California recently approved a project that seems like it will protect the environment. But conservation groups and the community have major concerns about the methods. A coalition of those groups filed a lawsuit against Kern County in November for approving the California Resources Corporation's Carbon TerraVault I, the Center for Biological Diversity reported.
What's happening?
Carbon TerraVault I is a carbon capture and storage project, meaning it promises to extract carbon air pollution from an industrial facility and try to trap it long-term. In this case, the plan is to use high-pressure injection wells to pump the pollution underground in the Elk Hills oil and gas field near Bakersfield.
The project was proposed and would be executed by CRC, the state's largest oil and gas supplier, the Center for Biological Diversity explained. It would add new CCS equipment to the existing methane gas processing plant and power plant on site, plus 11 miles of pipelines to transport the captured air pollution. Not only would CRC store its own pollution there, but it would also build other industrial facilities that could send carbon air pollution underground.
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Why is this CCS facility important?
Conservationists have several objections to the way this project is being handled. First, the point of CCS is to reduce pollution, a mission that would be undermined by building a suite of polluting facilities just to take advantage of the site's storage.
Second, it's unclear that the facility can actually store carbon pollution safely; the many existing oil and gas wells in the field could produce dangerous carbon leaks.
"Kern County has bought into the misleading claim that this project will reduce climate impacts, opening the door to significant federal and state financial subsidies for CCS," said Michelle Ghafar, an attorney with Earthjustice, per the Center for Biological Diversity. "This is exactly the type of 'wolf in sheep's clothing' diversion by the oil and gas industry that Californians must oppose if we want to make real climate progress. We must invest in renewable energy, not false solutions hawked by the source of the problem."
What's being done about the project?
Concerned citizens and environmental groups have come together to file suit against Kern County for the decision to approve this project under the California Environmental Quality Act, citing environmental, public health, and safety concerns.
"Every day, Kern communities are forced to face the effects of being one of the most polluted regions in the country," said Diana Mireles, the president of Comité Progreso de Lamont, per the Center for Biological Diversity. "We deserve better than a government that only answers to the oil industry. We won't accept this; so, we're fighting back."
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