Aera gives CSUB $2.5M for energy research
Bakersfield-based oil producer Aera Energy LLC announced a major gift to Cal State Bakersfield Tuesday in the form of a $2.5 million endowment funding a leadership position at the university’s California Energy Research Center.
The company behind a large direct-air capture project called Carbon Frontier said that, by supporting an executive director for energy research position at CERC, it hopes to bring together local communities to help prepare the local workforce for future energy jobs while also ensuring the region provides thought leadership during the state’s move toward lower carbon energy.
“We want to be positioned in Kern County to not only be the energy leaders but also the thought leaders when it comes to California’s energy transition,” Aera President and CEO Erik Bartsch said in an interview.
The endowed position is not considered a part of the formal community benefits plan the federal government is requiring of Carbon Frontier. But Aera said the investment will play a role in that it will help the company identify what sorts of needs ought to be a part of the company’s detailed benefits plan.
The endowment follows more than $900,000 Aera has contributed to CSUB since 1997, including financial support for CERC’s annual carbon management symposium and an occupational safety and health management endowment.
CSUB President Lynnette Zelezny thanked the company for the generosity she said will give undergraduate and graduate students a new level of access to perform energy research, hopefully building a pipeline of local scientists, engineers and others suited to energy innovation.
“With the establishment of the executive director for energy research at California State University, Bakersfield, the entire region should feel an immense sense of pride that we will remain the energy capital of the West Coast for generations to come,” Zelezny said.
CERC’s multidisciplinary work is planned to be done on the university campus inside an energy innovation building being funded by $83 million that was set aside in California’s 2022-23 budget. Construction of the building has not yet begun.
Aera is among at least three locally operating oil companies working to develop large industrial projects that would remove carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere and inject it deep underground for permanent storage in order to help meet the state’s climate goals.
Earlier this year the Biden administration set aside $2.8 million to help Aera study the feasibility of Carbon Frontier. If the company is successful, it will qualify for future subsidies to help it design and then build the project.
The company said it sees the need for a neutral entity to provide space for discussion and research on the effects of California’s energy transition.
CERC is expected to engage with faculty from various disciplines to address policy implications and engage with local communities on the best way to move forward with energy development and climate action.
“This is an important next step in supporting our community,” Bartsch said of the endowment. He noted the company will not be involved in CERC’s day-to-day operations and that the plan is not to exert influence on whoever ends up filling the position.
“Really, this is the next step,” he said, adding that the executive directorship’s funding “is very much aligned with where Aera is headed and where California is headed.”
“It’s one component of our plan to engage community in not only Carbon Frontier, but moving in a constructive way toward the energy future in Kern County,” Bartsch added.