A company is looking to develop a carbon capture storage or sequestration (CCS) hub in Hopkins County which would be 20,000 acres of permanent pore space.
Two Tenaska representatives presented the 'Sugarberry CCS Hub' plan during Hopkins County Commissioners Court Monday, Aug. 26, and invited community members and officials to ask questions about the plan.
Jacob Korte and Deanna Werner, Tenaska energy project development manager and public and community relations personnel noted that carbon dioxide is an odorless, nonflammable, non-explosive inert gas. Carbon dioxide emissions are captured from manufacturers, power producers, and other carbon emitters before the CO 2 enters the atmosphere, to meet current and future emissions regulations.
For the Burberry CCS hub planned in Hopkins County, those carbon dioxide emissions would come from the Northeast Texas area. As proposed, the captured C02 emissions would be turned into liquid, then transported about 100 miles or so via in-ground pipeline to an injection site in Hopkins County, where it is then injectedone two two miles deep into the ground and released into a kind of porous rock beneath 'a thick layer of impermeable cap rock,' which Hopkins County is reported to have a great deal. These injection sites are considered 'geologically secure underground storage locations.' The substance is released over time and 'mineralized' and dissolved over time, turning back into its natural gas state. As proposed, Hopkins County is expected to have three to five injection wells, spanning about 1 acre wide each.
According to the Te- ka representatives, aside for the one acre injection sites (about 5% over the overall project), the rest of the land designated for the pipeline can still be used for whatever other purpose it has typically been used for, including ranching, farming, timber, hunting, recreation or other purposes, according to the Tenaska rep.
Typically, Korte said, it takes 18-24 months to obtain all of the permits and engineering work required for such a project, as CCS systems are 'highly regulated.' The United States Environmental Protection Agency Class IV injection well permitting process, concurrent Texas Railroad Commission permitting process and state-level pipeline permitting in 49CFR Part 185 and the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration requirements.
The company is looking for offices in or near downtown Sulphur Springs to serve as a project office, where people can voice questions and contact the company at least a few days a week and from which company staff can work.
The presentation Monday in Hopkins County Commissioners Court, Korte and Werner noted, is one of the first steps in the long process. Geologists and surveyors still have to get permission to be on properties to do studies and surveys, and land acquisitions are on the to-do list as well. Tenaska plans to order an 'economic impact study to quantify local benefits.' Development is anticipated to be twoto four years, with one year all located for construction. The hub would remain in operation for more than 30 years, with ongoing monitoring per Class VI requirements, Korte noted.
The area identified in Hopkins County for the project is located on the northwest side of State Highway 19 and Interstate 30, in Precinct 3.
Hopkins County Judge Robert Newsom noted the presentation was purely informational as far as the Commissioners Court was concerned, and emphasized that no voting was on the agenda Monday regrding anything to do with the Sugarberry CCS Hub proposal. The business contacted county officials and spoke very briefly, asking for an opportunity to give the presentation.
One Hopkins County resident present in the courtroom during the presentation asked the Tenaska representatives if the process was like or the same as fracking. The representative noted the two are different, but similar. He noted that currently, and for numerous years, carbon dioxide has been injected into oil wells all over the country.
'It's similar but there is differences. As far as fracking and as far as oild goes, they are actually obtaining the oil while we are actually just produing it,' Korte said. 'I will say, as far as the similariities go, one thing to keep in mind, I'm sure a lot of us are OK with the oil, and gas and stuff. Wehave actually been injecting carbon dioxide into our oil wells for over a century now. That's how we actually get to it. When oil stops producing, they've been injecting carbon dioxide so oil will reach back up to the surface to extract more oil out. So as far as injecting CO into the ground, it's 2
been around.'
'So, basically the same thing?' the community member asked.
Korte agreed. 'Is there a map you can hand out to landowners, so you can let people know the area you are attacking?'
Korte said that information should be on the company website.
'I personnally have a problem with you guys being honest, because I know for a fact you were sending letters out three years ago to residents of Precinct 3, because we were fighting solar at that time, and we saw the letters you sent out,' said Dike resident Michelle Barnes. 'You haven't been here just a year. It's three. You were here three years ago, and I'm assuming the owners said no and you are back trying to convince them to do it.'
'No, I think that goes in our developing process, just sending out letters at the beginning saying, 'Hey, we may be around your area and the coming projects, and we are thinking about doing this,'' Korte said.
He noted that the EPA will require all plants with CO 2 emissions to have acceptable dispoal methodsby 2035.
While not sure where the emissions are coming from, the CO 2 could be coming from the east or west, from the Dallas area or Texarkana.
Another resident asked what would happen if permission was obtained to run pipeline across one or multiple landowners' properties, but one in the middle or on either side of the intended pipeline said no to having it on their property, would the company seek imminent domain, as other utilities have done in the past.
Werner said in all of Tenaska's other projects she's been involved with, imminent domain has never been enacted. The company has projects in the Houston, Waco and Corpus Christi areas.
'Our goal is always to reach the transaction with the landowners,' Werner said.
'And if you don't, immenient domain is in place?' the resident asked.
Werner agreed it could be used.
For additional infomration about the planned Hopkins County project, go online to sugarberryccshub. com.