Category: Pipelines

Rethinking the Hero’s Journey

It’s difficult to not feel overwhelmed and deep despair. On top of everything else, it looks like a global civil war erupting between supporters of Israel and those of Palestine. I hope those reports are exaggerated. It’s hard to trust any type of media these days.

Although it might not seem much compared to living without food, water, shelter, power, and constant bombardment, awaiting a ground invasion, I’m deeply concerned about my friends and neighbors. For a long time, I’ve been aware of the impact of our own traumas. Isolation, increased rates of suicide, and giving up. There is a sense that things will only get worse on multiple fronts.

There are the usual calls to contact our Congresspeople, but they can’t even organize themselves, let alone listen to us.

I’ve been intrigued by this recent post, White men’s roles in anti-racism work: Rethinking the Hero’s Journey, Healing Minnesota Stories, Sept 25, 2023. The blog’s main author is Scott Russell, so I assume he wrote this.

He begins by saying “This essay is written for white men written by a white man. It’s a working draft. Comments welcome.” Keeping that in mind, I believe there are things he says that can be helpful to a broader audience, for those of us who struggle to find ways to work for justice. Who feel there isn’t anything we do that might make a difference.

The struggle to end racism and white supremacy is heroic work, but where do white men fit into the movement?

White men are at the top of the white supremacy hierarchy. It shouldn’t be surprising if some Black, Indigenous, and other people of color (BIPOC) don’t trust us.

Some might reasonably worry that asking white men to be heroes in this work would trigger ‘White Savior’ behavior, where a white man acts from a presumed position of superiority to “rescue” BIPOC.

That would be a big step in the wrong direction.

More white men are needed in the struggle against racism. I believe we can be anti-racism heroes, but it means undoing old programming and rethinking what it means to be a hero.

White men’s roles in anti-racism work: Rethinking the Hero’s Journey, Healing Minnesota Stories, Sept 25, 2023

The Hero’s Journey

I am trying to wake up to ways that my culture – including white supremacy and patriarchy – has shaped me, a white man born in the late 1950s. Growing up, I read comic books – Batman, Superman, Spiderman, Flash, the Green Lantern and more. I watched Gunsmoke on TV, in which Marshall Matt Dillon single-handedly dealt with the violence of the Old West.

They informed my understanding of a hero as a lone actor who rarely if ever asked for help.

…

These stories have a hallmark of white supremacy: Individualism.

In the end, it’s about one lone white guy (or white Hobbit) accomplishing a seemingly impossible task. In the three stories above, they save humanity.

Those stories have the hallmark of white supremacy: Individualism.

Rethinking the Hero’s Journey

The hero often doesn’t realize they need a challenge. Thus, they don’t know they must search for their own challenge. They need to be aware of friends and mentors who can shed some light and point them on a new path. This path has different challenges: more self awareness, self control, and compassion.

Who is a hero in this context? Someone who faces the truth, stays grounded, and doesn’t let himself get lost in either self criticism or defensiveness.

A hero takes risks, and has the integrity to admit mistakes.

I aspire to talk less and listen more.

A hero is humble.

Finding your power

The message of that blog post, the message I want to share with you, is we need to find where our particular talents connect with the justice work. This work is difficult enough to do without forcing yourself to do things you think you should do, but don’t excite you.

I was blessed to discover this early in my justice work, though it took some time to realize it. In my case, my passion is photography. In the PDF file below I go into this in great detail. But to summarize:

  • I learned how to work in a photographic darkroom while in high school, Scattergood Friends School
  • At twenty years of age, I joined the Friends Volunteer Service Mission in inner-city Indianapolis, where I was led to work with kids. One of the things we did was ride our bicycles around the city, taking photos (35 mm film). Then we developed the negatives and printed the images in a bathroom darkroom
  • My photos were published in a book about the new addition to the Indianapolis Central Library.
  • Other photos were published on an Indiana state government website to attract filmmakers to the city.
  • I took and shared a lot of photos of public demonstrations related to the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines in Indianapolis
  • Working with the Kheprw Institute, a black youth mentoring community, I was asked to give photography classes.
  • I continued to take photos of similar events when I moved to Iowa. I was honored when my justice advocate friends began to ask me to come to their/our events in order to document them.

I found my power in photography. I urge you to focus on what your power is. You already have your power, but you might not be seeing it in this context. If you don’t love what you are doing, you should make a change.

This is the story, not yet complete, of my journey related to justice and photography.

jeffrey-a-kisling-photography-1Download

What can you tell a 17 year old?

What can you tell youth about an increasingly dystopic future?

As we continue to spiral into environmental chaos and its consequences, what do we tell our children? Are we even talking about this with them? What do you say? Do they listen? Do you have any moral authority to speak from? To be clear, I speak from a life of refusing to own a car. And a life of resistance to fossil fuel pipelines and infrastructure.

Many people today seriously consider not having children.

The increasingly foul air in cities in the 1960s was a warning. And that should not have been ignored. Although introducing catalytic converters in the mid-1970s reduced the visible smog, they didn’t stop the fossil fuel emissions. But did make it easy to ignore the ever-increasing pollution.

Many people now blame the deep deceptions of the fossil fuel industry as an excuse for not having done anything about greenhouse gas emissions. When, in fact, they chose to do nothing that would interfere with the convenience of automobiles.

What cuts me deeply is knowing we absolutely would not be where we are now if we had invested in mass transit and built walkable communities instead of a car culture.

While many of my friends and I have worked hard on racism, war, poverty, and the forced assimilation of Native children, none of those compare to the travesty of what we have done to Mother Earth.

I recently came upon an interesting article by Steve Genco in response to this Reddit post.

I’m a teen and I’m really scared for my future

“I’m so afraid of climate change. I just turned 17 not so long ago and I’m afraid I’ll never get to grow up because of the way our Earth is going.

“Most of my friends and family are apathetic, such as my parents who don’t like me talking about this stuff since they feel we can’t really change anything. My mom thinks it’s completely irreversible. I hate holding it all inside all the time. …

“I guess what I really wanna hear is it’s all gonna be ok even though it’s probably not the truth. I’m just scared. I’d appreciate any positive news or insight from those who feel the same way and how you manage it while doing everything you can. Thanks for reading.”

I’m a teen and I’m really scared for my future

I’ve been thinking quite a bit about what to say to a teenager like this young person to help them prepare for the dangerous world they are about to inherit. I concluded the best advice I could give would be to suggest some questions they need to consider. So here are four questions I believe any young person who wants to survive the 21st Century needs to ask and answer for themselves:

In Part 1:

  • What predictions can you rely on?
  • What will give your life meaning?

In Part 2:

  • What skills and mental habits will you need?
  • How will you live?

What Can You Tell a 17 Year Old Who’s Afraid of Dying from Climate Change? Part 1 by Steve Genco, Aug 29, 2023, Medium

I like the idea of proposing questions for young people to ask themselves, to come to their own understanding, and to be invested in their answers. (Many Quaker meetings use questions, or queries, to guide spiritual discussions).

The article lists the following predictions we can rely on:

  • It’s going to get hotter
  • The weather is going to get more unpredictable and more extreme
  • Natural disasters are going to arrive at greater and greater frequency
  • Economic inequality (income and wealth) is going to get worse
  • We will continue depleting the natural world
  • The effects of climate change will be unevenly distributed around the planet
  • We will run out of oil and gas

What will give your life meaning?

This is such an important question. Throughout the coming horrific times, we must focus on what gives our lives meaning. This will allow us to be self-fulfilled no matter what is going on around us. Allows us to search through all the chaos for what gives our lives meaning and to not be led down false paths. We don’t have the time or capacity to do anything but that. No matter what happens, we can build on our own core values.

