2022 MRCI Partners and Stakeholders Meeting Brings Out Record Numbers

The Midwest Regional Carbon Initiative (MRCI) hosted its first in-person Annual Partners and Stakeholders meeting in Columbus, Ohio in late October and the two-day event broke attendance records for the organization. The focus of the meeting was an exchange of information and ideas about carbon capture and storage (CCS) for the 20-state MRCI region and beyond. Battelle co-leads the MRCI along with the Illinois State Geological Survey. 

“Our goals in selecting speakers and presentations for these meetings are always to inform, connect, and inspire our stakeholders,” said Neeraj Gupta, Battelle Senior Research Leader and Technical Director of Carbon Management. “They need a broad overview of the carbon capture and storage space from a lot of perspectives so they can understand what is happening on the federal and the individual state levels but also with potential collaborators and competitors. 

Neeraj Gupta taking questions during his presentation at The Midwest Regional Carbon Initiative.

The full-day Partners and Stakeholders meeting was complemented by workshops and team tag-ups, as well as a reception and dinner with a keynote address held the day before. Battelle Subsurface Scientist/Engineer Mark Kelley led a morning meeting of members of state geologic surveys who work in conjunction with the MRCI, lending their expertise to the project. 

Battelle Senior Research Leader Srikanta Mishra led “A Gentle Introduction to Machine Learning for Geologic Storage” workshop. Concurrently, MRCI co-Principal Investigator Sallie Greenberg led the MRCI Stakeholder Engagement and Environmental Justice workshop. “The workshop was our first volley at tackling the important and complex topic of Environmental Justice,” said Greenberg. “Through our work on the Regional Partnerships, we have almost 20 years of experience engaging with stakeholders – and engagement is a vital component of EJ. So, we felt that was the right place to start our work to educate our stakeholders on this subject. We plan to refine and expand the workshop based on audience feedback during the meeting and explore taking it to new audiences and venues where appropriate.” 

Mark Kelley presenting at the Midwest Regional Carbon Initiative.

Following the workshops, an opening reception and dinner was held at the National Veterans Memorial and Museum. 

The Midwest Regional Carbon Initiative is a broad coalition of partners from research, academia, industry, NGOs, and the US government dedicated to the study, acceleration, acceptance, and deployment of carbon capture, utilization, and storage in the Midwest, Northeast, and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. Learn more here.