AMAC Exclusive – By Andrew Abbott
Across the country, farmers and small communities are desperately rallying to protect their land and families from thousands of miles of new “carbon capture” pipelines being built as a result of Democrats’ misleadingly titled “Inflation Reduction Act” (IRA).
In total, the IRA contained some $783 billion in spending related to Democrats’ environmental agenda, much of which came in the form of lucrative subsidies for utility companies to make energy production more “green.” As a result, hundreds of corporations have scrambled to vacuum up a portion of the funding.
Several dozen ventures have sprung up to build a network of carbon capture pipelines which would extend from the Great Lakes down to Texas and across the Midwest to Maine and Florida.
Carbon capture technology is a process designed to mitigate the release of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. It involves capturing CO2 from industrial processes or power plants, transporting the captured CO2 to a storage site (via a network of pipelines) and storing it deep underground in depleted oil and gas fields or saline aquifers to prevent its release into the atmosphere.
The practice has enjoyed some bipartisan support in Congress in recent years, and several Republican governors have endorsed pipeline proposals. However, for all the hopeful, high-minded talk about carbon capture technology, most of the public has been left in the dark on the effectiveness and environmental impact of this technology.
The carbon capture and transport process carries significant risks, many of which the citizens of Satartia, Mississippi, learned first-hand in February 2020 when an underground carbon capture pipe burst and sent plumes of carbon dioxide rushing through the town. A recent article from The Intercept described the scene: “People were acting like zombies, dazed and walking in circles or gazing back blankly as responders yelled for them to evacuate. Others convulsed, drooling, as panic-stricken family members called 911.”
The pipeline operator waited an hour before informing first responders that the gas was highly compressed carbon dioxide and not natural gas, as was initially believed. Forty-nine citizens were hospitalized, and many sustained traumas that affect them to this day.
This incident highlights serious concerns about the rapid proliferation of carbon capture pipelines. Highly compressed carbon dioxide is is entirely odorless and, when in gas form, is not subject to the same level of regulation as oil and natural gas. Americans are often unaware that a CO2 pipeline is going in near their home until digging begins.
While construction companies that stand to make a killing from building the pipelines and investors that will enjoy the lucrative tax benefits from the projects are all in favor of them, Americans on both sides of the political aisle have formed some unlikely alliances to push back against this component of Democrats’ environmental agenda.
In Iowa, for instance, which is set to become home to hundreds of miles of CO2 pipelines, liberal environmental groups are teaming up with conservatives like ex-GOP Congressman Steve King to oppose $8 billion in proposed carbon capture infrastructure in the Hawkeye State. Eminent domain hearings are currently underway to determine if construction companies for one of those projects, the $4.5 billion Summit pipeline, can begin seizing farmers’ land to run the pipeline through.
The Summit pipeline is set to terminate in North Dakota, where it has forged another improbable alliance between mostly white farmers and Native American tribes. While the farmers are similarly concerned about the pipeline cutting through their land and potentially endangering their crops, Native Americans have said that the project will cut across lands that are sacred to their tribes.
This presents a particularly thorny issue for the White House, as President Joe Biden cited a concern for Native American heritage sites as one reason behind his decision to cancel the Keystone XL pipeline back in 2021. Notably, that project would have only straddled or run alongside Native American lands, while several of the proposed CO2 pipeline projects would run directly through them.
So far, North Dakota regulators have denied a siting permit for the Summit pipeline’s proposed route in the state, but Governor and Republican candidate for president Doug Burgum has been a strong backer of the project.
More public hearings are scheduled for September, where conservative farmers and liberal environmental activists are both expected to voice their frustrations.
The upcoming Iowa caucuses, now just a few months away, could also help make the debate over CO2 pipelines a high-profile national story heading into next year. Multiple Republican candidates have already been asked about it by Iowa voters, a pattern the mainstream media is starting to pick up on.
It will be deeply ironic if, after making opposition to the Keystone XL pipeline a major issue in his 2020 campaign, Biden’s support for a network of CO2 pipelines becomes a major liability for him in 2024.
Andrew Abbott is the pen name of a writer and public affairs consultant with more than a decade of experience in DC at the intersection of politics and culture.
They should plant more trees instead of building more carbon dioxide pipelines that are dangerous. Trees use the carbon dioxide and make oxygen. The green thing is the trees!
