• About
    • Which Energy Mix is this?
  • Climate News Network Archive
  • Contact
The climate news that makes a difference.
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
No Result
View All Result
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
  FEATURED
BP Predicts Faster Oil and Gas Decline as Clean Energy Spending Hits $1.1T in 2022 January 31, 2023
Canada Needs Oil and Gas Emissions Cap to Hit 2030 Goal: NZAB January 31, 2023
Ecuador’s Amazon Drilling Plan Shows Need for Fossil Non-Proliferation Treaty January 31, 2023
Rainforest Carbon Credits from World’s Biggest Provider are ‘Largely Worthless’, Investigation Finds January 31, 2023
Danske Bank Quits New Fossil Fuel Financing January 23, 2023
Next
Prev

‘Terrifying’ Regulatory Gaps Leave U.S. Unprepared for Massive CO2 Pipeline Expansion, Experts Warn

May 8, 2022
Reading time: 3 minutes
Primary Author: Compiled by Chris Bonasia @CBonasia_

Jeffre Beall/wikimedia commons

Jeffre Beall/wikimedia commons

29
SHARES
 

Carbon dioxide pipelines supporting a fast uptick in carbon capture and storage (CCS) could threaten the safety of countless communities across the United States, say experts, due to federal pipeline safety regulations that are woefully inadequate to cover the “flurry of multibillion-dollar CO2 pipeline proposals” now eligible for tax credits.

“The country is ill prepared for the increase of CO2 pipeline mileage being driven by federal CCS policy,” writes Richard Kuprewicz, an independent pipeline safety consultant and author of a recent report from Pipeline Safety Trust.

  • Concise headlines. Original content. Timely news and views from a select group of opinion leaders. Special extras.
  • Everything you need, nothing you don’t.
  • The Weekender: The climate news you need.
New!
Subscribe

Pipeline safety regulations must immediately change “to rise to this new challenge” and win public confidence, he adds.

The U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) administers pipeline safety for the country’s more than 5,000 miles (8,050 kilometres) of pipelines that deliver CO2 to oil fields, where it is pumped underground to stimulate oil production. New proposals aim to use the same kind of infrastructure to transport carbon to underground storage for carbon removal, a strategy that many researchers say will be essential in the fight to limit climate change. Those activities could create the need for an additional 48,000 to 104,000 kilometres of pipeline, reports Grist. 

The proposals are gaining traction and have the backing of the U.S. Department of Energy, which recently committed US$2.5 billion for CCS projects. One joint venture just announced by Occidental Petroleum and Enterprise Products will explore a CCS transportation network along the Texas Coast, and is set to benefit from a U.S. tax credit scheme that offers $50 per tonne of CO2 permanently sequestered.

But according to the Pipeline Safety Trust report, PHMSA’s regulations have “terrifyingly large gaps on carbon dioxide pipelines, including having no regulations if the CO2 is transported as a liquid or a gas, only as a supercritical fluid.”

These gaps are dangerous, says the advocacy group, as CO2 is a lethal asphyxiant that can travel large distances from the site of a pipeline rupture. Ruptures can open like a zipper to run down a significant length of pipe and “release immense amounts of CO2, hurl large sections of pipe, expel pipe shrapnel, and generate enormous craters,” the report says.

Pipeline ruptures can have devastating outcomes for communities, as illustrated in 2020 in Satartia, Mississippi, where a rupture released a CO2 plume that caused residents to feel dizzy, nauseated, and disoriented and sent 49 people to the hospital. PHMSA still has not released a report on the circumstances of the leak, Grist reports.

“That incident happened over two years ago,” said Pipeline Safety Trust Executive Director Bill Caram. “It’s crazy that communities are being asked to bear the burden of the risk of these pipelines when this report sits unreleased with all these unanswered questions.”

