An estimated 2,548 barrels of carbon dioxide leaked from an Exxon pipeline in Louisiana on 3 April, triggering alarm among residents
By Nina Lakhani in Sulphur, Louisiana, The Guardian, Apr 2024 06.00 EDT
A major leak of CO2 from an ExxonMobil pipeline in Louisiana exposes dangerous safety gaps that should halt the planned multibillion-dollar carbon capture industry, environmental advocates say.
An estimated 2,548 barrels of carbon dioxide (CO2) leaked from the Exxon pipeline in Sulphur in Calcasieu parish on 3 April, triggering an emergency response and alarm among residents who live close to scores of polluting pipelines, petrochemical and fossil fuel facilities.
It took more than two hours to fix the leak, which is “unacceptable”, according to Kenneth Clarkson from the Pipeline Safety Trust non-profit.
“Any release of this size of carbon dioxide should be taken seriously, especially given the proximity to homes in Sulphur … The operator should have promptly known about the leak from the pressure loss and quickly closed the valves and, as reported, they failed to do that,” said Clarkson.
“There are dangerous gaps in the federal regulations that we hope will be addressed.”
CO2 – a greenhouse gas released by burning fossil fuels – is an asphyxiant and intoxicant, which in large quantities can cause injury or death by replacing oxygen in the air. Potent clouds of CO2 can hang in the air for hours, depending on the weather conditions.
About 5,000 miles of CO2 pipelines are currently operating in the US, which are predominantly for transporting the gas to oilfields where it is used to extract hard-to-reach oil – a process known as enhanced oil recovery. The pipeline running through Sulphur is part of a network stretching more than 900 miles through Louisiana, Texas and Mississippi, which ExxonMobile acquired from Denbury last year.
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