Fewer and fewer people are engaging with organized religions to find meaning in their lives. Organized religions have been involved in many atrocities.

Organized religion is usually not about spirituality. Spirituality in any of its many forms can give your life meaning. That has been and continues to be true for me as a Quaker. (I don’t think of Quakerism as organized religion). Quaker worship involves gathering together for about an hour each week in silence to seek guidance from what we call the Inner Light, the continued presence of the Spirit today and into the future. Whatever spiritual source you find, I believe that can be tremendously helpful to find a path through what is coming. I would go so far as to say essential.

Psychologists Edward Deci and Richard Ryan began developing what they called Self-Determination Theory (SDT) in the 1970s. SDT emerged out of Deci’s interest in intrinsic motivation. 

Deci began searching for the underlying needs that intrinsically motivated behavior seemed to fulfill. He and Ryan discovered three motivators that appeared to represent basic or innate psychological needs. 

  • A need for autonomy: People need to feel self-directed and in control of our actions. We are more motivated to pursue activities we voluntarily and freely choose for ourselves, as opposed to activities we feel are imposed on us by other people or external circumstances.
  • A need for competence: People need to feel accomplished and capable. We are more motivated to pursue activities we feel competent to accomplish. We are also motivated to pursue activities that allow us to increase our competence through practice and repetition.
  • A need for belonging: People need to feel connected to others. We are more motivated to pursue activities that make us feel closer to others and that can be pursued in a supportive social context. This need is called relatedness by Deci and Ryan.

Throughout their research, Deci and Ryan studied how the goals people pursue on a daily basis and throughout their lives fulfill basic needs and contribute (or not) to personal wellbeing. In these studies, they found compelling evidence that:

placing strong relative importance on intrinsic aspirations was positively associated with well-being indicators such as self-esteem, self-actualization, and the inverse of depression and anxiety, whereas placing strong relative importance on extrinsic aspirations was negatively related to these well-being indicators.

The needs for autonomy, competence, and belonging are exactly what Mutual Aid is about. These are the Points of Unity of my Des Moines Mutual Aid community.

Mutual Aid Points of Unity

We believe in working shoulder to shoulder and standing in solidarity with all oppressed communities
We ourselves are oppressed, and our mutual aid work is a fight for our collective liberation. We do not believe in a top-down model of charity. Instead, we contrast our efforts at horizontal mutual aid, the fostering of mutually beneficial relationships and communities, to dehumanizing and colonizing charity.

We believe in community autonomy.
We believe that the communities we live and organize in have been largely excluded from state social services, but intensely surveilled and policed by the state repressive apparatus. Capitalism is fundamentally unable to meet people’s needs. We want to build self-sustaining communities that are independent of the capitalist state, both materially and ideologically, and can resist its repression.

We are police and prison abolitionists.
Abolition and the mutual aid that we practice are inextricably linked. We don’t rely on capitalist institutions or the police to do our work. We believe in building strong and resilient communities which make police obsolete, including community systems of accountability and crisis intervention.

We work to raise the political consciousness of our communities.
Part of political education is connecting people’s lived experiences to a broader political perspective. Another component is working to ensure that people can meet their basic needs. It is difficult to organize for future liberation when someone is entrenched in day-to-day struggle.

We have open disagreements with each other about ideas and practices.
We believe there is no formula for resolving our ideological differences other than working towards our common aims, engaging with each other in a comradely manner, and respecting one another whether or not we can hash out disagreements in the process.

When Protest is a Crime

As our politics are making a hard turn to the right, as the US Congress, the US Supreme Court, and multiple states pass legislation based upon White supremacy and authoritarianism, protest is how we who disagree with these trends were once able to try to make our voices heard. But authoritarianism cannot allow questioning its authority and violently suppresses protest and other civil liberties. Tensions will only increase if authoritarianism deepens. Will only increase because of the accelerating urgency to respond to increasing environmental devastation and chaos.

A pair of articles have just been published about Indigenous views of “when protest is a crime”. Part 1 is the Standing Rock effect, and part 2 is about the efforts to Stop Cop City from being constructed in Atlanta.

I’ve been learning about Indigenous views from my friends at the Great Plains Action Society (GPAS) and Des Moines Mutual Aid (DMMA). On GPAS’s Mechanism of Engagement graphic are direct action (protest) and mutual aid. The articles below are about direct action. I’ve been learning mutual aid is a way for a community to care for each other, especially when the government does not.

The audio episodes and transcripts below are available on OUTSIDE/IN. A SHOW ABOUT THE NATURAL WORLD AND HOW WE USE IT. The host is Nate Hegyi.

When protest is a crime, part 1: the Standing Rock effect

When members of the Oceti Sakowin gathered near the Standing Rock Reservation to protest the Dakota Access Pipeline, they decided on a strategy of nonviolent direct action. No violence… against people.

But sabotage of property – well, that’s another question entirely.

Since the gathering at Standing Rock, anti-protest legislation backed by the fossil fuel industry has swept across the country.

What happened? When is environmental protest considered acceptable… and when is it seen as a threat?

This is the first of two episodes exploring the changing landscape of environmental protest in the United States, from Standing Rock to Cop City and beyond.

http://outsideinradio.org/shows/when-protest-is-a-crime-part-1

Nate Hegyi: There are certain moments that become part of our collective story. Flash points. When our past and our future feel like they’re talking to each other. Standing Rock was a moment like that.

Chase Iron Eyes: The smell of fire, of campfire, permeated the entire Oceti Sakowin camp.

Nate Hegyi: That’s Chase Iron Eyes. He’s an attorney, and a member of the Oglala Sioux and Standing Rock Nations, though he says these are colonial names.

Chase Iron Eyes: Yeah, I would say Oceti Sakowin or Sioux Nation.

Nate Hegyi: The protesters, including Chase, first gathered in 2016. They were there to stop DAPL, the Dakota Access Pipeline. Because pipelines spill. Because millions of people depend on the integrity of the Missouri River. Because even when a pipeline works as intended, the result… is more greenhouse gas emissions. But the main reason why Chase and members of the Sioux Nation were camping at Standing Rock was: they were defending their sovereignty.

Chase Iron Eyes: We had been disallowed from expressing our sovereign identity in that territory since 1889. That’s when the state of North Dakota and South Dakota were admitted to statehood.

Nate Hegyi: It was the largest gathering of Indigenous people in recent history. People came from all over.

Chase Iron Eyes: Tens of thousands of people cycled through that camp. This is why one elder called it an ongoing international spiritual monument.

Producer Justine Paradis takes it from here.

Lesley Wood: Most protests are extremely straightforward, and sometimes even boring.

Justine Paradis: This is Lesley Wood. She researches the dynamics between policing and social movements.

Lesley Wood: Um. But some protests are not.

The activists at Standing Rock described the protest as a nonviolent, direct action.

And, historically, “direct action” can mean a lot of things.

Lesley Wood: it can be something like if we want better health care, we have to set up clinics…

It’s saying we’re not going to ask for the government to solve the problems… We’re going to do it ourselves.

Justine Paradis: Direct action as a strategy often comes after trying to participate in the democratic process – and finding it unresponsive. And it might involve acts of civil disobedience: deliberately breaking a law, like stopping traffic, or maybe because the law itself is unjust, like sitting at a segregated lunch counter. Speaking generally, that’s very different from a permitted, police-protected protest, the kind Lesley calls “marching in a circle.”

