Jul 1 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Beth Wilberding Messenger-Inquirer, Owensboro, Ky.

Three corporations have partnered to form the Western Kentucky Carbon Storage Foundation, which will "help advance the science of long-term carbon storage opportunities" in Kentucky, Gov. Steve Beshear's office announced Monday.

Peabody Energy, ConocoPhillips and E.ON U.S. formed the nonprofit foundation and will work with the Kentucky Geological Survey on a project that includes drilling a well to test carbon dioxide storage in the Knox and Mount Simon geological formations at a site in Hancock County.

"We see this as a strong public-private model that can be used around the nation to advance the science of carbon storage and enhance the technical stage," said Terry Hunt, a spokeswoman for Houston-based energy company ConocoPhillips.

The industry partners share a goal of "enhancing carbon capture," she said.

Researchers will be testing the state's potential for storing carbon dioxide and analyzing the suitability of long-term geologic storage.

Geologic storage of carbon dioxide might reduce future carbon dioxide emissions from stationary sources, according to a brochure from the Kentucky Geological Survey.

If the research works, facilities such as power plants that burn coal for power might have to build wells in which to store carbon dioxide instead of emitting it into the air, Hancock Judge-Executive Jack McCaslin told Hancock Fiscal Court during an April meeting.

The Kentucky Geological Survey will lead the project's research with other state agencies. Drilling should start this winter, with carbon dioxide injection beginning in spring 2009.

Researchers plan to drill an 8,000-foot-deep well on a farm in southeastern Hancock County and inject carbon dioxide into it, Jim Cobb, state geologist and director of the Kentucky Geological Survey, told Hancock Fiscal Court at an April meeting.

The project will cost more than $5 million, and the state will pay about $1.4 million, said David Harris, head of the energy and mineral section of the Kentucky Geological Survey. The industries will pay for the rest of the project.

The Kentucky Geological Survey invited more than 100 companies to a meeting last December to discuss research and announce the project, Harris said.

They also solicited cost-share contributions and technological expertise at the meeting, he said.

Peabody Energy, ConocoPhillips and E.ON U.S. "are all involved in trying to find a solution" of what to do with carbon dioxide emissions, Harris said.

The state has been working with the three corporations since January, but the foundation wasn't formed until about two or three weeks ago, he said.

"This partnership brings together a strong group of energy leaders to carbon capture," said Beth Sutton, a spokesperson for St. Louis-based Peabody Energy.

Peabody and ConocoPhillips are also doing a joint feasibility study for a coal gasification plant that will be located in western Kentucky, Sutton said, and the feasibility study continues through the second half of 2008.

"The information we gain from this test well will also become part of the analysis we are doing through a feasibility study for our coal-to-gas project," Sutton said.