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China, U.S. can slash C02 by storing it
CO2 skywriting
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TEXT OF STORY
Steve Chiotakis: One way to potentially slash carbon-dioxide emissions is to capture them and store them underground. This morning, the Center for American Progress releases a study on how China and the United States -- the world's biggest polluters -- can cooperate on that. Ashley Milne-Tyte reports.
Ashley Milne-Tyte: China and the U.S. still rely on coal for power. And both want to burn it without churning out tons of CO2.
Julian Wong is with the Center for American Progress. He says many Chinese plants are near underground caves where emissions can be easily buried. He'd like to see the U.S. help China fund and build five carbon storage facilities there.
Julian Wong: In total these five projects would be equivalent essentially to taking off 1.7 to 2.5 million cars off the road.
He says what the U.S. learns would accelerate the building of similar facilities here. And the costs would be shared, after all China is a rising economic power.
Wong: So it understands that any sort of collaborative effort with the United States that it has to put its own money down, put its own skin in the game.
He says the sooner the two countries start collaborating the sooner they can cut emissions and create jobs.
I'm Ashley Milne-Tyte for Marketplace.
Just like coal plant scrubbers move the pollution from the air to the water, burying this toxic sludge will further pollute our water supplies. This stuff is sure to seep out. Anyone who says otherwise has a financial or emotional stake in the process.
This isn't rocket science, and a little common sense from common people is all it takes to see this. A slight shift in the earth will crack even the best man-made and engineered containment facility. These people are talking about rough hewn mine storage. Our surface waters are already polluted, and this will accelerate deep water pollution. Most pollution control schemes are a shell game of moving the toxins from one location to another (less noticeable) location.
Meanwhile, let's keep working toward reducing energy usage. The more we use, the more leftover waste we have.
Best regards and thanks for the show.