Lesley Wood: There’s no political threat posed by them… the idea that you have a right to protest, but only in certain ways and in certain places doesn’t really understand what protest is trying to do, which is on the fundamental say the system isn’t working. And to show that it’s not working. To impose some sort of potential cost to the system.

http://outsideinradio.org/shows/when-protest-is-a-crime-part-1

When protest is a crime, part 2: city in a forest

After the gathering at Standing Rock, legislators across the United States passed laws in the name of “protecting critical infrastructure,” especially pipelines. 

At the same time, attacks on the electrical grid have increased almost 300%. But that threat isn’t coming from environmental activists. 

It’s coming from neo-Nazis. 

This is the second episode in our series examining the landscape of environmental protest in the United States, from Standing Rock to Cop City and beyond. Listen to the first episode here.

As the space for protest in the United States shrinks, this year marked a major escalation: the first police killing of an environmental protestor in the United States, plus the arrests of dozens of people at protests under the charge of domestic terrorism.

https://outsideinradio.org/shows/when-protest-is-a-crime-part-2

The Atlanta Police Foundation is planning a “public safety training facility” on at least 85 acres of this forest in southeast Atlanta. Their plan includes a mock city for training police in, essentially, urban warfare – complete with a mock convenience store, nightclub, a motel/apartment building, a gas station.

Activists call it Cop City.

Justine Paradis: There are a lot of reasons people are opposed to Cop City.

Because of the environment, for one: trees are good for air and water, and cooling things down, which is especially important in a hotter climate.

And then there’s the fact that this project would be an expansion and investment in the police.

The Weelaunee Forest is in a majority Black neighborhood. And this is only about a year after people were marching in the streets calling for a defunding of the police.

Reverend Keyanna Jones at Atlanta City Council on March 6, 2023: …we don’t want Cop City. I live in East Atlanta. I don’t want Cop City. I got five black children. I don’t want Cop City. I like breathing clean air. I don’t want Cop City… I don’t want black Black Hawk helicopters landing around the corner from my house. I don’t want Cop City.

Justine Paradis: In the decisive meeting to approve the project, 70% of comments were opposed – but the Atlanta City Council approved it anyway.

That was in September 2021.

After that, a group of activists moved into the forest to try to prevent this project from happening. They called themselves “forest defenders.”

They’d been living there for over a year – in tents and tree platforms – when police raided the camp. During one of those raids, law enforcement killed a forest defender, a Venezuelan Indigenous person who went by the name Tortuguita. They shot them at least 57 times. This was the first police killing of an environmental protestor in the United States.

https://outsideinradio.org/shows/when-protest-is-a-crime-part-2

Mother Earth Takes Another Hit

The approval for the construction of the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) remained in the debt ceiling legislative just passed by the US Congress. This is an egregious act on many levels.

The Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) is a project proposed in 2014 that would transport fracked gas from West Virginia to southern Virginia through a 300-mile pipeline. The project has sparked widespread opposition for years from environmentalists, civil rights activists, and local residents who are concerned about its impacts on water quality, wildlife, climate change, and Indigenous and property rights.

The MVP was approved by Congress as part of the debt ceiling deal that was just passed. The deal included a provision that declared the MVP as “required in the national interest” and ordered the federal agencies to issue the necessary permits within 21 days and shield the project from legal challenges. The provision also weakened the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), a law that requires environmental reviews for major federal actions that affect the environment.

Many of us have criticized the deal that undermines:

  • the rule of law
  • public participation
  • Indigenous approval
  • and environmental justice

The MVP contradicts President Biden’s pledge to combat the climate crisis and transition to clean energy..

I recently wrote “What should be non-negotiable” to try to explain, yet again, why we can not allow continued construction of fossil fuel infrastructure, from pipelines to carbon capture to gas stations.

I know what it’s like to work year after year, fighting to protect Mother Earth from fossil fuels. I was going to say that for me this began in 2013 when I was trained as an Action Lead in the Keystone Pledge of Resistance. But it began much earlier when I was led to live without a car when I moved to Indianapolis in 1970. My love for nature actually began from growing up on farms and camping trips to national parks.

Of course, Indigenous peoples have worked to protect Mother Earth for centuries.

It’s not easy to maintain years-long resistance to a cause. That is one reason why approval of MVP is devastating. It is difficult to find people who are willing to work for justice causes. Difficult to organize and get people to commit to various actions. To get people to move outside their comfort zone. To face all kinds of opposition, time and time again. And all too often the cause is defeated. The pipelines and other infrastructure continue to be built. Mother Earth takes another hit.

Such is the case with the Mountain Valley Pipeline. Its approval hurts not only those who worked so hard against MVP, but everyone working on any environmental cause. It shows yet again the Federal administration and Congress do not understand the gravity of our evolving environmental devastation.

It also shows, again, that environmental solutions will not come from the dominant political culture in this country. Which is why I am so grateful to have been led to my Mutual Aid community. We work locally, within the community, to address basic needs. Instead of talking and having committee meetings, we come together to help our neighbors with food and shelter.

And we strive to advance Indigenous leadership. Indigenous ways can help clean our waters and move toward living sustainably. Help us heal our relationships with Mother Earth and all our relations.

The circle is completed when Indigenous peoples support Mutual Aid, as Des Moines Mutual Aid is supported by the Great Plains Action Society (GPAS). Mutual Aid is one of the methods in the GPAS’s mechanism of engagement.

Multiple Strategies

Yesterday was another episode in the saga of not only carbon pipelines but Indigenous rights more broadly.

There is increasing pressure from many places to use the idea of carbon capture and storage to meet the goals of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The Biden administration is supporting this unproven technology, which even if it worked would not impact global greenhouse gas concentrations. This is something I’ve written about extensively.
(See: https://quakersandreligioussocialism.com/?s=carbon+pipeline )

PHMSA

Yesterday and today public meetings are being held in Des Moines by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration’s (PHMSA) Technical Safety Panel (See: https://quakersandreligioussocialism.com/2023/05/31/carbon-pipeline-safety-meeting/ )

Carbon dioxide (CO2) pipelines are classified as carrying hazardous materials because they pose significant safety risks in case of a rupture. CO2 is a colorless, odorless gas that can displace oxygen and cause asphyxiation at high concentrations. It can also travel long distances from the pipeline after a leak, creating a large danger zone for people and animals. According to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), CO2 pipelines require special safety measures such as corrosion control, leak detection, emergency response plans, and public awareness programs.

There is environmental racism in building pipelines and storage facilities near Indigenous lands. This occurred when the route of the Dakota Access Pipeline was moved away from Bismark, to Standing Rock, when Bismark residents feared contamination of their water.

This environmental racism also facilitates the epidemic of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives because of the “man camps” of pipeline/storage construction workers.

Now there is a similar situation, where landowners, developers, and politicians in Bismark are opposing a proposed carbon dioxide storage project near them.

Not in my backyard

They are showing up in earnest in opposition to the Midwest Carbon Express pipeline, a plan of Summit Carbon Solutions to gather up 12 million tons of CO2 from 31 ethanol plants in five states and send it through pipelines to be sequestered at an underground storage facility in western North Dakota.

The project is well underway, but an apparently well-funded and vocal group of folks, many of them who no doubt appreciate the jobs and tax revenues provided by fossil fuels, are fighting the proposed pipeline tooth and nail.

To be fair, these developers, home builders, politicians and homeowners don’t seem to oppose the pipeline in general, they just don’t want it to be close to places where they live or where they might enrich their businesses with new housing development and construction.

In other words, they don’t mind if the pipeline impacts someone else, they just don’t want it to impact them.

