PA Environment Digest Blog: No False Solutions PA Coalition Releases New Too Infrequently Asked Questions About Carbon Capture And Storage

On September 16, the No False Solutions PA Coalition delivered a letter to state legislators and other public officials urging them to read a new brief the group co-authored with the Better Path Coalition.

The brief-- Too Infrequently Asked Questions About Carbon Capture and Storage-- provides answers to ten questions the authors say the government should consider before developing the technology in Pennsylvania.

Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) is a controversial technology that has received billions in investments and subsidies from the federal government for the past two decades.

It is touted as being a climate solution by capturing, transporting, and storing carbon dioxide emissions from industrial sources. However, it has never worked at scale.

Gov. Josh Shapiro signed into law a carbon capture and storage bill introduced by Senator Gene Yaw (R-Lycoming) after a late-night vote as the budget was being passed in July.

Act 87 bypassed the House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee and received committee votes without discussion from Consumer Protection and Appropriations.

“Our coalitions submitted position statements arguing that a bill as consequential as SB831 needed the careful consideration it didn’t receive because so little is known about CCS. Now we’re telling our legislators that they are not compelled to act on the bill they passed. We are urging them to make an honest assessment based on the things that are known about CCS,” said Karen Feridun, Co-founder of The Better Path Coalition and No False Solutions PA, lead author of the brief.

“Just this week, we learned that corrosion at the first CCS injection site in the U.S. has allowed injected CO2 to migrate into spaces where it was not permitted to go,” commented Karen Elias, co-founder of No False Solutions PA. “Risks like this one exist at every stage of the CCS process. The questions we are raising in this report are too important to ignore.”

The letter concludes, “We stand to lose so much when we are put in a position where we are subsidizing and taking on liability for a technology that strips us of our subsurface property rights, exposes us to dangerous infrastructure buildout, and ultimately fails to reduce emissions. Passing legislation does not compel you to act on it. A matter as consequential as opening the Commonwealth to Carbon Capture and Storage requires careful and honest assessment of the issues we raise in our brief.”

Click Here for a copy of the brief.

PA Oil & Gas Industry Public Notice Dashboards:

-- PA Oil & Gas Weekly Compliance Dashboard - Sept. 14 to 20 - Seeing Conventional Wastewater Spill From Google Earth; Emergency Well Plugging; Abandoned Shale Gas Wells; Leaking Gas Well Next To Baseball Field [PaEN]

-- Homeowner Complaint Results In DEP Emergency Plugging Of A Penn Resources, Inc. Conventional Oil Well Leaking Gas, Oil, Wastewater In McKean County [PaEN]

-- DEP Discovers Wastewater Spill From Conventional Oil/Gas Well That Could Be Seen From Google Earth In Armstrong County As A Result Of A Complaint [PaEN]

-- PA Oil & Gas Industrial Facilities: Permit Notices, Opportunities To Comment - September 21 [PaEN]

-- DEP Posted 77 Pages Of Permit-Related Notices In September 21 PA Bulletin [PaEN]