Departments & Interdisciplinary Programs: Recent submissions
Now showing items 1-20 of 361
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The regulation of CO₂ pipelines and ensuring public safetyThe 45Q tax credit is anticipated to play an important role in accelerating the expansion of the CO₂ pipeline network in the United States by providing a financial incentive for businesses to invest in carbon capture utilization and storage (CCUS) technologies and supporting infrastructure. The Inflation Reduction Act's amplification of this credit has already increased the number of CCUS projects. This activity, in addition to continuing demand for CO₂ for oil and gas operations, will require an expansion of the US CO₂ pipeline network. This expansion has raised questions and concerns among landowners, project stakeholders and the public regarding the safety of these pipelines and to what extent regulations should be consistent with or more stringent than those for the more abundant natural gas pipelines.
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Securing mineral supply: backwards vertical integration for technology companiesThe demand for minerals has increased with the growing production of standard technologies, such as EV car batteries, wind turbines, and solar panels. However, major mining companies need help to satisfy the demand at the current rate, leading to inconsistent and expensive supply chains and environmental and geopolitical concerns. Technology companies should consider backward vertical integration strategies to mitigate against risks associated with supply chain issues, which would merge upstream processes essential to companies' value chains. By doing so, they can mitigate the mine's health, safety, and ecological impacts by employing the latest mining technologies.
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Addressing the need for accurate and comparable greenhouse gas data: the COMET frameworkThe Coalition on Materials Emissions Transparency (COMET) began as a collaboration between the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment (CCSI), the Colorado School of Mines (CSM), RMI (formerly known as the Rocky Mountain Institute), and the Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UN Climate Change). Its objective is to advance accurate and transparent greenhouse gas accounting through a harmonized set of principles, standards, and reporting requirements.
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Turning wastes to rare valueThere remain considerable uncertainties surrounding critical mineral supply chains, and their relationship to energy transitions and energy security. There is clear evidence that they will play an increasing role, but the pathways to the future are unclear. As we strive for answers, one clear area to look is in recycling and circular economy concepts.
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VIIRS day/night band power outage analysis for the February 6, 2023 earthquake in Turkey and SyriaOn February 6, 2023, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck at a depth of about 11 miles (17.9 km) in Gaziantep province in Turkey (https://www.worldvision.org/disaster-relief-news-stories/2023-turkey-and-syria-earthquake-faqs). At least 120 aftershocks have been felt around the region, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS). At least 41,000 people have lost their lives till date (February 15th, 2023) and the number continues to rise. The natural disaster has aggravated the preexisting humanitarian need in the region as many Syrian refugees are concentrated in the 10 affected provinces of southern Turkey, and Syria, and have been already suffering from over a decade of civil war.
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Ukraine power outages viewed from the NASA/NOAA Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer suite at nightAs the Russia-Ukraine war approaches the 1 year mark the electrical grid in Ukraine has taken devastating damage. Russia has hit more than 200 targets in the electrical infrastructure. This has left millions of Ukrainian citizens without power in the cold winter months. In the early days of the war Russia captured the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe. Russia has now militarized the facility installing several Grad rocket launchers around the dry storage for spent nuclear fuel. Protective structures were erected to defend the launchers, but these structures violate international nuclear and radiation safety regulations.
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Policy guidelines for accelerating the energy transition in Sub-Saharan Africa: lessons from the mobile telecoms sectorSub-Saharan Africa faces immense challenges in its bid to attract capital to develop its energy resources and grow its economy. Relative to the pace of market penetration of cell phone services in the recent past, the growth in the share of the population with access to electricity has been rather dismal. The comparisons between both sectors are not new and have been made repeatedly over the years. This commentary recognizes that there are substantial differences between both sectors that make direct comparisons and a transfer of policy lessons difficult. It then identifies some key enablers of cellular telephony growth in Africa that can be applied to the electric power sector and refashions them into broad policy guidelines for boosting the pace of the energy transition on the subcontinent.
