KEMMERER — A carbon storage project being undertaken by ExxonMobil in Lincoln and Sweetwater Counties received the green light to proceed from the Bureau of Land Management.

The BLM approved the Shute Creek 7-34 project, which will utilize a well more than 18,000 feet deep that will be used to permanently trap excess carbon dioxide from the Shute Creek Gas Plant underground. 

ExxonMobil was given permission to build a disposal well pad with an 8-inch-diameter pipeline and fiber optic infrastructure extending more than 12 miles along an existing pipeline corridor and access road. The BLM says injecting the carbon dioxide into underground geologic formations “offers safe, secure, and permanent disposal.” The project has already been permitted by the state as a Class II disposal well.

The BLM says the plant and carbon dioxide sales facility employs 200 full-time company staff and approximately 100 full-time contract workers. During construction of the proposed well pad and pipeline, the average workforce is projected at 75, with peak employment reaching 160. Oil and gas development remains a major economic driver in the region. Mining, oil and gas provide around 34% of total labor income and more than 33% of sales and use tax revenue in the region.