Speaking out: Liking the upside means accepting the downside by Steve Andrist, The Bismark Tribune, 5/31/2023

Great Plains Action Society

My friends at the Great Plains Action Society continue to teach us about Indigenous views and rights. My friend Sikowis Nobiss worked to have a panel discussion related to Indigenous peoples as part of this PHMSA gathering. You can hear her, and others’ remarks here: https://fb.watch/kUlb4S3XCb

Sikowis spoke about most tribal nations not being consulted about these pipelines.

And spoke about the safety equipment that is required for first responders wherever the pipeline is built. Such as oxygen supplies and electric vehicles. Leaked carbon dioxide can spread quickly and stays near the ground, potentially causing asphyxia. Sikowis asks, where is the money going to come from for tribal nations to purchase such safety equipment?

She also spoke about the biome below ground and how we don’t know how pipelines and carbon storage affect that.

Sikowis concluded by pointing out how these are unproven technologies. And asks for a moratorium on these projects until more research is done.

Our Executive Director, Sikowis Nobiss, is speaking today on the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration’s (PHMSA) Technical Safety Panel regarding safety concerns in light of several proposed projects slated for Iowa and the Great Plains region after a recent incident in 2021 at Satartia, Mississippi. Earlier this year PHMSA has stated updated safety regulations tailored specifically for carbon dioxide pipelines are needed and will take 1-3 years to establish—the same timeframe these proposed projects aim for completion.

As such, we call for a federal moratorium until regulations are complete and moreover don’t believe they should be actualized at all! Rather, re-Matriation of Prairie can safely, effectively and efficiently sequester carbon dioxide just as good or better than any of these techno-solutions.

(See video here: https://fb.watch/kUlb4S3XCb/)

#PrairieNotPipelines
#NoCO2Pipelines
#ReMatriate
#NoCCS

Multiple Strategies

It was very important that Sikowis was able to speak during the PHMSA meeting.

We had also planned to hold a rally outside the Marriott Hotel the meetings were held at. Unfortunately our efforts were thwarted by police who were working for the hotel. So we gathered across the street with our signs, and people spoke about these issues.

Carbon pipeline safety meeting

Public meetings about carbon pipeline safety are being held today and tomorrow in Des Moines. These meetings are sponsored by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA). (See: https://quakersandreligioussocialism.com/2023/05/19/co2-pipeline-safety-meeting/ ).

CO2 Safety Public Meeting 2023

This public public meeting and forum on carbon dioxide (CO2) pipeline safety is entitled: “CO2 Public Meeting 2023.” The public meeting will serve as an opportunity for pipeline stakeholders to help inform pipeline safety-related rulemaking decisions and share information surrounding CO2 pipeline safety. Key stakeholders include the public, states, tribal governments, other federal agencies, industry, and international regulators and/or organizations. Key topics are expected to include:

  • Safety expectations for pipeline operators.
  • General state of CO2 pipeline infrastructure – current mileage and forecasts.
  • Federal and state jurisdictions and authorities.
  • Public awareness, engagement, and emergency notification.
  • Emergency equipment, training, and response.
  • Dispersion modeling.
  • Safety measures to address other constituents besides CO2 in CO2 pipelines.
  • Leak detection and reporting.
  • Geohazards.
  • Conversion to service.
  • Environmental justice

CO2 Safety Public Meeting 2023

Satartia, Mississippi

February 22, 2020, a carbon capture pipeline ruptured in Satartia, Mississippi, which brought attention to the multiple hazards of carbon pipeline ruptures.

Just after 7pm on February 22, 2020, a carbon capture pipeline ruptured in Satartia, Mississippi. Shortly after a greenish cloud settled into the valley surrounding the little town. Within minutes, people were inside the cloud, gasping for air, nauseated, and dazed. What follows are firsthand accounts of the victims and first responders.

PHMSA Announces New Safety Measures to Protect Americans From Carbon Dioxide Pipeline Failures After Satartia, MS Leak

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) today announced it is taking steps to implement new measures to strengthen its safety oversight of carbon dioxide (CO2) pipelines around the country and protect communities from dangerous pipeline failures. The new measures, as well as an enforcement action taken today are a result of PHMSA’s investigation into a CO2 pipeline failure in Satartia, Mississippi in 2020 that resulted in local evacuations and caused almost 50 people to seek medical attention. 

 To strengthen CO2 pipeline safety, PHMSA is undertaking the following:

  • initiating a new rulemaking to update standards for CO2 pipelines, including requirements related to emergency preparedness, and response;
  • issuing a Notice of Probable Violation, Proposed Civil Penalty, and Proposed Compliance Order (NOPV) to Denbury Gulf Coast Pipeline, LLC for multiple probable violations of Federal pipeline safety regulations (PSRs). The proposed civil penalties amount to $3,866,734.  
  • completing a failure investigation report for the 2020 pipeline failure in Satartia, Mississippi;
  • issuing an updated nationwide advisory bulletin to all pipeline operators underscoring the need to plan for and mitigate risks related to land-movements and geohazards that pose risks to pipeline integrity like the 2020 incident in Satartia, Mississippi; and
  • conducting research solicitations to strengthen pipeline safety of CO2 pipelines.

“I recently visited with the first responders in Satartia to hear firsthand of the pipeline failure so that we can improve safety and environmental protections for CO2 pipelines and work to protect communities from experiences like this,” said PHMSA Deputy Administrator Tristan Brown. “The safety of the American people is paramount and we’re taking action to strengthen CO2 pipeline safety standards to better protect communities, our first responders, and our environment.” 

PHMSA’s investigation identified a number of probable violations in connection with the 2020 accident, including the following alleged failures: 

  • the lack of timely notification to the National Response Center to ensure the nearby communities were informed of the threat; 
  • the absence of written procedures for conducting normal operations, as well as those that would allow the operator to appropriately respond to emergencies, such as guidelines for communicating with emergency responders; and 
  • a failure to conduct routine inspections of its rights-of-way, which would have fostered a better understanding of the environmental conditions surrounding its facilities that could pose a threat to the safe operation of the pipeline.

PHMSA Announces New Safety Measures to Protect Americans From Carbon Dioxide Pipeline Failures After Satartia, MS Leak. Thursday, May 26, 2022

Although carbon capture and storage is a false solution to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, there is tremendous pressure from many sources to build these systems so companies can claim they are meeting requirements to reduce emissions.


Great Plains Action Society’s Statement on C02 Pipelines

Great Plains Action Society is firmly opposed to proposed carbon capture and sequestration or storage (CCS) projects (aka, CO2 Pipelines) such as Summit’s Midwest Carbon Express, Navigator’s Heartland Greenway, and Wolf Carbon Solutions’ ADM pipelines. The reasons for our opposition are numerous, however, our greatest concern is that CCS only serves the interests of the fossil fuel industry and that the government will sanction further land theft and harm to communities on Indigenous territories. Carbon capture and sequestration is by design a way to prolong the usage of fossil fuels while reducing CO2 emissions. Amidst this climate emergency, we must demand a reduction and phase out fossil fuels as a wider part of a just transition. 

We are also concerned about intense water usage as drought and warmer temperatures are greatly affecting access to clean water. Fossil fuel companies have known that their products were contributing to climate change for over forty years and now they see CCS as a government bail-out with many governmental subsidies providing just the type of perverse incentive for CCS operators to manipulate the system. Additionally, there are the same concerns present with other pipeline projects in the area regarding degradation of the land, disturbance of sacred ceremonial and burial sites. CO2 pipelines are also dangerous because when they rupture, they can spread over 1300 ft in under 4 min making it impossible to breathe and for vehicles to drive. First responders are not at all prepared to deal with such a catastrophe and many have been pushing back C02 pipelines for this reason alone. Furthermore, Indigenous communities will inevitably face encroachment on to treaty land, including environmentally racist moves on behalf of individual states to make sure that CCS does not negatively affect wealthy, white communities with influential power.