But communities are pushing back and calling for regulators to address safety issues. Landowners in South Dakota recently spoke up during the permit process for a proposal by Summit Carbon Solutions, and the company’s executives have agreed to personnel training and safety plans as per local and federal regulations, writes Aberdeen News. (It is not clear if these measures account for the shortcomings identified by Pipeline Safety Trust.)

Communities in neighbouring Iowa are also objecting to Summit Carbon Solutions’ pipeline plans, and are forming a grassroots coalition similar to the one that resisted the Dakota Access underground oil pipeline in 2016. The state’s Sierra Club chapter has also weighed in, reporting that the majority of counties that would be affected by CCS pipelines have filed objections with the Iowa Utilities Board.

“This is another example of how these pipeline projects are externalizing their costs onto us,” said Jess Mazour of the Sierra Club’s Iowa Chapter. “There is no direct benefit to our communities, yet our time, public money, and resources are exploited so private companies can profit. If landowners say no, and counties say no, and taxpayers say no; the answer should be no.”



in CCS & Negative Emissions, Energy Politics, Health & Safety, Legal & Regulatory, Oil & Gas, Sub-National Governments, United States

The latest climate news and analysis, direct to your inbox

Subscribe

Related Posts

Mike Mozart/Flickr
Ending Emissions

BP Predicts Faster Oil and Gas Decline as Clean Energy Spending Hits $1.1T in 2022

January 31, 2023
328
Gina Dittmer/PublicDomainPictures
Canada

Canada Needs Oil and Gas Emissions Cap to Hit 2030 Goal: NZAB

January 31, 2023
196
CONFENIAE
Ending Emissions

Ecuador’s Amazon Drilling Plan Shows Need for Fossil Non-Proliferation Treaty

January 31, 2023
61

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

I agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.

Trending Stories

Mike Mozart/Flickr

BP Predicts Faster Oil and Gas Decline as Clean Energy Spending Hits $1.1T in 2022

January 31, 2023
328
jasonwoodhead23/flickr

Canada, U.K., U.S. Must Cut Oil and Gas 76% by 2030 to Keep 1.5° Alive, New Analysis Finds

March 23, 2022
506
Joshua Doubek/Wikipedia

No New Jobs Came from Alberta’s $4B ‘Job Creation’ Tax Cut for Big Oil

October 6, 2022
502
Sam Balto/YouTube

Elementary School’s Bike Bus Brings ‘Sheer Joy’ to Portland Neighbourhood

October 16, 2022
260
EcoAnalytics

Albertans Want a Just Transition, Despite Premier’s Grumbling

January 23, 2023
325
RL0919/wikimedia commons

Danske Bank Quits New Fossil Fuel Financing

January 23, 2023
2.4k

Recent Posts

Gina Dittmer/PublicDomainPictures

Canada Needs Oil and Gas Emissions Cap to Hit 2030 Goal: NZAB

January 31, 2023
196
CONFENIAE

Ecuador’s Amazon Drilling Plan Shows Need for Fossil Non-Proliferation Treaty

January 31, 2023
61
Ken Teegardin www.SeniorLiving.Org/flickr

Virtual Power Plants Hit an ‘Inflection Point’

January 31, 2023
125
/snappy goat

Rainforest Carbon Credits from World’s Biggest Provider are ‘Largely Worthless’, Investigation Finds

January 31, 2023
94
Victorgrigas/wikimedia commons

World Bank Climate Reforms Too ‘Timid and Slow,’ Critics Warn

January 31, 2023
42
Doc Searls/Twitter

Guilbeault Could Intervene on Ontario Greenbelt Development

January 31, 2023
132
Next Post
Logga Wiggler/Pixabay

Wisconsin Band Seeks Ruling to Evict Enbridge Line 5 from Indigenous Territory

The Energy Mix - The climate news you need

Copyright 2023 © Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy and Copyright
  • Cookie Policy

Proudly partnering with…

scf_withtagline
No Result
View All Result
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities

Copyright 2022 © Smarter Shift Inc. and Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

Manage Cookie Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behaviour or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}