Estimated 2,548 barrels of carbon dioxide leaked from Exxon pipeline in Louisiana on 3 April, triggering alarm among residents

Estimated 2,548 barrels of carbon dioxide leaked from Exxon pipeline in Louisiana on 3 April, triggering alarm among residents

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 in close proximity 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.

  • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
    9·
    7 months ago

    They’re trying to build a carbon capture plant here in Terre Haute, Indiana.

    That article talks about people worrying about things like this.

    What it doesn’t talk about is that Terre Haute is inside the New Madrid Seismic Zone. You don’t think of earthquakes in Indiana, but they do happen from time to time and there was one in the 19th century that would have potentially killed thousands of people if it had happened today. An earthquake could easily release all the captured carbon.

  • Justin@lemmy.jlh.nameEnglish
    7·
    7 months ago

    Natural gas pipelines cause much worse accidents, but they go unreported because people don’t realise ch4 is 25x more potent of a greenhouse gas than co2.

    Natural gas literally causes more global warming through gas leaks than it does via combustion.