CCS is greenwashing rather than a solution to the climate emergency that Iowans deserve, as Indigenous people, we remain committed to the water, the land, and the future generations of Iowans.  

http://bit.ly/3PLkhrN

Locally we have held multiple events to raise awareness of the dangers of carbon pipelines.
(See: https://quakersandreligioussocialism.com/?s=carbon+pipeline )

What should be non-negotiable

We have a choice for future generations.

  • Take drastic environmental measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, or
  • Stay on the present course of continuing to view fossil fuels as resources for profit. To continue to make incremental changes that can never be enough.

This morning is particularly devastating for me because of the bartering for approval of the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) in exchange for support of the legislation around the debt ceiling.

The Biden administration says MVP is an important part of U.S. energy security.

I know the pieces of the legislation that will be included in the final version are in flux. But whether approval of the MVP is part of that, the point is the continuing willingness of politicians and their backers to exploit any natural resources that will generate profits for them. The current administration was elected on promises to protect our environment. You can point out the rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline as an environmental win, one close to my heart. But oil leases in the Gulf, drilling in Alaska, and support of the carbon capture and storage boondoggle are just of few of the environmental harms the administration supports.
(See: https://quakersandreligioussocialism.com/?s=boondoggle )

Also extremely troubling is the obliteration of oversight from Federal and State agencies, or the courts!

We can only hope and pray this particular language is not included in the final legislation. That seems highly unlikely because of the vote needed from Sen. Manchin to support the debt ceiling bill.

What should be non-negotiable are any infrastructure construction, plans, laws, or regulations that harm Mother Earth.

A friend recently put it this way: The capitalist system is incapable of addressing environmental devastation.

Another important reason to embrace mutual aid.

The legislation would direct key agencies to issue all necessary permits and mandate that “no court shall have jurisdiction to review any action taken” that grants an approval necessary for the construction and initial operation of the embattled pipeline.

Last month, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm signaled the Biden administration’s support for the pipeline when she wrote a letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, saying the “MVP project will enhance the Nation’s critical infrastructure for energy and national security.” The letter triggered backlash from some Democrats.

The debt ceiling legislation would direct key agencies to issue all necessary permits and mandate that “no court shall have jurisdiction to review any action taken” that grants an approval necessary for the construction and initial operation of the embattled pipeline. A federal water permit from the Army Corps of Engineers is still needed by the project, for example, and would need to be issued within 21 days after the bill’s enactment.

If the bill is signed into law, the pipeline would no longer need a new water certification from the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection to complete its federal approvals and restart construction, according to a congressional aide familiar with the legislation. The 4th Circuit vacated that certification at the beginning of April, prompting opponents of the project to urge investors to walk away from the 42-inch diameter pipeline.

The debt ceiling bill text states that “Congress hereby finds and declares that the timely completion of construction and operation of the Mountain Valley Pipeline is required in the national interest.”

Mountain Valley pipeline poised for completion by Carlos Anchondo, Nina Farah, Energy Wire, May 30, 2023

The text of the debt ceiling bill released on Sunday would approve all the remaining permits to complete the stalled Mountain Valley Pipeline, delivering a big win for West Virginia Sens. Joe Manchin and Shelley Moore Capito.

But the backing of the pipeline that would deliver gas from West Virginia into the Southeast is sure to set off bitter complaints from the environmental groups that have fought its construction for years and turned the project into a symbol of their struggle against fossil fuels.

The project has won support from the White House, which argues the controversial project is needed for U.S. energy security. Its approval comes after the approval of the Willow oil project in Alaska, which activists have said undercuts the Biden administration’s climate promises.

Debt ceiling deal includes surprise approval of natural gas pipeline championed by Manchin. The controversial natural gas project has been a priority for West Virginia, but its approval will bring new criticism for the Biden administration by Josh Siegel, Politico, May 28, 2023

‘Cowardice’ vs. ‘compromise’

While the section on Mountain Valley was welcomed by West Virginia Sens. Joe Manchin (D) and Shelley Moore Capito (R), it wasn’t acceptable to Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.).

Kaine is “extremely disappointed by the provision of the bill to greenlight the controversial Mountain Valley Pipeline in Virginia, bypassing the normal judicial and administrative review process every other energy project has to go through,” said Janine Kritschgau, a Kaine spokesperson, in an emailed statement Monday.

The senator plans to file an amendment to remove the provision related to Mountain Valley, the Kaine spokesperson added.

Mountain Valley pipeline poised for completion by Carlos Anchondo, Nina Farah, Energy Wire, May 30, 2023

During his campaign, Biden promised he would be “banning new oil and gas permitting on public lands and waters,” NPR writes. However, this has not come to fruition during his presidency.

Despite the implications for climate change, the Gulf of Mexico auction was actually a stipulation of the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) that arose as a compromise between Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and other Senate Democrats. The auction, called Lease Sale 259, was to be held “no later than March 30, 2023,” and put up for sale an Italy-sized area for the purpose of oil drilling. Manchin’s IRA requirements also called for the sale of land in the Cook Inlet of Alaska, according to CNN. That lease is likely to begin in September 2023.

Why did Biden auction off the Gulf of Mexico for oil drilling? by Devika Rao, Yahoo News, April 2, 2023

great-carbon-boondoggle-finalDownload
mvp-letterDownload

#StopCopCity activists shouldn’t be tried as terrorists

One of the key tactics of authoritarianism is to brutally suppress dissent.

I’ve been writing about the huge proposed police training facility in Atlanta.
(See: https://quakersandreligioussocialism.com/?s=%22cop+city%22)

This project has generated a great deal of opposition, in part because it furthers the advancement of violent, militarized policing. Just the opposite of what so many of us are working toward, an end to the carceral systems in this country.

The campaign to defend the forest in Atlanta, Georgia has become one of the most vibrant movements of the post-Trump era, interweaving environmentalism, abolitionism, and the fight against gentrification. Yet as police shift to employing lethal violence and indiscriminate terrorism charges, it has reached a critical juncture. Participants explore how this struggle has developed over the past year, reflecting on the practices that have given it strength and analyzing the challenges before it.

The Forest in the City. Two Years of Forest Defense in Atlanta, Georgia by CrimethInc., 2/22/2023

I came of age at the time this country was in the midst of significant unrest related to the war in Viet Nam, and racial injustice. Looking back at the late 1960s, it looks like a different world. A world where dissent and free speech were protected. In the decades since then, I’ve been involved in many acts of protest. It was known that law enforcement was keeping track of this dissent. But most of us didn’t fear the police then. We White people, anyway.

Nonviolent civil disobedience, where an arrest is likely, is a tactic to bring attention to injustice. Those involved in intentional disobedience did so to demonstrate how much we were willing to risk to bring attention to injustice. The Keystone Pledge of Resistance involved training people to hold acts of nonviolent disobedience to stop the approval of the permit for the Keystone XL pipeline to cross the US-Canada border. President Obama denied that permit.

Not one of the activists I know condone any use of violence.

Some activists have decided the threats from increasing greenhouse gas emissions, leading to increasing environmental chaos, are such an existential threat that they had to break the law.

