House Energy Committee hears overview of carbon capture, utilization and storage potential in Michigan

The House Energy Committee received an informational briefing on carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) from Autumn Hajzma, director of the Michigan Geological Repository for Research and Education and assistant director of the Michigan Geological Survey at Western Michigan University, and from developer Bob Manes, founder and CEO of Core Energy.

Hajzma told committee members CCUS “is carbon capture, utilization, and storage,” and described the three technical components of projects: capture, transportation and deep geologic storage. She said storage options in Michigan include saline reservoirs, depleted oil and gas fields, and porous basalts, and emphasized depth and sealing rock as primary selection criteria: “we want the CO2 to be compressed and behave not like a gas, but like a liquid,” she said, noting that suitable storage typically lies deeper than about 2,600 feet and must be separated from drinking-water sources.

The briefing focused on two practical constraints: existing subsurface infrastructure (notably legacy wellbores) and permitting timelines. Hajzma said wellbores are “one of the big, biggest leakage pathways” in Michigan and described an ongoing effort to compile historic well records and evaluate mitigation strategies. She also described storage mechanisms — structural trapping, residual trapping, dissolution and mineralization — and highlighted basalts in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula as a mineralization option that can convert CO2 to solid carbonate minerals over comparatively short timescales.

Manes, whose company says it has sequestered about 5 million tons of CO2 in northern Michigan, told the committee the technology is proven and economic drivers are important. “The laws exist. The rules exist to do carbon capture. Carbon capture has been going on for decades in this country safely,” he said, and urged the committee to consider state-level primacy for EPA’s Class VI permitting program so Michigan regulators could process permits more quickly. Manes cited a backlog at EPA — about 62 applications filed and eight permits issued nationwide — and said average permit timelines have run several years, a delay that can stall nine‑figure projects.

Committee members asked technical and policy questions. Representative Fairburn asked whether CCUS “really reduces emissions,” and Manes responded that CCUS “is a tool to reduce emissions.” Representative Schmaltz asked whether Midwestern states are pursuing primacy; Manes said many states with suitable geology have pursued state implementation. Representative Frisbie asked about the energy penalty for capture; Hajzma said the answer is technology dependent and gave a broad range rather than a single value.

Hajzma provided several quantitative details cited during the briefing: Michigan has more than 200 facilities that together emit more than 75,000,000 tons of CO2 per year; a regional study of a Michigan reef trend estimated a conservative minimum storage potential of 50,000,000 tons of CO2 in that trend (with more than 100 million barrels of associated oil recovery under standard enhanced oil recovery practices); and Western Michigan University’s repository holds roughly 600,000 linear feet of subsurface rock samples used for characterization. Manes cited a previous Department of Energy–funded project led by Battelle that invested more than $50 million in Michigan research.

Why it matters: presenters said Michigan’s combination of storage types and a large emitter base make CCUS a practical option in the state, but both emphasized that safe deployment requires detailed site characterization, mitigation of legacy well risks and predictably timed permits. Manes and Hajzma both urged more data collection and state regulatory capacity to reduce project uncertainty.

The committee did not take legislative action on CCUS during the meeting; the presentation was designated informational. Presenters and staff said they expect related policy proposals to return to the committee in the current or a future legislative session.