CITIZEN POWER ALLIANCE

ALBANY -- The state is joining the hunt for the holy grail of global warming -- a way to reach deep underground to permanently entomb fossil fuel-emitted carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that fuels rising temperatures.

This summer, geologists will study old natural gas wells and other subterranean features in the Southern Tier and western New York as potential resting places for pumped-in CO2 from power plants, under a $4 million, three-year program by the state Energy Research and Development Authority and a host of energy companies.

The storage method known as sequestration could give extended life to high-CO2 fuels like coal and oil, whose emissions are worsening global warming.

President Bush has been a powerful advocate for sequestration, which could help the fuel industry avoid potential CO2 emission limits that climate scientists say will be needed to to avoid catastrophic temperature increases.

"This is one of our efforts to mitigate climate change," said authority President and CEO Paul Tonko. "We are going to scope out areas that might be suitable for this and address some of the geological uncertainties."

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