By Laurie Goering and David Greising
10/14/07 4:00 AM PT
Around the globe, businesses, governments and people are searching for solutions to the vexing problems presented by climate change. One of the most promising is carbon sequestration, the process of injecting carbon dioxide emissions, usually from power stations or industrial plants, into permanent storage, mainly in depleted oil or natural gas fields or salty aquifers at least a half-mile underground.
Beneath the rolling green hills of Australia’s Latrobe Valley lies a deposit of brown coal so enormous it seems almost endless. After nearly a century of mining, more than 95 percent of the 35-mile-long, 600-foot-deep coal seam is still in place, ready to fuel Australia’s energy needs for generations.