as of August 18), with five months to go.  Las Vegas hasn’t seen measurable rainfall since April, and Cedar City, Utah has recorded a record low of 0.05 inches of rain this summer.

Conditions are not expected to get better for a couple of months.

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A Third of the U.S. Faces Drought

Photo, posted May 7, 2014, courtesy of Tyler Bell via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Hunting Grizzly Bears

June 7, 2018 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

https://earthwiseradio.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/EW-06-07-18-Hunting-Grizzly-Bears.mp3

One year ago, the U.S. Department of the Interior announced that the grizzly bear population in the Yellowstone area would be delisted from the Endangered Species Act, and more recently, announced that those federal protections would not be restored.

[Read more…] about Hunting Grizzly Bears

Yellowstone Grizzlies

July 27, 2017 By EarthWise

https://earthwiseradio.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/EW-07-27-17-Yellowstone-Grizzlies.mp3

Grizzly bears once roamed much of North America and symbolized the continent’s untamed wilderness.  But hunters and trappers nearly wiped them out across most of the Lower 48 states by the late 1800s.

[Read more…] about Yellowstone Grizzlies

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