Despite Expectations Of 10-Fold Increase In Mileage, Shitstain Rolls Back CO2 Pipeline Rules Because "Carbon Capture"
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Jack Willingham, director of emergency management services for Yazoo County, Mississippi, and his crew were “completely dumbfounded” when they got the first call about a green fog rolling in around the village of Satartia in February 2020. The responders acted quickly to evacuate more than 250 people — but at the time, they didn’t have the training or equipment necessary to respond to a carbon dioxide pipeline rupture. That’s because Denbury, a Texas-based company operating oil and gas pipelines across the Gulf Coast and Western United States and now owned by Exxon, had failed to communicate with the department about the carbon dioxide pipeline running through their area, notify them of its leak earlier that evening, or provide guidance on how to respond to or treat victims of the poisoning once the incident happened.
An investigation of the rupture by federal pipeline regulators found that Denbury also failed to address risks that could cause an accident while building and operating the pipeline, which was used for enhanced oil recovery. That included neglecting to adequately model the potential dispersion of gas to account for the village of Satartia, operating the pipeline at a greater pressure level than necessary, and failing to prepare for the increased rainfall and landslide that ultimately weakened the pipeline’s structure. In 2023, regulators finalized a $2.9 million penalty, originally assessed at $3.9 million, on Denbury for its negligence — the second-largest fine in the agency’s history. “My biggest question for [Denbury] was, why did we have to contact you?” Willingham said. “The pipeline operators had a history of ‘the less they say, the better.’ And that’s where I went and said, ‘That’s not going to work.’”
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Last year, the nonprofit watchdog Oil and Gas Watch reported that carbon dioxide pipelines owned by Denbury — which operates more than 1,100 miles of carbon dioxide pipelines in the Rocky Mountains and the Gulf Coast — are more likely to leak than any other company’s pipelines. Exxon acquired Denbury in November 2023 as part of its plans to expand its carbon capture projects across the country. Exxon says its carbon capture storage and pipelines are “well-regulated and designed to minimize risk.” The company recently expanded its pipeline safety training program to cover carbon dioxide pipelines and said first responders from Yazoo County attended a training last spring.
Yet when Exxon’s (formerly Denbury-owned) carbon dioxide pipeline leaked in Sulphur, Louisiana last year, no pipeline operators were on site and the camera monitoring the facility was not working. Nearly two hours passed before an operator arrived on scene and fixed the leak. Many residents were not notified of the leak at all, and others — whose cars would have shut down if they tried to evacuate — were told to shelter in place.
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https://www.levernews.com/trump-removes-zombie-pipeline-safety-rules/