Six O'Clock News

Interesting phone call came in today. It was on the cell phone and caller ID gave an unfamiliar number. Below is my recall of the conversation.

"Good morning, is this Professor Liner? I'm Ted Oberg with KTRK Channel 13 News."
"Ah, Good morning."
"Do you have a minute to talk?"
"Sure, what's up?"
"Well I am reporting a story about CO2 sequestration and I saw you in the video at the University of Houston."    [Note: I am about half way in]
"You seem to make the concepts very simple, simple enough to explain on the air."
"Interesting, and thank you"
"The story is centered on an energy company in Dallas who is planning a CO2 pipeline from a CO2 field to an oil field for enhanced oil recovery. But they are also going to run it near potential CO2 capture industrial sites. The hope is that as CO2 capture and sequestration takes off, they will be able to have people tap into their new pipeline."
"I see."
"So do you think we could get together for a short interview?"
"When did you have in mind?"
"How about today? We could come by your office, say 1:30 or 2:00."
"Actually, I'm off campus today. How about if I come to the studio at 1:30?"
"That would be great."
"OK, see you then."

So the meeting came off as planned and I would like to thank Ted in this semi-public medium for the chance to bring some of these issues to a wider audience. I am honored.

In the interview we talked on camera for about 20 minutes and did a 'walking shot' down the hallway. He wanted to know about the big picture, how the carbon capture and sequestration activity might affect business and individuals. All this will be boiled down to a few comments embedded in the bigger story of the proposed pipeline, CO2 sequestration in Texas (there is very little so far), and the Copenhagen climate meeting.

The piece involving my interview will run on the six o'clock news on Dec 16, toward the end of the Copenhagen meeting when CO2 will be very much in the news. Unless you are a pro like Ted, you never know how you will appear in front of the camera. I will be a nervous viewer.

For an overview of my take on CO2 capture and sequestration, a good source is the first half of a recent seminar at I gave at The University of Texas.

For the more industrious readers, I maintain a wiki of CO2-related links. It gives some small indication of the scope of what is going on in these very early days of carbon capture and sequestration.