The U.S. Department of Energy’s Big Sky Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership has completed
drilling the first continental flood basalt sequestration pilot borehole to a total depth of 4110 ft at the
Boise White Paper Mill property at Wallula, Washington. Site suitability was assessed before drilling by
the 2007 to 2008 acquisition, processing, and analysis of a 4-mi, five-line three component seismic swath,
which was processed as a single data-dense line. Analysis of the seismic survey data indicated a
composite basalt formation thickness of ~8000 ft and absence of major geologic structures (i.e., faults)
along the line imaged by the seismic swath. Drilling of Wallula pilot borehole was initiated on
January 13, 2009, and reached total depth on April 6, 2009. Based on characterization results obtained
during drilling, three basalt breccia zones were identified between the depth interval of 2716 and 2,910 ft
as being a suitable injection reservoir for a subsequent CO2 injection pilot study. The targeted injection
reservoir lies stratigraphically below the massive Umtanum Member of the Grande Ronde Basalt, whose
flow-interior section possesses regionally recognized low-permeability characteristics. The identified
composite injection zone reservoir provides a unique and attractive opportunity to scientifically study the
reservoir behavior of three interconnected reservoir intervals below primary and secondary caprock
confining zones.