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The fossil fuel industry has plans to construct a vast network of carbon dioxide pipelines spanning tens of thousands of miles across the U.S., despite leaks over the past several years — including one that sent nearly 50 people in a Mississippi town to the hospital with “zombie”-like symptoms.
Federal tax incentives under the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act are driving the pipeline projects, which aim to capture and store carbon emissions from power plants, according to Emily Sanders of ExxonKnews.
The U.S. has a relatively small network of carbon dioxide pipelines, totaling approximately 5,000 miles and primarily located in the Midwest and Gulf Coast regions.
But to transport just 15% of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and financial industry project up to 96,000 miles of new pipelines may be required — enough to cross the continental U.S. 32 times, coast to coast.
After two horrific disasters involving “zombie-like” symptoms, CO2 pipelines may be coming to your neighborhood.
Big Oil is lobbying to kill safety rules that would prevent even more leaks, according to documents reviewed by @LeverNews & @Exxon_Knew. https://t.co/XJv5jG22Vk
— David Sirota (@davidsirota) April 25, 2024
2020 rupture led to mass asphyxiation event
In 2020, a rupture in a Denbury Enterprises carbon dioxide pipeline in Satartia, Mississippi, led to a mass asphyxiation event, causing people to become disoriented and unresponsive, with some even losing consciousness.
As hundreds attempted to flee the area, vehicles stalled and shut down, because internal combustion engines require oxygen.
On April 3, an ExxonMobil and Denbury-owned CO2 pipeline ruptured in Sulphur, Louisiana. Normal evacuation procedures had to be scrapped due to wind patterns blowing through the escape route, forcing residents within a quarter-mile radius to shelter in place. No injuries were reported.
When released into the atmosphere, carbon dioxide can spread over large distances, displacing oxygen and posing serious risks to people and wildlife, including sickness, suffocation and even coma and death, according to Huffpost.
Mild exposure to CO2 can have an intoxicant effect, resulting in a confused, drunken-like state and impaired cognitive abilities (hence “zombies”). Higher levels can cause bouts of coughing and dizziness, along with a panicky feeling called “air hunger.”
Two men caught in their car during the Satartia incident were found “slumped against the windows, white foam coming out of their noses and mouths,” Huffpost reported.
During the Sulphur pipeline leak, Roishetta Ozane, a local resident and environmental justice organizer, received numerous calls from panicked community members.
“People were reaching out asking me about what CO2 is,” Ozane told ExxonKnews. A mother of six, Ozane admitted she was also frightened and unsure about what to do.
“We know that this is colorless and odorless, so I just kept my children inside and made sure they were OK,” she said.
Landowners cite property damage, eminent domain concerns
Landowners like Kenny Davis and Ray Sinclair in Scott County, Illinois, have experienced long-lasting damage to their properties due to the construction of the Spire STL natural gas pipeline. They are firmly against plans to add CO2 pipelines to the mix, according to St. Louis Public Radio station KCUR.
Davis reported underground debris and erosion problems, while Sinclair faced issues with water pooling in low-lying areas of his soybean fields due to changes in the land’s slope.
Farmers and landowners are also concerned about their private property being seized under eminent domain, arguing the pipelines provide no direct benefit to farmers.
Numerous communities, landowners, and environmental and public health organizations have strongly opposed the expansion of these pipelines.
In some cases, they have successfully blocked projects, such as the proposed 1,300-mile Navigator CO2 pipeline that would have traversed five Midwestern states.
In 2022, the California state legislature passed a law that placed a moratorium on most new CO2 pipelines until the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) completes its planned rulemaking.
This law prohibits new pipelines until the federal government finishes writing stronger safety regulations — a process that could take years, according to The Associated Press.
Lobbyists trying to expedite construction of new pipelines
Major fossil fuel corporations and their trade associations, including Chevron, ConocoPhillips, the American Petroleum Institute and the Liquid Energy Pipeline Association, have initiated an intensive lobbying campaign to weaken regulations and influence regulators.
Their goal is to expedite the construction of new pipelines, according to ExxonKnews.
In May 2022, the PHMSA announced plans to update regulations to address carbon dioxide pipeline failures.
However, PHMSA, which falls under the jurisdiction of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, has faced scrutiny for its role in the East Palestine, Ohio, train derailment, reported ExxonKnews.
The agency is also up for reauthorization, meaning Congress will reevaluate the agency’s legislative mandates and funding.
