BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — An ethanol producer wants to figure out if the geology is right in eastern North Dakota to store carbon emissions underground, as is planned in the western part of the state.

Midwest AgEnergy is hoping to build a system to capture the carbon dioxide emitted from its Dakota Spirit ethanol plant east of Jamestown and bury it in rocks a few thousand feet below the earth’s surface.

That process, known as carbon storage or sequestration, has gained huge interest among the state’s ethanol and coal industries, mostly in central and western North Dakota.

The rock formations become shallower as they extend east toward Jamestown and the Red River Valley.