The dirty little secret about clean energy is that it pollutes more that fossil fuel energy. Further the wind farms kill hundreds of thousands of animals each year. One off shore wind farm installation kills more whales in it first year then the Japanese whaling ship do in five years. Kind of makes the environmentalists and green peace look pretty damn stupid doesn’t it.
The Communists – er, I mean the Democrats – don’t give a rat’s behind about the environment. As with everything else they do, this is all about control – and in this case, money. Just remember the motto of the Left: Power and control, at any price, at any cost, by any means necessary.
This is by far the most stupid idea I’ve ever heard of and I literally knew NOTHING about it before reading this article. If this is what our ridiculously high taxes are going into, maybe we should just stop paying them. Storing CO2 underground is so completely pointless I’m nearly speechless with anger over the whole concept. It’s just got to be nothing but a huge government payoff to someone or something.
We have a natural way for our planet to handle CO2–It is called trees. Trees use the CO2 for their processes and give off O2 which we all need. The green energy people wont recognize this. Get rid of the wind mills and the solar panel farms, replant trees. and let nature take its course. This country is blessed with fossil fuels and can be utilized effectively without harming the planet. God is the ultimate MAN IN CHARGE.
1800 American and international scientists have signed a letter stating unequivocally that reducing CO2 is a really bad idea. It will have nothing to do with the temperature of the globe and will damage the economy irreparably. This will never see the light of day only reason I know about it was I read it on The Epoch Times. There are literally thousands of true scientists that know this is the hoax that it is, and they are being canceled. All it is about is bigger government higher taxes and more regulation. It will totally screw the average citizen. If you want to see where we’re headed look at Australia
When Jackass Joe speaks, the one thing that you can count on is that IT’S PROBABLY ANOTHER LIE! . . . The man is the BIGGEST LIAR to ever gain the PRESIDENTCY! And even that I will NEVER BELIEVE HE WON HONESTY! . . . Jackass Joe is BY FAR the WORST PRESIDENT IN AMERICAN HISTORY!
Reducing carbon emissions has little to do with “saving” the planet. Reducing carbon, open borders, not enforcing criminal statutes, forcing us into EVs, taking away gas stoves, making everything more expensive, depending on China for “essentials,” etc., are all components of Democratic Party’s plan to destabilize the United States and make it desirable, at some point, to establish an autocratic government in order to restore “safety” for Americans. The Constitution will be rewritten and a socialist “Utopia” will be established. At least that is the plan of the folks who are running the Democratic Party today.
Total lunacy. Take the materials for this boondoggle and BUILD THE FREAKING WALL YOU TREASONOUS MORONS!!!!!
The foolishness of these self-appointed gods is endless, especially if most media ignore foolishness so long as it is democrats.
Since carbon is not eliminated yet, humans have not had to figure out what to do if there is no carbon.
Farm crops need carbon.
A little actual scientific evidence must be released to the public or we will never know how ridiculous this “investment” is.
One more thing Biden lied about was the Indian heritage grounds that would be disturbed by Keystone XL pipeline running along side , but CO2 lines run right through the grounds? Guessing the big guy may be getting 10% of that action, huh!? Despicable what democrats are on board with. This administration has just about destroyed us in a very short time.
THE CARBON DIOXIDE THATA IS ON THE EARTH IS AS GOD INTENDED IT! OUR TREES/PLANTS OBSORB IT AND GIVE US OXYGEN! QUIT CUTTING DOWN FORESTS! – AND LET THE TREES GROW! GOD KNOWS BEST!!!
Another dangerous lunacy that’s part of the “climate change”, formerly known as weather and weather patterns, watermelon hoax, veneer thin “green” on the outside with a huge communist red core at the inside of this coup designed to destroy, and overthrow America.
Well isn’t this a news story. Capturing CO2 till one day they can release it, accidentally of course, to kill a bunch of people in name of climate change. They did it with the inferno in Maui, that was intentionally allowed to burn.
I had never heard of this or the so called accidental release in 2020. Fossil fuel are dangerous, vacuuming CO2 and transporting it via a pipeline is SAFE?
How much money did the Biden Brand make from this?
We are not safe with this joker and his minions in the White House. We weren’t ever but this nails it.
Not one part of the “green” agenda is based on FACTS! Solar panels are built using lots of carbon plus they fry birds which are flying overhead. Windmills seem to be causing whales to go berserk and ground themselves and again their parts are NOT made in the US. EVs use electric which comes from fossil fuels and their batteries are made from m minerals mined by child laborers and dug up using more carbon than they could ever offset! The cost of a new battery is almost as high as a gasoline-powered car!