The defense of necessity may apply when an individual commits a criminal act during an emergency situation in order to prevent a greater harm from happening. In such circumstances, our legal system typically excuses the individual’s criminal act because it was justified, or finds that no criminal act has occurred. Although necessity may seem like a defense that would be commonly invoked by defendants seeking to avoid criminal charges, its application is limited by several important requirements:

  • The defendant must reasonably have believed that there was an actual and specific threat that required immediate action
  • The defendant must have had no realistic alternative to completing the criminal act
  • The harm caused by the criminal act must not be greater than the harm avoided
  • The defendant did not himself contribute to or cause the threat

Only if all of these requirements are met, will the defense of necessity be applicable.

The Necessity Defense in Criminal Law Cases

I’ve learned to be careful to not include people’s faces when I take photos at justice events, having learned law enforcement looks at photos to identify people for arrest.

Recent efforts to criminalize protests in the United States have been observed in various states. For instance, 20 states have passed laws that criminalize protesting, including on infrastructure such as pipelines. Since 2016, as many as 225 anti-protest bills have been introduced in 45 states, with over 100 introduced since the Black Liberation demonstrations in June 2020. According to the US Protest Law Tracker, 51 bills were under consideration in 24 state legislatures as of February 2021.

These efforts to criminalize protest have raised concerns about the potential infringement on the right to peaceful assembly. The US Protest Law Tracker provides a comprehensive overview of state and federal legislation introduced since January 2017 that restricts the right to peaceful assembly.

Returning to authoritarianism, recent years have seen the escalation of charges against peaceful protesters. Even so, I was shocked yesterday to learn that those who protest to stop cop city have been designated a terrorism-related threat. I learned that protesters might be considered domestic violent extremists (DVEs).

“Since spring of 2022, alleged DVEs (Domestic Violent Extremists) in Georgia have cited anarchist violent extremism, animal rights/environmental violent extremism, and anti-law enforcement sentiment to justify criminal activity in opposition to a planned public safety training facility in Atlanta. Criminal acts have included an alleged shooting and assaults targeting law enforcement and property damage targeting the facility, construction companies, and financial institutions for their perceived involvement with the planned facility”

Summary of Terrorism-Related Threat to the United States, Department of Homeland Security

Atlanta police on Monday charged 23 people with state domestic terrorism charges, a day after officers detained dozens of people following a violent clash at the proposed construction site of what has been dubbed “Cop City” – a $90m police and firefighter training center in a forest near Atlanta.

Atlanta police charge 23 with domestic terrorism amid ‘Cop City’ week of action. Move follows violent weekend clash at proposed construction site of Georgia police training facility in forest by Edwin Rios, The Guardian, March 6, 2023

THREE ACTIVISTS INVOLVED in the Defend Atlanta Forest movement are facing charges of felony intimidation of an officer of the state and misdemeanor stalking for placing flyers on mailboxes in a neighborhood in Bartow County, Georgia, about 40 miles from Atlanta. The detainees were held for days in solitary confinement, a lawyer working on the case and a relative of one of the activists told The Intercept.

The flyer, according to the lawyer, named a police officer who lives in the area where the activists were arrested and alleged he was connected to the killing in January of forest defender Manuel “Tortuguita” Terán during a multi-agency raid on the Atlanta Forest protest encampment.

…

Julia Dupuis, an activist named Charley who asked that their last name be withheld for security concerns, and an activist named Wednesday were arrested at a gas station outside the town of Cartersville on Friday. According to their lawyer, Lyra Foster, the activists drove once through the neighborhood and placed flyers on numerous mailboxes without exiting their vehicle or approaching any residents. Foster said Wednesday was a passenger in the car and not posting flyers.

If found guilty, they could each face up to 20 years in prison.

“They were not handing out flyers, they were actually extremely careful in trying to avoid doing anything illegal,” Foster told The Intercept. “They posted the flyers on mailboxes, they did not even get out of the van to put flyers on the doors, and did not open the mailboxes because they thought that was potentially illegal.”

“They posted the flyers on mailboxes, they did not even get out of the van to put flyers on the doors.”

The attorney added that the activists “certainly had no intention to intimidate the officer” and “were trying to spread awareness about the police killing.”

Activists face felonies for distributing flyers on “Cop City” protester killing. The activists face 20 years in prison for handing out flyers that identified a cop they said was linked to the killing of a protester in the Atlanta forest by Natasha Lennard and Akela Lacy, The Intercept, May 2, 2023

Yesterday a group of us concerned about “Cop City” and policing in general, carried signs and a banner calling attention to the Nationwide Insurance company’s insurance coverage for the construction of “Cop City”. In light of the escalation of charges for protesting, I am not including any photos with people’s faces visible. “Insures Homicide” refers to the police killing of Manuel Esteban Paez Terán (Tortuguita) who was tree-sitting in the forest.
(See: https://quakersandreligioussocialism.com/?s=Tortuguita+ )

For more information about Nationwide, see: https://quakersandreligioussocialism.com/2023/05/24/nationwide-insures-cop-city/

CO2 Pipeline Safety Meeting

A public meeting about carbon dioxide (CO2) pipeline safety will be held in Des Moines on May 31st and June 1st. Register Here… to attend in person or remotely.

Although carbon capture and storage is a false solution to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, there is tremendous pressure from many sources to build these systems so companies can claim they are meeting requirements to reduce emissions.

rb.gy/jtfqs5

This is a significant problem because the Biden administration is pushing carbon capture technology. As one example, the Biden-Harris Administration launched $2.6 billion funding programs to slash carbon emissions by advancing carbon capture demonstration projects and expanding regional pipeline networks to transport CO2 for permanent geologic storage or for conversion into valued end uses. The two programs are the Carbon Capture Demonstration Projects Program and the Carbon Dioxide Transport/Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) Program, which are funded by President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. https://www.energy.gov/articles/biden-harris-administration-launches-26-billion-funding-programs-slash-carbon-emissions.

Pipeline Safety

New carbon dioxide (CO2) pipeline safety measures were announced by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) on May 26, 2022[1]. PHMSA aims to strengthen its safety oversight of CO2 pipelines across the country and protect communities from dangerous pipeline failure.

Carbon pipeline ruptures or leaks can pose serious risks, as an explosive plume of CO2 gas can emerge, leading to asphyxiation of living beings and preventing combustion vehicles from starting to enable escape[4]. The world’s first CO2 pipeline explosion in Satartia, Mississippi, serves as a harrowing reminder of the potential dangers associated with carbon pipelines.

  1. https://www.energy.gov/fecm/articles/statement-doe-welcomes-new-carbon-dioxide-pipeline-safety-measures-announced-us
  2. https://www.phmsa.dot.gov/news/phmsa-announces-new-safety-measures-protect-americans-carbon-dioxide-pipeline-failures
  3. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959652620320412
  4. https://pipelinefighters.org/news/carbon-pipelines-basic-101-to-latest-research/
  5. https://www.theverge.com/2021/8/26/22642806/co2-pipeline-explosion-satartia-mississippi-carbon-capture

One topic will be dispersion modeling of carbon dioxide from a pipeline rupture.

Modelling of accidental releases from a high pressure CO2 pipelines by Menso Molaga, Corina Damb, 2010 Elsevier Ltd. Open access under CC BY-NC-ND license

Meeting Information

Meeting Information
StatusScheduled
StartsMay 31, 2023 at 8:00 AM CT
EndsJun  1, 2023 at 5:00 PM CT
LocationDes Moines Marriott Downtown in Des Moines, Iowa.
Virtual InformationTo be announced
On-Line RegistrationRegister Here…
Purpose & SummaryThe purpose of the two-day CO2 Public Meeting is to inform rulemaking decisions, by discussing key topics such as public awareness, emergency response and effective communication with emergency responders and the public, dispersion modeling, safety measures to address other constituents besides CO2 in CO2 Pipelines, leak detection and reporting, and Geohazards. The CO2 meeting will be webcast for those who cannot attend in person.

