New Forest Service proposal intends to allow companies to build dangerous carbon pipelines and injection sites on public lands for permanent storage of carbon dioxide.
On December 22nd, 2023, WORC along with Dakota Resource Council (DRC), Northern Plains Resource Council (NPRC), Powder River Basin Resource Council (PRBRC), and Western Colorado Alliance (WCA) sent a letter to the US Forest Service (USFS) in response to its proposal to use Forest Service-managed lands for carbon capture and sequestration (CCS). The proposed rule, “Land Uses; Special Uses; Carbon Capture and Storage Exemption” poses multiple threats to Western communities, ecosystems, and federal lands and minerals.
National forests have traditionally been available for certain commercial and private uses like grazing cattle or logging if they apply for “Special Use” permits. In 1998, the USFS updated its “Special Use” permit rules to make it clear that no industry, no matter how useful to society, had the right to permanently use or occupy national forest and grasslands. These permits can be short or long term; however, they are always a finite amount of time to ensure that they are temporary.
This CCS proposal changes all that. After decades of following these stipulations, the USFS has proposed to change the language of their special use permits to allow, “exclusive or perpetual right of use or occupancy of NFS lands for CCUS… to allow for permanent carbon dioxide sequestration.” The eternal nature of the risk is a direct contradiction of longstanding Forest Service policy meant to ensure that our national forest and grasslands are protected for generations to come. Not only does the USFS appear to be contradicting its own regulations, the proposed rule is the first ever regulation-level change that would allow CO2 injection on federal lands.
The eternal nature of the risk is a direct contradiction of longstanding Forest Service policy meant to ensure that our national forest and grasslands are protected for generations to come.
The USFS manages a huge network of western public lands. Between the three Forest Service regions encompassing WORC member states (Northern, Intermountain, and Rocky Mountain Regions), the Forest Service manages 94 million acres of forest and grassland. Compared to the eastern US where 80% of forest land is privately owned, in the West more than two-thirds of forest land is publicly owned, which helps explain the gravity of the situation that this proposal poses to our members and communities in the region.
The CCS boondoggle
CCS is an expensive and unproven technology with potentially catastrophic and permanent effects. Research done by IISD found that despite significant industry and government investment in the technology, more than 80% of proposed CCS projects have failed due to high costs, low technological readiness and research, and overall lack of credible financial and climate return. Proponents see CCS as a solution for lowering emissions in our atmosphere, when in reality, many projects end up using more energy than conserving or capturing it. At this time, only 37 CCS plants are in operation (or under construction) across the world, capturing only 0.1% annually of total global fossil fuel emissions [Global CCS Institute 2023]. The largest CCS facility in the world, the Gorgon Project, a gas facility in Australia, is an example of this failure. The facility announced that they had failed to capture their 4 million tonnes of CO2 per year after decades of research and billions of dollars in investment. The Gorgon facility is now the single largest emitter of greenhouse gasses in Australia.
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The cadre of fossil fuel companies who support CCS also raises alarm bells. ExxonMobil and Chevron welcomed tax credits for carbon capture projects in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). The technology is prohibitively expensive, so the industry is relying on subsidies from taxpayers to get these projects off the ground. Fossil-fuel boosters like Senator Joe Manchin [NPR 2023]see carbon capture as a last-ditch effort to prop up the fossil fuel industry. Over $10 billion of federal funding is being poured into carbon capture development during the Biden Administration without solid evidence that it is an effective and safe alternative for mitigating climate change.
Currently, 81% of CCS projects are EOR, which means that most projects are using carbon capture to further our reliance on fossil fuels under the guise of reducing emissions in the atmosphere.
The bottomline is that taxpayer money pouring into CCS has far outpaced the technology. In fact, the only practice that has been somewhat effective within the CCS space is a process called enhanced oil recovery (EOR), a process where captured carbon is pumped into existing wells to extract the remaining oil. Currently, 81% of CCS projects are EOR, which means that most projects are using carbon capture to further our reliance on fossil fuels under the guise of reducing emissions in the atmosphere [Energy Mix 2021].
The dangers of CO2 and the CCS industry
Not only has CCS been proven as an inefficient method for mitigating our emissions, the carbon dioxide it captures can be extremely dangerous and puts communities and ecosystems at risk. Citizens of Satartia, MS, are too familiar with the dangers posed by carbon capture. In 2020, a CO2 pipeline ruptured, resulting in at least 45 people being hospitalized and over 200 people evacuating due to exposure. Witnesses said it felt like a zombie apocalypse [NPR 2023].
These types of incidents may become more common as CCS infrastructure is built out. When water and CO2 mix, carbonic acid is created which can significantly erode CCS infrastructure such as pipelines or underground storage units. Because so many CCS projects pump carbon deep into the ground, below water sources such as aquifers, there is serious concern and risk with how close the captured carbon is to water–water contamination and chemical reactions from CO2 and water are just two of the concerns that these projects pose to communities and ecosystems. There’s also evidence that CO2 pumped underground can make its way to the surface, endangering humans and wildlife as well as bringing dangerous chemicals like methane and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) linked to cancer and other health effects with it.
BLM has proposed a handful of CCS projects in Wyoming and Montana and our member groups are working to organize and defend our public lands and minerals from these dangerous and permanent developments. WORC members recognize the threat that this proposal poses to our national forests and grasslands. Once the land is used for CCS, the dangers are locked in forever.
Read the full letter here.
Learn more:
Carbon Capture and Sequestration: still a multi-billion-dollar boondoggle
Too Good to be True: The Risks of Public Investment in Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS)
North Dakota Legislators Try to Bail Out the Dying Coal Industry While Penalizing Wind Energy
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