Advocacy groups have expressed concern about the industry’s efforts to conceal data on potential pipeline leaks from the public.
One of the bills under consideration for PHMSA’s safety reauthorization protects sensitive information related to carbon dioxide dispersion modeling from public oversight.
The Liquid Energy Pipeline Association, the primary lobbying group for the pipeline industry, is leveraging the rulemaking and reauthorization processes to advance its agenda, opposing the addition of “punitive provisions on the pipeline industry.”
‘This entire strategy is being represented as a climate solution when most of the time it’s really not’
Scientists have warned that carbon capture and sequestration may not effectively reduce emissions and is often employed for enhanced oil recovery, leading to the extraction of more fossil fuels, according to ExxonKnews.
A study in Nature Reviews Earth & Environment suggests that the maximum annual geological carbon storage capacity by 2050 is 16 gigatonnes. But this scenario is considered unrealistic, as it would require massive and sustained growth over several decades, according to New Scientist.
The study indicates that, taking into account U.S. objectives, a more plausible scenario would see global annual geological storage reach around 6 gigatonnes by mid-century — significantly lower than the levels climate models assume necessary to limit the global temperate increase to the targeted 1.5°C.
Furthermore, critics argue that carbon capture and storage projects are inefficient uses of resources and funding.
Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), who serves on the U.S. House of Representatives Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials subcommittee, questioned the effectiveness of carbon capture and storage projects in addressing climate change, according to NPR.
“This entire strategy is being represented as a climate solution when most of the time it’s really not. Most of the time it’s really part of the climate problem,” he said, noting that many projects involve enhanced oil recovery, which could lead to increased fossil fuel production.
In a 2022 New York Times opinion piece, Charles Harvey and Kurt House, former founders of a carbon capture and storage startup, contended that investing in renewable energy would result in far greater carbon emission reductions.
They highlighted the numerous failed carbon capture and storage demonstration projects that have consumed billions of dollars in public funds without successfully sequestering significant amounts of carbon dioxide.
Internal company documents reveal the oil and gas industry has privately acknowledged the complexity, high costs and additional power requirements associated with carbon capture and storage, while also recognizing its potential to prolong the use of petroleum and natural gas, according to ExxonKnews.
The DOE recently announced a $23 million investment in two projects exploring the potential for enhanced oil recovery using captured carbon dioxide.
Critics argue that while substantial public resources are being allocated to develop this technology, the understanding of carbon dioxide pipeline leaks — including their causes, impacts and mitigation strategies — remains insufficient.
Disproportionate impact on vulnerable communities
Many of the proposed pipeline projects are set to pass through low-income communities and communities of color, which are already disproportionately affected by polluting petrochemical and fossil fuel facilities.
These communities often lack the necessary resources to cope with increasingly severe weather events and environmental hazards.
Jane Patton, a campaign manager at the Center for International Environmental Law, emphasized the lack of information and relationships needed to obtain real-time updates during the Sulphur pipeline leak.
Despite the organization’s efforts to organize and educate the community, “We still did not have the information or frankly relationships necessary to get real-time information on what was happening [in Sulphur],” she told ExxonKnews.
Even the Sulphur fire chief said the town did not see an emergency response protocol from ExxonMobil until after the leak occurred.
Just days after the recent pipeline leak, a tornado struck the area, destroying the office of Ozane’s disaster relief and environmental justice nonprofit near Sulphur.
Environmental justice advocates maintain that their concerns are being disregarded.
Monique Harden, director of Law and Policy at the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice, told ExxonKnews, “You’ve got communities, NGOs [nongovernmental organizations] on pipeline safety, governmental experts on pipeline safety all raising alarm about the hazards of what is being planned.”
Harden asserted that regulatory officials are not acknowledging safety concerns or providing additional protection. “Instead, what you have is silence,” she said.
In a recent interview, DOE Assistant Secretary Brad Crabtree argued that CO2 pipelines “are no different” than the nation’s electric transmission and distribution infrastructure which “also results in injuries and fatalities.”
Critics, however, contend that this comparison overlooks the disproportionate risks and burdens that the proposed carbon dioxide pipeline expansion would impose on vulnerable communities.
Asserting that the Satartia incident should never have occurred, Crabtree blamed improper hazard mitigation strategies and lack of training for local EMTs, according to a Substack article by The Carbon Conversation.