SUMMARY:

This public public meeting and forum on carbon dioxide (CO2) pipeline safety is entitled: “CO2 Public Meeting 2023.” The public meeting will serve as an opportunity for pipeline stakeholders to help inform pipeline safety-related rulemaking decisions and share information surrounding CO2 pipeline safety. Key stakeholders include the public, states, tribal governments, other federal agencies, industry, and international regulators and/or organizations. Key topics are expected to include:

  • Safety expectations for pipeline operators.
  • General state of CO2 pipeline infrastructure – current mileage and forecasts.
  • Federal and state jurisdictions and authorities.
  • Public awareness, engagement, and emergency notification.
  • Emergency equipment, training, and response.
  • Dispersion modeling.
  • Safety measures to address other constituents besides CO2 in CO2 pipelines.
  • Leak detection and reporting.
  • Geohazards.
  • Conversion to service.
  • Environmental justice.

Anticipated speakers/participants are expected to include:

  • Public advocacy groups.
  • Pipeline operators.
  • Federal regulators.
  • Tribal governments.
  • States through the National Association of Pipeline Safety Representatives (NAPSR).
  • Other U.S. government agencies.
  • International governments or other international organizations.
  • Others from academia, emergency response community and industry.

DATES: The CO2 Public Meeting 2023 will be held on May 31–June 1, 2023, in Des Moines, Iowa, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. (CT). Anyone who would like to attend the public meeting must register by May 12, 2023. Individuals requiring accommodations, such as sign language interpretation or other aids, are asked to notify PHMSA no later than May 12, 2023.

ADDRESSES: This public meeting and forum will be held in person and via webcast. The agenda and instructions on how to attend will be published once they are finalized on the following public meeting registration page: https://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/meetings/MtgHome.mtg?mtg=165.

PRESENTATIONS: Presentations will be available on the meeting website and on the E-gov website, https://regulations.gov, at docket number PHMSA-2023-0013, no later than 30 days following the meeting.SUBMITTING COMMENTS:
You may submit comments, identified by Docket No. PHMSA-2023-0013, by any of the following methods:

  • E-Gov Web: http://www.regulations.gov. This site allows the public to enter comments on any Federal Register notice issued by any agency. Follow the online instructions for submitting comments.
  • Mail: Docket Management System: U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, West Building Ground Floor, Room W12–140, Washington, D.C. 20590–0001.
  • Hand Delivery: DOT Docket Management System: 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, West Building Ground Floor, Room W12-140, between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. ET, Monday through Friday, except federal holidays.

Fax: 202-493-2251. The Docket Management Facility, U.S. Department of Transportation will not issue confirmation notices for faxed comments.

  • Instructions: Identify Docket No. PHMSA-2023-0013 at the beginning of your comments. If you submit your comments by mail, please submit two copies. If you wish to receive confirmation that PHMSA received your comments, you must include a self-addressed stamped postcard. Internet users may submit comments at: http://www.regulations.gov.
  • Note: All comments received are posted without edits to http://www.regulations.gov, including any personal information provided. Please see the Privacy Act heading below.
  • Confidential Business Information: Confidential Business Information (CBI) is commercial or financial information that is both customarily and actually treated as private by its owner. Under the Freedom of Information Act (5 U.S.C. 552), CBI is exempt from public disclosure. If your comments in response to this notice contain commercial or financial information that is customarily treated as private, that you actually treat as private, and is relevant or responsive to this notice, it is important that you clearly designate the submitted comments as CBI. Pursuant to 49 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 190.343, you may ask PHMSA to provide confidential treatment to information you give the agency by taking the following steps: (1) mark each page of the original document submission containing CBI as “Confidential;” (2) send PHMSA a copy of the original document with the CBI deleted along with the original, unaltered document; and (3) explain why the information you are submitting is CBI. Submissions containing CBI should be sent to Max Kieba, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, DOT: PHMSA – PHP-40, Washington, D.C. 20590-0001. Any commentary PHMSA receives that is not specifically designated as CBI will be placed in the public docket.
  • Privacy Act: DOT may solicit comments from the public regarding certain general notices. DOT posts these comments, without edit, including any personal information the commenter provides, to www.regulations.gov, as described in the system of records notice (DOT/ALL-14 FDMS), which can be reviewed at www.dot.gov/privacy.
  • Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or comments received, go to http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the online instructions for accessing the dockets. Alternatively, you may review the documents in person at the street address listed above.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Max Kieba, Director, Program Development, by phone at 202-420-9169 or via e-mail at max.kieba @ dot.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:The mission of PHMSA is to protect people and the environment by advancing the safe transportation of energy products and other hazardous materials that are essential to our daily lives. This meeting is a follow-up to PHMSA’s May 2022 press release announcing new safety measures to protect Americans from carbon dioxide pipeline failures after the Satartia, Mississippi, incident (https://www.phmsa.dot.gov/news/phmsa-announces-new-safety-measures-protect-americans-carbon-dioxide-pipeline-failures), and the December 2022 public meeting that discussed several topics, including some aspects of calculating potential impact radii for CO2 pipeline releases. PHMSA also received a letter from the Pipeline Safety Trust on February 17, 2023 (Docket No. PHMSA-2022-0125), formally requesting that PHMSA hold a public meeting on CO2 pipeline safety and the announced rulemaking under RIN 2137-AF60.

Public Participation: The meeting and forum will be open to the public. Members of the public who wish to attend must register on the meeting website, including their names and organization affiliation. PHMSA is committed to providing all participants with equal access to these meetings. If you need disability accommodations, please contact Janice Morgan by e-mail at janice.morgan @ dot.gov.

PHMSA is not always able to publish a notice in the Federal Register quickly enough to provide timely notification of last-minute changes that impact scheduled meetings. Therefore, individuals should check the meeting website listed in the ADDRESSES section of this notice or contact Janice Morgan by phone at 202-815-4705 or via e-mail at janice.morgan @ dot.gov regarding any possible changes.

PHMSA invites public participation and public comment on the topics addressed in this public meeting and forum. Please review the ADDRESSES section of this notice for information on how to submit written comments.

Agenda Summary: This CO2 Safety Public Meeting is to help inform pipeline safety-related rulemaking decisions and provide a venue for information exchange among key

stakeholders including the public, states, tribal governments, other federal agencies, industry, and international colleagues.

https://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/meetings/Mtg165.mtg

Carbon Capture update 4/4/2023

Carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) continues to be promoted as an important way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, by sucking carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. There are many reasons why CCUS is not a viable solution, as described in detail in a new report from the Oakland Institute titled The Great Carbon Boondoggle.

I just saw an advertisement from Valero, one of the fossil fuel pipeline companies supporting CCUS. The ad asks why everyone is focused on the past. Then talks about how Valero is saving the planet by removing carbon dioxide from the air. The entire ad was about CCUS.

