UNDERWOOD, N.D. (KXNET)– This month, state leaders said ‘yes’ to a new permit that plans to capture more carbon dioxide from a plant near Underwood.

The State Industrial Commission approved a Class VI permit for carbon capture and storage that will happen at the Blue Flint ethanol plant in Mclean County. The plan will focus mainly on a partnership between UND’s Energy and Environmental Research Center and Rainbow Energy, which operates the Coal Creek power plant.

The project plans to store up to 200 million metric tons of CO2. State Ag commissioner Doug Goehring says that concentrated carbon dioxide can then be sold as a commodity.

“Because we have the geology,” Goehring said, “we now have the ability to save our own power plants, capture the CO2, and then turn around and use it for enhanced oil recovery down the road.”

Goehring says the Dakota Gasification Plant in Beulah has already been capturing CO2 for nearly 20 years — much of which is sold to Canada to be used in advanced oil recovery. The EERC has already received $38 million from the Department of Energy to spearhead the project.