Feds set aside $20.6 million for carbon management work in Kern
John Cox, The Bakersfield Californian
Updated 4 min read
Aug. 11—The Biden administration stoked Kern's grandest economic ambitions Friday by announcing up to $20.6 million in taxpayer money toward possibly establishing a carbon management hub near the county's western edge — but stopped short of naming the region one of four national centers for such work.
Pending negotiations with the U.S. Department of Energy, three local oil producers will receive Inflation Reduction Act grants to either design or study the feasibility of building facilities for removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and injecting it into depleted oil wells. The projects would not aid or inhibit local petroleum production.
Cal State Bakersfield, Kern Community College District and the University of California were also tapped to get federal money, which would have to be paired with large sums from other sources such as private investment.
Although the local awards were far less than what some had hoped — $1.2 billion was set aside for a pair of projects in Louisiana and Texas to establish the nation's first "direct air capture" hubs — Friday's awards nevertheless sustain Kern's bid for future federal investment in a somewhat controversial technology for staving off climate change while helping communities transition their economies away from petroleum dependence.
Seventeen other DAC proposals also tentatively received grants from the department, meaning the proposals in Kern will have to vie for federal support against competing projects in more than a dozen states, including Alaska, Colorado, Florida, Illinois and Wyoming.
Local officials touted Friday's federal announcement as confirmation Kern remains an energy leader with a geology, workforce and industrial know-how uniquely suited to DAC operations.
"Kern County will be a key player in helping the state of California responsibly achieve (its) climate goals, and we're proud to be at the forefront of leading this effort," the county's chief administrative officer, James Zervis, said in a news release.
The largest of the grants awarded for DAC work in western Kern was headed by Long Beach-based oil producer California Resources Corp., which formed a coalition including representatives from industry, technology, academia, community organizations, local government and labor groups.
Up to $11.8 million in federal money would go into designing but not yet building the CRC project, which was valued at about twice that amount. KCCD would participate by leading the project's community benefits plan.
A grant of almost $2.8 million was set aside for studying the feasibility of a DAC project proposed by a subsidiary of Bakersfield-based oil producer Aera Energy LLC. Finishing the analysis is expected to require an additional $1.8 million to complete.
Separately, a Chevron Corp. subsidiary tentatively received a $3 million grant for producing a $5 million feasibility study of its DAC proposal, which like the CRC and Aera initiatives would be located in western Kern.
The only other grant related to DAC work proposed locally would go to the Regents of the University of California, which plans to assess the technical, social and governance feasibility of what's being called the Community Alliance for Direct Air Capture in the Southern San Joaquin Valley. That grant would cover about $3 million of a review expected to cost almost $4.5 million.
CRC's chief sustainability officer, Chris Gould, said in a news release the company is thrilled with the federal award, adding that it will help California meet its ambitious climate goals.
Assemblyman Vince Fong, R-Bakersfield, issued a statement saying the awards announced Friday show the Central Valley continues to lead in energy production and technological innovation.
"The ability to capture carbon out of the atmosphere is cutting-edge technology that will be developed in our community," he stated, "and it will also keep skilled, well-paying jobs in California."
KCCD Deputy Chancellor Zav Dadabhoy commented in the context of the district's continuing work in community organizing and serving as a trusted advisor.
"As we embrace the technology that will create the jobs of the future, it is incumbent to ensure that the wealth created in the process benefits the people and communities where the projects are located," he said in a news release. "By working with employers to create good jobs and career pathways, we ensure two-way engagement, transparency and that the benefits are invested to support a clean energy economy, especially in our rural areas."
Much work remains even if the grants come through and lead to a successful project that wins lucrative federal designation as a federal DAC hub.
The technology behind direct air capture remains in relatively early stages, and people in the industry are looking at different means of achieving CO2 capture and storage on a large scale.
Additionally, CO2 injection permits would have to be granted and a gas pipeline system built, both of which would require navigating a regulatory framework that in some cases remains murky.
Another important aspect will be winning community support. Some environmental justice groups have spoken up against carbon capture and storage, saying it presents asphyxiation risks and would wrongly reward state and federal tax credits to oil companies they say have contributed heavily to global warming.