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U-Pb geochronology of monazite from a carbonatite dike and hydrothermally altered pegmatite dike in the Wet Mountains, ColoradoU-Pb Laser Ablation-Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) isotopic data were collected for igneous and hydrothermal monazite from a carbonatite dike and hydrothermally altered pegmatite dike, respectively, to determine the age of carbonatite emplacement and rare earth element (REE) mineralization in the Wet Mountains, Colorado. Fifty analyses from three monazite grains from each sample yielded reliable 206Pb/238U data. Sample locations were recording using a handheld Global Positioning System.
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Impact analysis and development patterns for the oil shale region Mesa, Garfield and Rio Blanco counties, ColoradoThis report is part of the Colorado Oil Shale Environmental Program, a major complex of studies and activities begun in 1971 to provide information and guidance for oil shale development in Colorado. This final report "Impact Analysis and Development Patterns Related to an Oil Shale Industry: Regional Development and Land Use Study" was prepared for the Colorado West Area Council of Governments, the Oil Shale Regional Planning Commission, and the Regional Development and Land Use Planning Steering and Monitoring Committee by THK Associates, in cooperation with the Denver Research Institute and Bickert, Browne and Coddington. The major objective of this study of community impacts was to provide decision-makers the necessary information on which to base planning in order to mitigate the potentially great impacts of an oil shale industry. As study of impacts, it deals more with the hardware requirements of communities—schools, housing, sewers, land use, water—than the people impacts. It provides valuable regional timetables and quantification of the necessary growth hardware. As such, this report should be invaluable to the region in planning.
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Regional oil shale study environmental inventory, analysis, and impact study, Piceance Creek Basin, Rio Blanco and Garfield counties, ColoradoThe major objective of this study of community impacts was to provide decision-makers the necessary information on which to base planning in order to mitigate the potentially great impacts of an oil shale industry. As study of impacts, it deals more with the hardware requirements of communities—schools, housing, sewers, land use, water—than the people impacts. It provides valuable regional timetables and quantification of the necessary growth hardware. As such, this report should be invaluable to the region in planning. The objectives of the Environmental Inventory Analysis and Impact Study were (1) to examine a number of the more sensitive components of the ecosystem and to establish baselines from which changes in the environment due to oil shale development could be evaluated and (2) to evaluate the effects of a series of alternatives and the long-range consequences for all interrelated aspects of physical and human environments.
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Colorado oil shale: the current statusThis overview of the status of oil shale was prepared by the State of Colorado, at the request of Mr. Paul Petzrick, Director of Shale Resource Applications for the U.S. Department of Energy. The Executive Director's Office, Department of Natural Resources, accomplished this task with the help of the Colorado Energy Research Institute. (Note that the Colorado Geological Society assisted along with other Federal and State agencies.) The material in this briefing book provides a general background to oil shale and the potential impacts of its development. It is not meant as a technical discussion of all the issues and problems associated with the development of this energy resource. Rather, it is intended as an overview for those people not intimately knowledgeable concerning Colorado and its oil shale resource.
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Tax lead time study for the oil shale region: fiscal alternatives for rapidly growing communities in ColoradoBased on currently used revenue sources, public revenues are likely to be insufficient in the oil shale region for the first five to eight years after development is initiated. The basic problem is timing and distribution of tax revenues to support new development when and where needed. This problem primarily affects cities, towns, and school districts. The basic purpose of this study is to review alternative revenue sources for local governments and potential techniques for handling revenue timing and distribution problems created by rapid population growth. The discussion of the oil shale industry and what is likely to happen or not to happen is under constant speculation and revision. Information and projections contained in this report are furnished to provide a context for problem solving by local governments in the oil shale region.
