About

In 2019, Colorado adopted goals of reducing greenhouse gas pollution by 26 percent by 2025, 50 percent by 2030, and 90 percent by 2050 from a 2005 baseline. As part of the near-term actions in its Greenhouse Gas Pollution Reduction Roadmap, Colorado identified the development & utilization of a Task Force as an important step to better understand the role that carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) can play in meeting the state’s emissions targets. The evaluation will include an inventory of existing initiatives and recent publications that analyze or identify carbon capture, transport, utilization, and storage opportunities in Colorado. In addition to the literature review, the CCUS Task Force will evaluate:

Opportunities

Evaluate the opportunity for carbon capture, transport, utilization, and storage to:

• Reduce Colorado’s greenhouse gas emissions to help achieve emissions reduction targets
• Complement other emissions reduction technologies like zero-carbon electricity production
• Improve environmental and air quality in disproportionately impacted communities
• Create economic opportunities such as retrofit job creation and other regional economic impacts

Resources

Evaluate Colorado’s carbon capture, transport, utilization, and storage resources, including:

• CO₂ emissions that may be captured, including emissions from industries such as cement production, refineries, or steel plants that will be hard to abate by other means;
• Geologic CO₂ storage resources
• CO₂-enhanced oil and gas recovery resources
• Existing CO₂ infrastructure, including CO₂ pipelines
• Identify existing infrastructure right-of-ways and potential CO₂ pipeline corridors to facilitate future deployment
• Planned or potential Allam cycle power plants
• Compile an inventory of the existing legal and regulatory framework for deployment of carbon capture, transport, utilization, and storage projects in Colorado. This inventory will include all existing relevant permitting and review requirements for carbon capture, transport, utilization, and storage projects, and will identify relevant agencies and other stakeholders, including:
  • Clarification of the permitting responsibilities and authorities among Colorado and Federal agencies
  • Analysis of existing or proposed policies from other states for relevance to Colorado’s climate goals and emissions targets

Issues to Consider

Identify barriers to deployment of carbon capture, transport, utilization, and storage projects in Colorado at a level that is consistent with achieving Colorado’s emissions goals as well as creating and maintaining economic opportunities and energy and industrial sector jobs in Colorado, including:

• Economic
• Regulatory
• Legal
• Technological
• Other significant barriers

Environmental justice impacts and opportunities​

Identify positive or negative impacts to environmental justice objectives related to CCUS in Colorado:

1. Guiding principles on project related community engagement & benefits
2. Project siting considerations, utilizing DI mapping as defined by statute
3. Local Air quality impacts and potential improvements
4. Retrofit job opportunities
5. Regional economic impacts
6. Water requirements and downstream impacts

Recommendations

• Make recommendations for how Colorado could facilitate carbon capture, transport, utilization, and storage development. These recommendations will include any regulatory, policy, coordinating, planning, financial assistance, or other actions the state of Colorado can take to overcome the identified barriers.
• Make recommendations on what role carbon capture should have in meeting Colorado’s climate goals, and on how Colorado should do GHG accounting for CCUS; including how to evaluate projects that use captured carbon for enhanced oil recovery

Task Force Members

Members of the task force represent government, industry, academic and nonprofit groups in Colorado.

Task Force Timeline

In response to requests from Task Force members, the public, and key stakeholders, we wanted to inform you that the dates have been extended for the CCUS report process and deliverables. These new dates still allow the Task Force to meet the deadlines established in the GHG Roadmap, This will also allow the Task Force more time to analyze and include new potential funding from the Infrastructure Investment & Jobs Act and allow additional input from local community and environmental justice groups. Please let us know if you have any questions and we look forward to meeting with you on December 15th. (If you’re not able to attend that meeting, please let us know so that we can plan a separate call).

New CCUS Task Force Recommendation and Report Deadlines

• Draft recommendation comment deadline on 12/13/21
• Get recommendations translated into Spanish on 11/24/21
• Review public recommendation comments and draft report with CCUS Task Force on 12/15/21.
• Prepare Final Draft of CCUS Task Recommendations and report by 01/17/22.
• Translate final report and recommendations into Spanish 01/17/22
• Submit Final List of CCUS Task Force Recommendations and report to Governor by 02/01/22

Additional strategies include:

• Plan additional outreach to local communities and disproportionately impacted communities
• Analyze and potentially include recommendations from state funding appropriations for CCUS included in Infrastructure Investment & Jobs Act