Time to stop cooperating with these “Earth-worshippers!”
…I don’t see the Big Guy selling his ’67 Corvette yet even though he’s too diminished to drive it. Probably likes to sit in it going “broom, broom”!
You GOT to be kidding here . . . Throw science out the window and fund a BS project that does nothing but put our tax dollars in the pockets of the left wing Socialist (Read: Communist Democrats). I can’t believe this is funded. Hey, let’s put catch bags on all the livestock’s butts to gather methane. At least that could be used to fuel something. CO2 capture is right up there with unicorn hunting . . . We are lost.
when are people going to learn the gov and the media are all liars
The Whatevertheyare’s are traitors to the people they supposedly represent. Evil, corrupt and out of control.
Looks like the environmental extremists have come up with another boondoggle idea to waste money. These people are not logical or rational. All of their programs, such as battery vehicles, only complicate our existence and waste our money. Getting our money is what it’s all about.
Once the “Green Scam” is totally exposed (hopefully everyone saw the article in the Epoch Times this week showing 1000+ climate scientists clearly stating that “There Is NO Climate Emergency” and all the tax dollars going to this program could be put to better use on the Real Priorities of the Country), Taxpayers will likely revolt at all the money the current incompetent administration has obligated the taxpayers to pay. Climate Change is nothing more than a way for the “Uniparty” to control the people and direct money to their friends and donors!
We need to stop these Junk Science Projects now before the dems obligate taxpayers to fund these made up projects forever.
the evil party wants to control our heating, cooling, transportation, appliances, and replace our paper money with electronic Fed dollars. Doesn’t all of this sound remarkably like Communist, Marxist run countries?
1600 scientists recently signed on to a declaration by the Global Climate Change Intelligence Group that climate change is NOT an emergency. It’s all a hoax – Dems love hoaxes – like their Russia hoax against Trump. But this hoax is a money grab, designed to reward the Dems’ radical left-wing green activist billionaire donors. Biden gives them billions of OUR tax money, and they give the Dems millions in campaign contributions. And when their companies go bust, like Obama’s Solyndra and Biden’s Proterra, taxpayers are on the hook again. Climate hysteria is an outgrowth of the UN’s anti-capitalist agenda that fixated on the fossil fuels industry, and the totalitarian Dems are all in on this to destroy the economy, cause chaos and dependency – all for the establishment of their one-party rule.
No matter the agenda: domestic or international, this Biden Crime Cartel and the DNC have so many anti-US, anti-capitalism programs that it is hard to keep up with and the MSM will never explore them whether it is Climate, Green, or Open Borders which affects every legal US citizen.
Yes. There is more to this than the article covers. Direct Air Capture (DAC) has not been perfected and is a scam. Furthermore, our oilfield community already does a form of injecting carbon into old wells to produce again. THIS is not THAT!
Michael Regan with the EPA is working with our corrupt politicians to give states primacy over class 6 wells for this Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage scam. They asked we locals to speak in favor of it. They must circumvent the Feds strangling EPA regulations.
That “mishap” (trial run) in MS you speak of, also left their vehicles useless. Just like all of our new push button ignitions will leave us when they hack our electric grids. A pipeline throughout our nation that can disable both humans and the vehicles they need to flee? Wow, what a bioweapon!
Not to worry. Our corrupt Republican Senator has directed IRA bill funds to a new addition at our University to develop these programs. It’s headed up by a Chinese professor and you should see the credentials of the Chinese student working for him. No woke incompetence here as these academics were educated in China as well as the U.S.
I understand they think the land grab in Iowa is for precious metals (and may be), but why would they wind a bunch of dangerous easily ruptured pipelines through the nation when the DAC required first hasn’t been successfully developed? They will claim the geniuses behind it are “a couple guys just trying to come up with a solution”. They will all be from different countries. Making solutions look local and organic is a common activist tactic.
These “Public Servants” are promising “long-term jobs” yet the corrupt weaponized UN admits that CCUS is very temporary as it creates more emissions than it cancels in it’s current state.
The oil companies know Carbon Capture is a scam but they are getting subsidies to keep doing what they have always done – produce. Why would the Globalists and their Global Green Ponzi Scheme allow this if not for other purposes?
