Biden can stop carbon pipelines

August marks the anniversary of President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, which is often touted as the most important action the federal government has ever taken to tackle the climate crisis. But the law relies on a massive gamble: carbon capture. Hungry to cash in on billions of dollars in federal tax credits, a trio of corporations are vying to ram thousands of miles of carbon capture pipelines through Iowa and the Midwest. If they are successful, millions of people will be put at serious risk.

Carbon capture pipelines are unsafe, unnecessary, and unwanted. Biden can stop this feeding frenzy.

Carbon pipelines are uniquely hazardous, and dangerously under regulated. A single incident triggered by something as small as water condensation could unzip a CO2 pipeline for miles, expelling shrapnel and gas in quantities capable of mass asphyxiation. Without setbacks for buildings like hospitals, homes and schools, the results could be disastrous.

After an infamous 2020 carbon pipeline rupture in Mississippi sent 45 people to the hospital and forced 200 to evacuate, an investigation by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) concluded that current safety rules are insufficient. PHMSA fined the pipeline operator nearly $3 million — the second largest sum in the agency’s history — and kicked off a rule-making to strengthen safety regulations.

Before those rules are in place, carbon pipeline profiteers are forcing Iowans to put their safety at risk for projects that will never live up to expectations. Time and time again, carbon capture has proved ineffective at actually reducing climate-warming emissions. But this hasn’t stopped the federal government from pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into private coffers. A 2020 federal investigation found that companies claimed nearly $1 billion in carbon capture tax credits for emissions reductions they may never have achieved. Instead of putting an end to these corporate boondoggles, the federal government is doubling down, raising the amount of money companies can get for the same phony tax credit by up to 70 percent.

We could see up to 65,000 miles of hazardous carbon capture pipelines across the country. Summit is sprinting fastest, hoping to wrap proceedings in Iowa by year’s end for their 2,000 mile pipeline proposal.

Private pipeline corporations are not in the business of keeping us safe — that responsibility lies with our elected officials. Earlier this year, the Iowa Legislature abdicated that authority. Despite overwhelming public support, legislation that would have all but stopped CO2 pipeline permitting by restricting eminent domain died in the Senate under the watch of lawmakers with close ties to Summit.

It’s time for the federal government to step in. The carbon capture gold rush starts and stops with President Biden. We are calling on Biden to issue a moratorium on all federal permits for carbon pipelines and related infrastructure until robust safety regulations are in place.

Jim Walsh is Policy Director at the national advocacy group Food & Water Watch. John Aspray is a Senior Iowa Organizer with Food & Water Watch, based in Des Moines.