Storage of CO2 from coal plants to be studied

Power of CO2 to be tested at Alabama coal plant

Southern Co. will begin an experiment at the Barry Electric Generating Plant near Mobile, Alabama to capture carbon dioxide emitted from a coal-fired power plant, then inject the gas deep underground.

The four-year, $175 million experiment begins in 2011 and will test the future viability of coal as a source of electrical power. Tens of thousands of tons of the potent CO2 gas will be piped 9,000 feet underground around the Citronelle oil fields, about 10 miles from the Barry plant.

If the experiment succeeds, it may not be too long before all of the carbon emissions from Barry and hundreds of similarly sized coal plants are piped underground.

Mississippi Power’s Plant Daniel was the site for a demonstration in which 3,000 tons of CO2 recently were injected into a saline rock formation 8,500 feet below ground. Monitoring of its movement at that depth and under multiple geological seals is now under way.

Also in the South:

ALABAMA: Gov. Riley open to special legislative session to save PACT tuition fund

ARKANSAS: State Supreme Court to allow lawsuit against Department of Environmental Quality

FLORIDA: Ag commissioner Bronson drops bid for governor

GEORGIA: Latinos face injustices across the South

KENTUCKY: State to spend stimulus funds on energy projects

LOUISIANA: House rejects Equal Pay for Women Act

MISSISSIPPI: Proposed hospital tax not the solution to Medicaid, says Mississippi Hospital Assn.

NORTH CAROLINA: Former first lady Easley won't quit NCSU job, says lawyer

SOUTH CAROLINA: Legislature adjourns for now, to return in mid-June

TENNESSEE: House to delay insurance fee for smokers for a year

VIRGINIA: Uranium mining study approved by Virginia panel

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