NAVIGATOR LAUNCHES A NON-BINDING OPEN SEASON TO SOLICIT INTEREST IN FIRM CAPACITY

SAN ANTONIO–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE: VLO, “Valero”) and BlackRock Global Energy & Power Infrastructure Fund III announced today that they are partnering with Navigator Energy Services (“Navigator”) to develop an industrial scale carbon capture pipeline system (“CCS”). The initial phase is expected to span more than 1,200 miles of new carbon dioxide gathering and transportation pipelines across five Midwest states with the capability of permanently storing up to 5 million metric tonnes of carbon dioxide per year. Pending third party customer feedback, the system could be expanded to transport and sequester up to 8 million metric tonnes of carbon dioxide per year. Valero, the largest renewable fuels producer in North America, is expected to become an anchor shipper by securing a majority of the initial available system capacity. Navigator is expected to lead the construction and operations of the system and anticipates operations to begin late 2024. In the coming months, Navigator will seek additional commitments to utilize the remaining capacity via a binding open season process.

Valero and BlackRock Partner with Navigator to Announce Large-Scale Carbon Capture and Storage Project

Boondoggle: work or activity that is wasteful or pointless but gives the appearance of having value

During the current legislative session, the Iowa House passed legislation that would have carbon pipeline companies restrict the use of eminent domain to force landowners to allow pipeline construction on their land. But the Iowa Senate will not vote on it. This photo was taken outside the Iowa State Capitol during a rally against carbon pipelines.

(c)2023 Jeff Kisling

A House bill that would restrict the use of eminent domain for carbon capture pipelines — an idea favored by a strong majority of Iowans — won’t receive a Senate hearing ahead of a key legislative deadline, meaning the bill is effectively dead for the session.

The bill represented the most serious legislative effort this year to address the concerns of farmers and other landowners who fear they could be forced to sell access to their land to companies seeking to build pipelines across the state.

Rep. Steven Holt, R-Denison, the bill’s House floor manager, said the Senate’s decision not to move the bill is disappointing.

“I think the bill we passed was important protections for our landowners and I’m very disappointed that they’re choosing not to move it,” he said Wednesday.

Holt pointed to a Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll this month, which found more than three-fourths of Iowans, or 78%, oppose letting carbon pipelines use eminent domain for their projects.

That includes 72% of Republicans, 79% of independents and 82% of Democrats.

Senate won’t curb eminent domain for carbon pipelines; most Iowans say they want limits by Stephen Gruber-Miller, Des Moines Register, March 29, 2023

https://infogram.com/1p6kmdnpnzj2q3f5y3lzld0w9gh3vy1rdqr

Why Is Carbon Capture & Storage A False Climate Solution?

The promoters of the Midwest Carbon Express fail to reckon with the growing body of evidence exposing CCS as a false climate solution. CCS projects have systematically overpromised and underdelivered. Despite billions of taxpayer dollars spent on CCS to date, the technology has failed to significantly reduce CO2 emissions, as it has “not been proven feasible or economic at scale.” [27]

Crucially, the ability to capture and safely contain CO2 permanently underground has not been proven, a dangerous uncertainty given CO2 must be stored underground for thousands of years without leaking to effectively reduce emissions. [28]

It also risks permanently contaminating underground aquifers and poisoning precious drinking water for nearby communities.[29]

Additionally, applying CCS to industrial sources such as ethanol plants requires the creation of massive infrastructure and transportation of carbon to storage sites, and injecting it underground poses new environmental, health, and safety hazards in communities targeted for CCS infrastructure. As carbon capture infrastructure needs to be built near emitting sites, facilities would further impact those already burdened by industrial pollution. [30]

In many cases, this disproportionately impacts lower-income,Indigenous, Black, and Brown communities—furthering a vicious cycle of environmental racism.[31] To date, CCS has primarily been used to prop up the ineffective and environmentally unsustainable fossil fuel energy system. In the US, a dozen carbon capture plants are in operation—the majority of which are attached to ethanol, natural gas processing, or fertilizer plants—which generate emissions that are high in CO2. [32] Over 95 percent of the CO2 captured by these plants is currently used for enhanced oil recovery (EOR)—where instead of storing the captured CO2, it is injected into depleted underground oil reservoirs to boost oil production in wells.[33]

There are legitimate concerns that investing billions in carbon capture infrastructure to lower emissions from fossil fuels and ethanol production will reduce incentives for investors and policymakers to transition towards more sustainable and effective solutions. These include investing in wind or solar energy sources, phasing out of industrial agricultural production, developing infrastructure and services such as public transport. [34]

The Great Carbon Boondoggle

Biden Administration strongly supports Carbon Capture and Storage

The Biden administration has hailed CCS and carbon pipelines as vital infrastructure to meet climate targets and claimed that the US needs 65,000 additional miles of pipeline by 2050. [3] The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act signed in November 2021 provides over eight billion dollars as federal grants, loans, and loan guarantees for carbon storage and pipelines.[4] In 2022, President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which substantially increased the already abundant tax credits for CCS projects and made it easier for projects to qualify for these credits.[5] This flood of public money has resulted in over 40 CCS projects announced in 2021 alone. [6]
In Midwestern US, Archer-Daniel Midlands (ADM), Summit Carbon Solutions, and Navigator CO2 Ventures are currently advancing three major CCS projects. 

The Great Carbon Boondoggle

food-and-water-watchDownload

Endnotes from The Great Carbon Boondoggle

[3] Douglas, L. “U.S. carbon pipeline proposals trigger backlash over potential land seizures.” Reuters, February 7, 2022.
https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/us-carbon-pipeline-proposals-trigger-backlash-over-potential-land-seizures-2022-02-07
[4] Department of Energy. “Fact Sheet: The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act – Opportunities to Accelerate Deployment in Fossil Energy and Carbon Management Activities.” September 29, 2022.
https://www.energy.gov/fecm/articles/fact-sheet-infrastructure-investment-and-jobs-act-opportunities-accelerate-deployment
October 10, 2022).
[5] Gibson Dunn. “The Inflation Reduction Act Includes Significant Benefits for the Carbon Capture Industry.” August 12, 2022.
https://www.gibsondunn.com/the-inflation-reduction-act-includes-significant benefits-for-the-carbon-capture-industry/
[6] Paul, S. “Global carbon capture projects surge 50% in 9 months–research.” Reuters, October 11, 2021. https://www.reuters.com/business/sustainable-business/global-carbon-capture-projects-surge-50-9-months-research-2021-10-12

[27] Center for International Environmental Law. Confronting the Myth of Carbon-Free Fossil Fuels: Why Carbon Capture Is Not a Climate Solution. July, 2021.
https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Confronting-the-Myth-of-Carbon-Free-Fossil-Fuels.pdf
[28] Center for International Environmental Law. Carbon Capture and Storage: An Expensive and Dangerous Plan for Louisiana. June 25, 2021.
https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Confronting-the-Myth-of-Carbon-Free-Fossil-Fuels.pdf
[29] Physicians for Social Responsibility. “Danger Ahead: The Public Health Disaster That Awaits From Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS).” February 10, 2022.
https://www.ciel.org/carbon-capture-and-storage-an-expensive-and-dangerous-proposition-for-louisiana-communities/
[30] Ibid.
[31] For example, in Louisiana, proposed CCS infrastructure would impact Black and Brown, lower-income communities living in “Cancer Alley,” the industrial region named after decades of poor air and water quality from industrial pollution increased cancer rates and other health risks. Ibid.
[32] Kusnetz, N. “Fossil Fuel Companies Are Quietly Scoring Big Money for Their Preferred Climate Solution: Carbon Capture and Storage.” Inside Climate News, August 17, 2021.
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/17082021/carbon-capture-storage-fossil-fuel-companies-climate/
[33] Iowa Chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility. Fact Sheet: Low Carbon Standard, Ethanol and Carbon Capture. August 24, 2022. https://psriowa.org/event_ccs2022.html
[34] Ibid.