On this week’s podcast Jon Wainwright talks with University of Wyoming College of Law Professor Tara Righetti about her work in the field of oil & gas law, specifically laws and regulations around incremental storage and pore space utilization.

The laws related to pore space utilization – which is one piece of the oil & gas storage puzzle – can be tricky to navigate because there isn’t much legal precedent in federal law related to it. That is because there is not a lot of carbon storage in the United States writ large.

But what is very interesting about her work is the role that these existing technologies and strategies can play in addressing climate change. One thing Professor Righetti points out is that the goals of climate activists and the oil and gas industry are not as mutually exclusive as one might think. The process of incremental storage – which is where a depleted oil or natural gas production well is used to store carbon – combined with existing carbon capture technology – that is, technology that pulls CO2 out of the atmosphere – is a “bird in the hand” that can be used right now to fight climate change and global warming.

To learn more about Professor Tara Righetti, you can visit her University of Wyoming faculty page or her publications page.

And as always, you can listen to today’s conversation on Apple Podcasts, iTunes, Stitcher Radio, Spotify, and TuneIn Radio, in addition to wherever else you listen to podcasts.

To help more people hear this week’s conversation, please subscribe to The CAP⋅impact Podcast on any of those services and leave a 5-star rating and a positive review. That makes it easier for the show to be found which in turn makes it easier for people to learn about the work that Professor Righetti is doing.

https://soundcloud.com/capimpactca/how-the-oil-gas-industry-can-help-save-the-environment-with-prof-tara-righetti