After experience the thumbs up from regulator , California is set to build its first carbon seizure flora with a undertaking that aims to suck up CO2and inject it deeply underground where it ca n’t tamper with Earth ’s climate .
Last week , the Kern County Board of Supervisors approved a permit for the California Resources Corp ( CRC ) to construct a atomic number 6 gaining control and storage facility at the Elk Hills Oil Field in the San Joaquin Valley , California .
The plan is to effectively captureCO2emitted from industrial sources and pump it into the exhaust oil reservoirs found deeply beneath Kern County . With the aim of making Elk Hills Field “ one of the prime minister CO2sequestration web site in the US , ” the CRC estimates it will be capable of receiving over 1 million tonnes of CO2each year , tantamount to the annual emissions of around 200,000 cars .
In total , it has the electric potential to store up to 46 million metric ton of CO2 .
“ This is a significant step forward for Kern County and CRC in supporting free energy transition in California . We consider that carbon copy capture engineering science will lead to the creation of new vigor job and improve air tone in Kern County , ” Francisco Leon , President and Chief Executive Officer of CRC , read in astatement .
Californiahas set the destination of being carbon neutral by 2045 – although that does n’t mean they ’ll bar pumping oil . Along with transitioning some component of energy production to renewables , part of the state ’s plans will usecarbon captureand depot to offset the use of fossil fuel .
Carbon gaining control is a contentious topic . Itsadvocates claimit could be a utile instrument to wean the world off from fossil oil and gas , plus it might be the only realistic means to achievenet - zero emissionsin a few decades . Meanwhile , critic arguethat it ’s unproved , dangerous , dear , and ultimately allows the fossil fuel industriousness to carry on unexplainable .
yield the risk of infection , some local groups in Kern Country have found opposition to the new labor . As report byInside Climate News and KVPR , nearby towns have extract fright that the atomic number 6 could leak to the surface where it would act as an asphyxiant gas . what is more , some geophysicist have also raised concerns that the injectant of gas into basic principle could even induce seism through “ induce seismicity . ”
“ Kern must prioritize other verbatim emission reduction strategies instead of CCS [ carbon capture and computer memory ] . It ’s an unproven gamble with a retentive chronicle of exasperate air befoulment and menace public wellness and refuge , " Natalia Ospina , legal manager for the Center on Race , Poverty , & the Environment , toldthe Los Angeles Times .
" Overburdened communities in Kern County should not be the guinea pigs for this technology , ” enounce Ospina .
For their part , the CRC told the media electric outlet that the Kern County Planning and Natural Resources Department has compose an broad report to assess all the potential risks involved . They also claim that the applied science , although novel to California , has been safely operated in other function of the world for X .
