US Carbon Storage Boom Sparks Resident Backlash as $85-a-Ton Subsidies Drive Permit Wave
Updated
Updated · The Guardian · Jul 12
US Carbon Storage Boom Sparks Resident Backlash as $85-a-Ton Subsidies Drive Permit Wave
1 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Jul 12
Summary
Dozens of US carbon storage projects nearing approval are drawing organized resistance from residents who fear groundwater contamination, leaks and further industrialization of already burdened communities.
An $85-per-ton federal tax credit has fueled what analysts call a carbon-capture gold rush, with even a 200,000-ton project able to earn about $17 million a year and some ethanol plants potentially doubling earnings.
In Clymers, Indiana, Andersons Renewables wants to inject captured CO2 more than 3,000 feet underground beneath farmland, while some landowners say they were offered as little as $150 a year or $150 an acre to accept it.
The company says the technology is safe and heavily monitored, but opponents cite a 2024 Illinois leak at a commercial CCS site and a 2020 Mississippi CO2 pipeline rupture that hospitalized 45 people and forced 200 evacuations.
Climate monitors say carbon capture can help curb warming only alongside deep fossil-fuel cuts, while critics argue the subsidies mainly enrich oil and ethanol interests and could delay investment in cleaner energy.