The University of Wyoming (UW) will receive almost $5 million from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to continue studying carbon capture and storage – a developing industry that hopes to reduce carbon emissions from coal plants or possibly even remove harmful gasses from the atmosphere.

Sarah Leung, DOE carbon storage program manager, said the project looks at what to do with carbon emissions that have been captured.

“How we can utilize depleted oil and gas reservoirs that can be now reutilized as a resource for carbon storage, to capture and safely store the emissions that are from existing CO2 sources,” said Leung.

She added that parts of Wyoming have the right kind of geology to do so.

“There are two really prolific basins in Wyoming, one is the Greater Green River Basin, and the other is the Wind River Basin,” said Leung.

Leung said the funding will help develop a database on the two basins.

“A central, user friendly data repository that provides stakeholders with essential technical and non-technical information designed to accelerate and enable carbon storage projects,” she said.

Wyoming, North Dakota and Louisiana have been given regulatory authority by the feds to oversee the carbon storage industry. Stakeholders say this will help the industry develop quicker.

While the technology is being used commercially on a small scale, some say it’s expensive and still largely unproven.