Pipelines Touted as Carbon Capture Solution Spark Uncertainty and Opposition

Pipelines Touted as Carbon Capture Solution Spark Uncertainty and Opposition

By Anna Mattson, Scientific American (Oct. 1, 2023)

But Bill Caram, executive director of Pipeline Safety Trust, says that any one rupture can have unacceptable consequences. “We have a goal of zero incidents. And I think that’s a shared goal among regulators and the industry,” Caram says. “We’re a long way away from that happening.”

One of the main problems, Caram says, is that there are no federal regulations from the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration about limiting impurities, even after the 2020 Satartia incident. “Operators can clean it up somewhat. They can dry it out and get the water out of there to a certain extent,” Caram says. “But there’s no regulation saying that the pipeline can’t have these impurities in it. It’s just kind of up to operators to do it.”