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Surface rehabilitation of land disturbances resulting from oil shale development: final report, phase IThe Phase I report is organized into the following chapters: Chapter 1. Geomorphology of Piceance Creek Basin; Chapter 2. The natural vegetation in the landscape pf the Colorado oil shale region; Chapter 3. Ecosystems and their natural and artificial rehabilitation; Chapter 4. Evaluation of mining techniques; Chapter 5. Physical and chemical characteristics of overburden, spoils, and soils; Chapter 6. Characteristics of spent shale which influence water quality, sedimentation and plant growth medium; and Chapter 7. Water requirement for stabilizing and vegetating spent shale in the Piceance Basin. The Phase II report is organized into Phase II-A Vegetative stabilization of spent oil shales and Phase II-B Revegetation of disturbed surface soils in various vegetation ecosystems in the Piceance Basin.
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Report on economics of environmental protection for a federal oil shale leasing programThis report was prepared at the request of Thomas W. Ten Eyck, Director of Natural Resources of the State of Colorado, by a subcommittee of Governor John A. Love's Oil Shale Advisory Committee, known as the "Special Committee on Economics of Environmental Protection" (SCEEP). It examines the impact of commercial oil shale operations on the natural resources of the Piceance Creek Basin and the related socio-economic consequences to determine whether or not a federal leasing program can be initiated with adequate environmental safeguards.
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Oil shale and the future of a region: Garfield, Mesa and Rio Blanco counties, Colorado; a summary reportIn 1973, the functions of the Oil Shale Regional Planning Commission were incorporated into the newly formed Colorado West Area Council of Governments. The governing board of the Council is made up of a member of the Board of County Commissioners from each of the four counties (Garfield, Mesa, Rio Blanco, and Moffat) in Planning and Management Region 11, and an elected representative from each county representing the municipalities. The Council continued the investigations begun by the Oil Shale Regional Planning Commission. The findings and recommendations of the Regional Development and Land Use Study are summarized in this report.
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Developing hydrogen and carbon capture and storage projects in the state of ColoradoOver the past two years, both the hydrogen and carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) industries have gained momentum in the US. Project development in these industries has been rapidly accelerating with the growing financial incentives from policymakers for the commercial deployment of these projects. The signing of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, in November of 2021 marked the US Department of Energy's largest single investment in carbon management, along with significant investments funding clean hydrogen development.
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Climate change: toward a more resilient AfricaThe impacts of the invasion of Ukraine on agricultural exports and fertilizers, the food price hikes, the inflationary pressures, the unsustainable debt levels for many countries, and the possible global economic recession are severely impacting African economies and communities. In addition, the climate is changing, and Africa needs to adapt. It must adapt to rising temperatures, more extreme storms, and floods, rising sea levels, more intense heatwaves, and longer and more severe droughts. Yet though the risks are great, so also are the opportunities that successful adaptation can bring.
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A new paradigm for managing mineral trade routes in AfricaThe African Copper belt is a major supplier of key minerals such as copper, nickel, and cobalt to the world economy. Extracting and transporting these minerals to market will be essential to the success of the energy transition as demand for solar and wind energy, and battery metals soar exponentially over the next three decades. In contrast, the dismal state of road infrastructure for transporting the minerals from mine to port creates a major impediment to the commercial competitiveness of miners in the region and threatens economic rents accruable to host countries and communities. This commentary describes a new paradigm that could radically transform the design of solutions to ease logistics problems in the region.
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Collapsible soils in ColoradoCollapsible Soils in Colorado describes the geologic setting, the geomorphic and soil conditions, locations of potential susceptibility, and engineering properties of collapsible soils in Colorado. This bulletin is the result of a comprehensive and multi-year effort to understand collapsing soil behavior and the geologic and geomorphic conditions where they can form. In addition, this report contains a 1:1,000,000-scale map of Colorado that shows locations of soil collapse compiled from soil test data and damage incidents, climatic exclusions zones, and areas of the state where collapse-prone soil may exist. Collapsible soils are a widespread geologic hazard in the state, common in almost all semi-arid non-mountainous areas. The CGS program addressing this particular geohazard has increased public and professional awareness of collapsible soils. At the same time, through robust evaluation and research, it has improved the existing geological and geotechnical professional standard-of-practice related to the hazard. Note: The Association of American State Geologists announced that their annual John C. Frye Memorial Award for 2009 is granted to the CGS and the staff members who authored EG-14.