Laramie County landowners collaborate to store carbon emissions underground

CHEYENNE — A new company plans to inject carbon emissions deep into geologic formations underground in eastern Laramie County. If realized, this would be the second project of its kind in the county.

However, founder and CEO Jeff Kummer says this project is unlike any other across the country.

Jeff Kummer

Jeff Kummer is a landowner, as well as founder and CEO of Meriden Carbon.

Last year, Tallgrass, an energy infrastructure company, applied for a permit from the state to sequester carbon emissions in wells underground. To do this, the company leases land from landowners who own the surface above where the CO2 will be stored, and the landowners receive royalties from the company over many years.

Kummer’s company, Meriden Carbon, is slightly different because, while it has the same intention of storing CO2 underground, it gives the landowners more authority in the project. Kummer has united 20 landowners in northeast Laramie County, in the area of Meriden, who own a cumulative 100,000 acres. These landowners have agreed to work together to allow companies who are seeking to meet decarbonization goals to store their emissions in geologic formations deep below their property.

Initially, Kummer had been working in the area, looking for oil and natural gas sources.

He found that there weren’t many large sources in this area, but instead discovered geologic formations that he believes are suitable for CO2 storage.

In his work in the area, which began around 2017, he had gotten to know many of the local landowners. When he approached them with this idea, many of them were unfamiliar with the process for making this happen, but they were willing to work with Kummer.

“This (technology) is all very recent. We don’t know exactly what this looks like in the future,” Kummer said. “So, allowing the landowners to have a seat at the table, to be a part of the decision making, which you know, we need regularly to talk about where we’re at, where we’re going, what decisions we have to make. It’s very unique and brings a high level of comfort and confidence to those landowners that are wanting to have that seat at the table.”

One of the landowners, Ron Rabou, said that he sees this opportunity as a way to diversify the income realized from his land.

Landowner Ron Rabou

Eastern Laramie County farmer and landowner Ron Rabou says he sees the opportunity provided by Meriden Carbon as a way to diversify the income realized from his land.

“A lot of the keys to survival and production agriculture are … we want to make sure that as we have this tool chest, that when there are additional tools that we can utilize to put in that to help diversify our operations, we want to make sure that we carefully look at those. And if we determine that we think that they will be a good way to diversify our operations, and hopefully to create some long-term stability or diversity, then we want to make sure we grab those opportunities.”

Rabou said it is especially important to utilize all opportunities in the tool chest in a climate like Wyoming’s, where there are limited water resources, adverse weather conditions and elevation that is not always friendly to agriculture production.

While he doesn’t anticipate this endeavor will alter his profits so much that it changes the normal operations of his farms, Rabou said he believes it will be a win-win for the participating landowners and the companies looking to sequester carbon emissions.

Kummer said the going rate for carbon sequestration is typically between $85 and $180 per ton of CO2. He estimates that this asset will have between 100 and 150 million tons of net storage across the 100,000 acres, but this will be confirmed once Meriden Carbon has completed its drilling and testing.

Since the Class VI well program began in 2010, 11 applicants have been approved nationwide, including two in Wyoming.

Meriden Carbon Steamboat Carbon Storage Hub

A map of the Steamboat Carbon Storage Hub, where Meriden Carbon intends to inject and store carbon emissions in southeast Wyoming.

Meriden Carbon officials have yet to identify how they intend to transport the CO2 to the site for sequestration, but indicated they would likely construct new carbon dioxide pipelines in the county to accomplish this. Kummer said they also plan to work with existing infrastructure companies to tap into their pipeline systems.

For example, Tallgrass owns the Trailblazer pipeline, a natural gas pipeline that is being converted to a carbon dioxide pipeline that runs through most of Nebraska and part of southeast Wyoming. Kummer said Tallgrass representatives have expressed support for the Meriden Carbon project and said he may work with them to transport carbon emissions from CO2 producers connected to the Trailblazer pipeline to their sequestration site.

Many experts hail carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) projects as one of the solutions of achieving the U.S. goal of a net-zero emissions economy by 2050. The federal government committed more than $8 billion in funds for CCUS projects between 2022 and 2026.

Companies are incentivized to capture and store CO2 by the section 45Q federal tax credit, which pays companies $180 for every ton stored in the ground. This program reduced federal revenues by $1 billion between 2010 and 2019. The tax credit was expanded significantly in 2022, and staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation project said it will reduce federal revenue by $5 billion between 2023 and 2027.

Meriden Carbon landowners

Landowners meet to discuss plans for Meriden Carbon.

Kummer said he believes this project will support and potentially grow Wyoming’s coal industry.

“We’re developing to help keep Wyoming’s coal industry strong, to maybe even help to see it grow, because capturing CO2 off of new coal plants would be easier than retrofitting old ones,” Kummer said. “I’m not sure where we’re headed, but when you look at projections for power demand in our country and across the globe, we have a huge lift in front of us.”

For Kummer, the next steps will be to begin drilling and seismic testing on the acreage next summer with the support of a grant from the Department of Energy. He anticipates applying for a Class VI permit to the Wyoming Department of Environmental Equality in 2026 and potentially beginning injections as early as late 2026, if the permit is approved.

He sees this collaboration between landowners as a scalable business model and, while Kummer has no current plans for expansion, he said other landowners in Wyoming and some in New Mexico have expressed interest in this business model.