Death by CO2, Nebraska you are screwing up.

Written for the High Plains Journal

This is NOT another pipeline when it comes to safety.

Today I am issuing a dire warning to my fellow Nebraska residents who do not realize what is happening right in their backyard. The Tallgrass Energy natural gas pipeline, that is currently being converted to transport CO2 to Wyoming, will be blatantly dangerous. I hear of landowners willingly taking payments to lay the pipeline of death right through their property. Yes, pipelines have been the safest method for transporting oil and gas throughout the course of history. Guess what: oil and gas are not used to kill pigs, chickens and turkeys in processing plants, but CO2 is.

First, let’s take a look at the information presented by the Pipeline Safety Trust in March of 2022 in a press release about CO2 pipelines:

The Pipeline Safety Trust believes existing federal regulations do not allow for the safe transportation of CO2 via pipelines and calls on the U.S. Department of Transportation and its pipeline safety agency PHMSA1 to update its regulations of CO2 pipelines as quickly as possible.

Let’s continue on with information made available to policymakers about the inherit danger of transporting CO2 via a pipeline:

Congress, in Section 211 of the Pipeline Safety Reauthorization Act of 1988, required that the DOT regulate carbon dioxide transported by pipeline facilities. Part of this concern was driven by a 1986 natural carbon dioxide release event in Lake Nyos, Cameroon spanning many miles with over 1,700 fatalities, underscoring the dangers and possible consequences of CO2 releases.

PHMSA never issued new regulations for transportation of CO2 as a gas. Thus, PHMSA currently has no regulations applicable to pipelines transporting CO2 as a gas, liquid, or in a supercritical state at concentrations of CO2 less than 90 percent. This regulatory gap means that current federal pipeline safety regulations are clearly inadequate because CO2 pipeline companies could develop CO2 gas and liquid pipelines that fall outside of this narrow federal rule.

The definition of “carbon dioxide” should be modified so that all CO2 transmission pipelines are regulated by federal law and held to appropriate minimum safety standards. Otherwise, CO2 pipelines could be designed, constructed, operated, and maintained with no federal or state oversight.

The Cameroon incident is incredibly important because EVERYTHING within that 10 square mile radius DIED. The first on the scene after the danger had passed, reported that the carcasses of humans and animals did not have a single insect on them. It was the reaction of CO2 mixing with H2O that resulted in this deadly toxicity.

On Feb. 21, 2020 In Satartia, MS a CO2 pipeline did rupture and towns were evacuated. Forty- five local citizens were hospitalized. Most concerning was the fact that as first responders got close to the scene where the CO2 was flowing wildly, it actually shut down the engines on their vehicles and locked them up. Dan Harvey from Gruver, IA is a local VFD chief who has studied the issue and says zero fire departments or fire responders in the nation are knowledgeable enough to handle a CO2 pipeline rupture.

CO2 from ethanol plants will be compressed to 2100 PSI, at an energy expense of 30% of the ethanol produced at the plant, for transport in small feeder lines to the Tallgrass Energy pipeline.

It will then be converted to a lower PSI to pass through the 36” diameter Tallgrass Energy pipeline that is designed to carry ONLY 1100 PSI without extreme risk. They plan to transport 10 million tons of deadly CO2 annually through this extremely dangerous system. That assessment was made by Curtis Jundt of North Dakota who has spent his entire career as a pipeline engineer in the Bakken oilfield. He walked me through the inherent dangers that exist with CO2 pipelines and why they are a completely different beast than oil and gas pipelines.

What really caught my attention again on this issue is the fact that the Bureau of Land Management issued a statement and opened a comment period for what they call a carbon sequestration injection site in the Southwest corner of Wyoming. They report this area 1700 ft under the top of earth will be 600,000 acres of injected CO2. I called a Sweetwater County, WY Commissioner the minute I read about it and he told me he learned of it the same morning I did by reading the BLM website.

Folks, there is a warning given to all bars, cafes and places that serve carbonated drinks: CO2 is dangerous when not handled properly. Hundreds of workers in these establishments die of accidental exposure to CO2 annually. Meanwhile, your federal government has a plan to have 30,000 – 90,000 miles of CO2 pipelines in the U.S. alone by 2050. It begs the question: Are they creating a giant euthanization chamber like we have for our food animals?

And as a final note, this kill zone is made possible with your grandkids tax dollars.