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University of Wyoming scientist outlines DOE‑funded basalt carbon‑storage study near Hermiston’s Calpine plant
Summary
Daniel Aiken, a senior research scientist at the University of Wyoming, told a Hermiston work session the HERO Basalt Carbon Safe Project will core beneath the Calpine power plant to test whether Columbia River basalts can mineralize and permanently store CO2; the current phase is characterization only and awaits DOGAMI permitting.
Daniel Aiken, senior research scientist at the University of Wyoming’s School of Energy Resources, told a Hermiston City Council work session that a DOE‑funded phase‑2 study will drill and sample basalt beneath the Calpine power plant parcel to evaluate whether the rock can permanently store carbon dioxide.
"This is the HERO Basalt Carbon Safe Project," Aiken said, and stressed the current work is data gathering: "There is no injection will occur during this project. We are purely going down. We'll sample. We'll close back up the well. We'll reclaim the surface," he said. The study is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management.
The project team seeks to determine three geologic conditions that would make basalt storage feasible: whether the rock has sufficient pore space (porosity), whether fluids can move through it (permeability), and whether a competent seal or caprock exists to contain CO2. Aiken explained the Underground Injection Control (UIC) framework restricts candidate formations so they do not endanger underground sources of drinking water and noted the program uses a salinity threshold: "The minimum criteria under UIC is 10,000 PPM," he said, contrasting that with potable water at "50 to 500 PPM."
Aiken said basalts may offer a faster, more secure trapping mechanism than conventional saline aquifers because CO2 can react with mafic minerals to form carbonate rock. "We can instantaneously turn CO2 essentially into a carbonate rock," he said, describing mineral trapping as a pathway that could fix CO2 in solid form on timescales of years to decades rather than centuries to millennia.
As regional context, Aiken noted prior work at the Wallula well near Richland, Washington, where researchers injected about 1,000 tons of CO2, sampled the site years later and reported promising mineralization results. He argued that proving basalt mineralization in the Pacific Northwest could avoid the need for long east‑west CO2 pipelines and keep sequestration close to large emitters.
Project partners listed by Aiken include Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (modeling and commercial assessment), Oxy Down Petroleum (drilling operations), SLB (field measurement tools; formerly Schlumberger), Calpine (host site), and Carbfix (Icelandic basalt mineralization expertise). The project is focused on the Grand Ronde basalt in the area around Hermiston, he said.
On permitting and schedule, Aiken said the team submitted a stratigraphic well permit to the Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries (DOGAMI); the application completed a completeness review and was entering a 45‑day public comment period. He gave a notional site‑construction/spud target near Sept. 1 but emphasized that site work will not begin until DOGAMI approves the permit.
Aiken offered contact points for follow‑up questions and said the team will share analysis plans and results; a participant asked for an email contact to collect additional questions from the group. The meeting moved on to the council’s regular work session after the brief Q&A.
Next steps: the HERO team will await DOGAMI’s comment period and final permit decision, then proceed with site construction only after approval; no injection is planned in this phase.
