Proposed IA CO2 Pipelines Have First Responders Wondering Who Will Pay For Upgraded Airpacks, EV Trucks

From outdated equipment and evacuation plans to a lack of personnel and training, some Iowa first responders say they would be unable to safely carry out rescue operations in the case of a major carbon dioxide pipeline rupture. Many Iowans fear such a disaster is increasingly likely as developers, spurred by more than $12 billion in federal incentives, propose to build lengthy CO2 pipelines across the Midwest. Among the handicaps emergency personnel would face if responding to a rupture is a lack of funding for the kind of equipment they say is necessary to safely navigate the unique threats posed by carbon dioxide pipelines, including CO2 plumes released during a failure that could have an especially large and difficult to detect danger zone.

When a carbon dioxide pipeline ruptured in 2020 in Mississippi, it released a massive cloud of the gas that traveled more than a mile into the nearby hamlet of Satartia, sending 45 residents to the hospital and prompting the evacuation of 200 others. That’s because CO2 is heavier than air and acts as an asphyxiant in high concentrations.

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Dan Harvey, fire chief for the Gruver Fire Department in Emmet County, Iowa, said it would cost the five fire departments in his county—all of which are run by volunteers—more than $370,000 to upgrade their current air tanks, which can hold about 15-20 minutes-worth of oxygen. That’s not enough time to safely operate in those conditions, Harvey said, but most Iowa fire departments can’t afford to buy the 45-minute air tanks. “The airpacks alone,” he said, “if you buy them new, those are about $9,280 each.”

Jodi Freet, the emergency response director for Cedar County, Iowa, said that besides larger air tanks, she also wouldn’t feel comfortable sending any of her personnel near a CO2 leak unless they were driving an electric vehicle. Not only can a high concentration of carbon dioxide suffocate animals and people in a matter of minutes, it can also stall engines that run on gasoline since they, too, require oxygen. First responders at the Satartia incident quickly realized that when some of their own vehicles died as they attempted to rescue others. “Our fire trucks are all combustion engines,” Freet said. “So if there’s a rupture, and they have to respond, those engines aren’t going to work.”

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https://insideclimatenews.org/news/29122023/evs-and-9000-air-tanks-iowa-first-responders-fear-the-dangers-and-costs-of-co2-pipelines/

SATARTIA, Miss. – On Feb. 22, 2020, a clear Saturday after weeks of rain, Deemmeris Debra'e Burns, his brother and cousin decided to go fishing. They were headed home in a red Cadillac when they heard a boom and saw a big white cloud shooting into the evening sky. Burns' first thought was a pipeline explosion. He didn't know what was filling the air, but he called his mom, Thelma Brown, to warn her to get inside. He told her he was coming. Brown gathered her young grandchild and great-grandchildren she was watching, took them into her back bedroom, and got under the quilt with them. And waited. "They didn't come," Brown says. "Ten minutes. I knew they would've been here in five minutes, but they didn't come."

Little did she know, her sons and nephew were just down the road in the Cadillac, unconscious, victims of a mass poisoning from a carbon dioxide pipeline rupture. As the carbon dioxide moved through the rural community, more than 200 people evacuated and at least 45 people were hospitalized. Cars stopped working, hobbling emergency response. People lay on the ground, shaking and unable to breathe. First responders didn't know what was going on. "It looked like you were going through the zombie apocalypse," says Jack Willingham, emergency director for Yazoo County.

Now, three years after the CO2 poisoning from the pipeline break, some in Satartia see the incident as a warning at a critical moment for U.S. climate policy. The country is looking at a dramatic expansion of its carbon dioxide pipeline network, thanks in part to billions of dollars of incentives in last year's climate legislation. Last week, the Biden administration announced $251 million for a dozen climate projects that focus on CO2 transport and storage.

There are now about 5,300 miles of CO2 pipelines in the U.S., but in the next few decades, that number could grow to more than 65,000 miles, says Jesse Jenkins, professor of engineering at Princeton University who has researched scenarios to reduce U.S. emissions. But the rupture in Satartia underscores growing concerns across communities that face the prospect of more CO2 pipelines being built to address climate change. Safety advocates and community residents worry about pipeline safety and gaps in federal regulation, says Bill Caram, executive director of the nonprofit Pipeline Safety Trust. "We're looking at those pipelines being a lot closer to people and communities than they are right now," Caram says. "We are not yet ready."

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https://www.npr.org/2023/05/21/1172679786/carbon-capture-carbon-dioxide-pipeline