By Julie Johansen
The Carbon Emery Economic Development Group met on Tuesday Oct. 29. Leaders from both counties, the Governor’s Office of Planning and Budget, USU Eastern, Utah State University, University of Utah, SERDA, DOGM, State Senate representatives and interested citizens attended personally or virtually. Updates from September events were the main topics discussed.
Laura Hanson and Kim Rodela from the Governor’s Office of Planning and Budget began with an update about the development of the Interagency Working Group. All the agencies continue to have a working relationship both local and with the state. It was decided that collaboration with federal partners is important. A meeting was announced which the state will facilitate on Dec. 4. Multiple entities will work together on a collaboration strategy and methods for implementation will be established.
Next, an update was given on the Eastern Utah Economic Summit. This meeting was held on the 15th of September. The update was given by USU Eastern Director of Community and Campus Engagement, Brad Watson. This event was sponsored by Congressman John Curtis. There were many important subjects discussed at this summit such as – energy, infrastructure, and economic tracks. Individuals from five southeastern counties, Duchesne, San Juan, Grand, Carbon and Emery were in attendance at this summit. Questions about scheduling next year’s Summit were addressed by the group. There is a lot of value in events like this because it helps make the public aware of important events that are occurring and other topics like the availability of funds.
Lauren Huntsman and Dennis Worwood attended a tour of Idaho National Lab, where nuclear research is conducted. The presenters were several professors meeting with researchers. This area covers 900 square miles. A history of nuclear power was presented showing how technology and safety of these plants has advanced. They also reported on the huge data and expertise bases. There was a lot of research available. The increase demand for electricity will determine much of the future of nuclear. Another big emphasis is the infrastructure of transmission lines and their available capacity which are already at Hunter Plant. The question remains: where does the funding come from? The Governor’s Office of Economic Development had requested that $50 million put into match grants but had been turned down by the legislature and also state that funding will be really tight during 2025.
Several attendees of the tour of the Intermountain Power Plant (IPP) in Delta, where the transition from coal power to natural gas and hydrogen production is happening, spoke about the additional expense of producing power with hydrogen and the decrease of the number of employees once the transition is complete. This transition at IPP is primarily to provide green power for California stakeholders.
Richard Powell from the DOGM gave an update on the process of securing the Level VI Primacy Well permit needed to start carbon sequestration. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued new requirements which has slowed the process but they are working as fast as they can but with an unknown time frame, hopefully in 2025. He also gave an update on series of open houses that were held in several places throughout the state in the last few months.
Lastly, Professor Michael Free from the University of Utah gave a slide presentation on critical mineral extraction from coal, entitled U of U’s DOE-CORE-CM Project to assess coal-related critical mineral resources and potential processing methods. This was a conceptual processing plan how resources of carbon (coal) can be converted through innovative local planning into non fuel products such as carbon fiber, polymers and resins. Results of their project will be available in the future.
The date for the next meeting of the group was set for Tuesday, Nov. 19.