It’s time citizens wake up to the fact that it isn’t only Democrats that have been captured by the CCP. We are a Red State & look like a mini DC.
The King/Surf world (Globalism) they have planned for us can’t happen with an armed and energy independent society.
The globalist idiots are pushing our political useful idiots to create 15 minute cities. They’re letting the roads deteriorate and putting in bike lanes that almost nobody uses planning for their future 15 minutes cities all at our expense. It’s hard to believe that some idiot could conceive a CO2 capture plan and then other idiots would put it into action. This shows the level of education is pathetic and the level of corruption is through the roof.
It started in the 1960’s when alarmists said the “Ice Age” is coming and we’ll all parish! Then the 80’s and “Global Warming” will kill us all! Now they call it “climate change”. It’s actually nothing to fear because climate is determined by the earth’s relationship to the sun. Man has nothing to do with the weather. Anyone who believes he does has been confused by the con artists.
An excellent article bringing more bureaucratic garbage to light. Thank you for exposing what these losers are forcing upon America’s Citizens and the perks of billions they had out if OUR money to their cronies.
More marxist democrat party and rinos in Washington attempting to fleece American taxpayers.
The dishonesty and arrogance of these self serving corrupt morons is alarming, disgusting and should anger every American Citizen.
Wake up People , pay attention to what these LOSERS are doing. Hold the accountable and THROW OUT everyone if them who go along with this idiocy!
But, I thought ALL pipelines were BAD!!!!
Trees, lawns and plants, not pipelines. If they want to build pipelines build oil and gas pipelines and drill, baby, drill!
What’s the Biden Crime Family’s kickback on this?
Let’s face it the Democrats have championed lies for years, The biggest of them all now sits in the seat of absolute lunacy.
They’re so concerned about “Fracking” damaging the integrity of the earth. Now they are pumping gas into crevices and cracks underground to “save the planet”. What a bunch of IDIOTS!
America was framed after Israel (belief in God). America has been judged because we have turned our back on God and have sacrificed millions of unborn children. We are no longer the superpower we once were. This country has to descend because we are not in the end time prophecies. We are living in prophetic times. The end times started when Israel was reestablished as a nation. Beware people.
For many it will take the power going off for them to understand. And, even then they will believe a storm caused it even though their was no storm.
Hard to believe so many people have no understanding of grade school science regarding the importance of CO2 to plant life, which uses it and then exhales the oxygen we apparently expendable human beings need to continue life on the planet. Eliminate CQ2, plants die and then cannot give us oxygen, so the rest of us humans and oxygen breathing animal life die along with the plants. Useless idiots that don’t know this.
The Democ rats always use any Manufactured LIE to create a CRISIS
ha what they don’t tell you is most of the carbon captured comes form ethanol production a ‘green renewable’ fuel.
As long as long as China is putting in dozens of new coal plants per year just makes this an even bigger boondoggle seeing as we probably are borrowing the money from China in the first place.
Why is it, you people can’t “get to the point”, without all the bullsh*t diatribe??????
No Energy=No EVs etc for CA
Wonder how much funding Mr. Peters is getting out of this?
If the socialists would start eliminating themselves.. al the hot co2 would be gone!!
How much carbon is released by all of the construction and manufacturing of the pipeline? Better to plant trees.
Democrats are the DESTROYERS OF AMERICA. EVIL ARE EVERYONE OF THEM>
I can remember back when the government was against strip mining coal mining. now they say it’s okay to mine for materials to supply batteries for electric cars. now they want to make a supply line for CO2 and put it into the earth. where is the science behind this stupid idea???????? yes, a dumbocrat is the only one who can come up with this type of stupid idea!!!!!
Are we screwing with the process that God set up? Amazingly, He created plants that consume Carbon Dioxide! If we take away their food, are they going to die? Then where will we be? We screwed ourselves. We’ll be sitting in underground concrete bunkers eating Soylent Green while all the green plants above wither and die. Thanks a lot, AOC.
Wait until an earthquake hits in those areas and releases all that Co2.
So the “greenies,” err the lefties were so concerned about the environment with building the Keystone Pipeline, but this pipe line is fine. Makes one want to say – huh!
CO2 is absolutely vital to all life on earth. It isn’t hazardous to life or anything else and removing it from the atmosphere is just a dumb idea but will make money for a few.
Agree with several comments already: more trees & less treason.