BIG SKY CARBON SEQUESTRATION PARTNERSHIP

The Big Sky Partnership, led by Montana State University, is comprised of research institutions, public entities and private sectors organizations, and the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes and the Nez Perce Tribe. Efforts during the first performance period fall into four areas: evaluation of sources and carbon sequestration sinks; development of GIS-based reporting framework; designing an integrated suite of monitoring, measuring, and verification technologies; and initiating a comprehensive education and outreach program. At the first Partnership meeting the groundwork was put in place to provide an assessment of capture and storage capabilities for CO{sub 2} utilizing the resources found in the Partnership region (both geological and terrestrial sinks), that would complement the ongoing DOE research. The region has a diverse array of geological formations that could provide storage options for carbon in one or more of its three states. Likewise, initial estimates of terrestrial sinks indicate a vast potential for increasing and maintaining soil C on forested, agricultural, and reclaimed lands. Both options include the potential for offsetting economic benefits to industry and society. Complementary to the efforts on evaluation of sources and sinks is the development of the Big Sky Partnership Carbon Cyberinfrastructure (BSP-CC) and a GIS Road Map for the Partnership. These efforts will put in place a map-based integrated information management system for our Partnership, with transferability to the national carbon sequestration effort. The Partnership recognizes the critical importance of measurement, monitoring, and verification technologies to support not only carbon trading but other policies and programs that DOE and other agencies may want to pursue in support of GHG mitigation. The efforts begun in developing and implementing MMV technologies for geological sequestration reflect this concern. Research is also underway to identify and validate best management practices for soil C in the partnership region, and to design a risk/cost effectiveness framework to make comparative assessments of each viable sink, taking into account economic costs, offsetting benefits, scale of sequestration opportunities, spatial and time dimensions, environmental risks, and long term viability. A series of meetings held in November and December, 2003, have laid the foundations for assessing the issues surrounding the implementation of a market-based setting for soil C credits. These include the impact of existing local, state, and federal permitting issues for terrestrial based carbon sequestration projects, consistency of final protocols and planning standards with national requirements, and alignments of carbon sequestration projects with existing federal and state cost-share programs. Finally, the education and outreach efforts during this performance period have resulted in a comprehensive plan which serves as a guide for implementing the outreach activities under Phase I. The primary goal of this plan is to increase awareness, understanding, and public acceptance of sequestration efforts and build support for a constituent based network which includes the initial Big Sky Partnership and other local and regional businesses and entities