The Southwest Regional Partnership (SWP), was selected by the U.S. Department of Energy and its National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) as one of seven regional partnerships charged with evaluating available technologies to capture and to reduce the emissions intensity of greenhouse gases in the southwest region through a process known as carbon sequestration.

The Southwest Regional Partnership is composed of a diverse group of experts in geology, engineering, economics, public policy, and outreach.

Member states include Arizona, Colorado, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Utah, Kansas, Nevada, Texas, and Wyoming.

Individual partners represent state and federal agencies, universities, electric utilities, non-governmental organizations, coal, oil and gas companies, and the Navajo Nation.

The partnership is led by Professor Brian McPherson of the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah. An administrative committee with members drawn from other universities, agencies, and industry assists Professor McPherson.

The SWP benefits from the built infrastructure and natural geologic formations that exist throughout the region. Our unique mix of pipelines and geology makes the southwestern United States an ideal location for carbon sequestration.

Characterization Phase (2003-2005): The Southwest Partnership on Carbon Sequestration completed its Phase I program in December 2005. The main objective of the Southwest Partnership Phase I project was to evaluate and demonstrate the means for achieving an 18% reduction in carbon intensity by 2012. For more information, refer to the Southwest Partnership Phase I Final Report.

Validation Phase (2005-2009): The Southwest Partnership is currently in Phase II of the regional partnerships' initiative. The Southwest Partnership’s validation project is a four-year effort devoted to validating promising CO₂ sequestration opportunities within the Southwest region including deep saline formations, abandoned and depleted oil and natural gas reservoirs, and coal seams.

Deployment Phase (2008-2017): The Southwest Partnership is currently transitioning to Phase III, demonstrating at large scale that CO₂ capture, transportation, injection, and storage can be achieved safely, permanently, and economically.

Advanced Resources International

AIST- National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology

Applied Science Laboratory

Arizona Geological Survey

Arizona State University

Blue Source

Bureau of Land Management (BLM)

Colorado Geological Survey

Colorado School of Mines

ConocoPhillips

Det Norske Veritas (DNV)

EnTech Strategies

Environmental Protection Agency

Gas Technology Institute

Idaho National Laboratory (INL)

Idaho Power

Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission

Kansas Geological Survey

Kinder Morgan CO2 Company, L.P.

Los Alamos National Laboratory

Navajo Nation Oil and Gas Company (NNOGC)

New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology

New Mexico State University

Oklahoma Geological Survey

PacifiCorp

Pinnacle

Resolute Natural Resources

Sandia National Laboratories

Savoy Energy

Schlumberger

Shell

Southern California Edison

Texas A&M University

Texas Bureau of Economic Geology

University of Idaho

University of Missouri

University of Utah

US Department of Agriculture (USDA)

US Geological Survey (USGS)

Utah Geological Survey

Western Governors’ Association

West Virginia University

Wyoming State Geological Survey

Xcel Energy

The thematic committees focus on specific aspects of the partnership’s efforts, and are responsible for collecting and distilling information to those specific objectives. The committees include:

Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Sources and Sinks
The CO2 sources and sinks committee is conducting a regional evaluation of all naturally occurring and human generated sources of CO2, as well as areas suitable for sequestering carbon.

Physical Infrastructure
The region investigated by the Partnership contains the nation’s primary CO2 pipeline infrastructure. Working in conjunction with the pipeline operators, this committee is collecting data on these pipelines to be used to analyze suitable sequestration sites.

Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
The GIS committee is building an electronic database for the Southwest Regional Partnership. It will provide public access to online information through a map-based interface.

Regulatory
The Regulatory thematic committee is assessing the current regulatory environment for each State participating in the Partnership. This research will help the interested parties participate and identify solutions to overcome hurdles to successful CO2 sequestration.

Integrated Assessment
The Integrated Assessment committee will be building a regional model of carbon sequestration based upon input from other thematic committees. The model will make quantitative comparisons of alternative sequestration options, based on environmental risks, monitoring and verification requirements, life-cycle costs, and appropriate regulatory and permitting constraints.

Public Involvement and Outreach
The Public Involvement and Outreach Committee is led by Professor Tarla Rai Peterson at Texas A&M University. It is responsible for conveying the knowledge gained by the various thematic committees to various stakeholders. The committee works with the Interactive Advisory Panel, a group of interested stakeholders, to facilitate this interaction. The committee is also hosting several mediated modeling workshops in cooperation with the Integrated Assessment thematic committee.