{"id":332212,"date":"2024-06-09T10:37:24","date_gmt":"2024-06-09T08:37:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=332212"},"modified":"2024-06-09T10:37:27","modified_gmt":"2024-06-09T08:37:27","slug":"boondoggle-carbon-capture-projects-are-worse-than-a-public-nuisance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=332212","title":{"rendered":"Boondoggle: Carbon capture projects are worse than a public nuisance"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From CFACT<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Bonner Cohen, Ph. D.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The world of climate policy abounds with bad ideas \u2013 from force-feeding an increasingly reluctant driving public a steady diet of EVs, to regulating popular household appliances out of existence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But one of the worst is megaprojects aimed at sucking carbon dioxide (CO2) out of the air and burying it deep underground. These pricey monstrosities, we are told, are necessary if the planet is to be saved from the onslaught of manmade greenhouse gases. Known as \u201cdirect air capture,\u201d the unproven technology has attracted enough investor interest to finance decarbonization plants that are beginning to sprout up in the U.S. and elsewhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In southeastern Montana\u2019s Snowy River region, two strange bedfellows \u2013 the Biden administration and ExxonMobil \u2013 are proposing a giant carbon sequestration project on and underneath federal land. It would be supported by a vast \u201ccarbon capture\u201d network consisting of tens and thousands of miles of new pipelines and dozens of remote storage sites. The White House sees the scheme as advancing its decarbonization agenda, and ExxonMobil is eager to pocket what The Washington Post reports<\/a> could be as much as $12.7 billion in federal subsidies for participating in the project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the Snowy River project is running into fierce resistance from locals, led by ranchers and county officials, who don\u2019t want to see their part of the world used as a dumping ground for a technology they don\u2019t trust. A similar uproar in the Midwest proved the undoing of the Heartland Greenway. Also known as the CO2 pipeline, the Heartland Greenway was supposed to pump 15 million tons of carbon dioxide captured annually from emissions of ethanol plants via a 1200-mile pipeline traversing five states to an underground site in North Dakota. Such was the outcry among landowners, regulators, and elected officials along the path of the pipeline that the developer, Navigator CO2, abandoned the project last October.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Louisiana has over 20 carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) projects in various stages of planning and development, most of them in the southeastern part of the state. Yet even in a state as historically friendly to the oil and gas industry as Louisiana, the projects are encountering stiff headwinds from residents concerned about the impact of injecting massive amounts of CO2 into ground overladen with bayous<\/a>. In Iceland, Swiss start-up Climeworks recently opened the world\u2019s biggest direct air capture facility, dubbed \u201cMammoth,\u201d designed to remove 36,000 tons of CO2 from the air each year. After Climeworks captures the CO2, and has it pumped deep underground, it sells offsets based on the captured CO2<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But global carbon offset markets have become so dodgy that the Biden administration found it necessary to issue a set of voluntary guidelines to restore trust in the transactions. Released May 28, the new guidelines will \u201cadvance high-integrity\u201d voluntary carbon markets, the White House said in a fact sheet<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carbon offsets are an artificial commodity \u2013 completely unrelated to the climate or any other tangible asset. They are an open invitation to fraud, because it is impossible to say what effect buying or selling them will have on the climate. As even the Biden administration acknowledges: \u201cIn too many instances, credits do not live up to the high standards necessary for market participants to transact transparently and with certainty that credit purchases will deliver verifiable decarbonization.\u201d A nine-month investigation in Europe into Verra, the world\u2019s leading certifier of the voluntary carbon offset market, concluded last year that \u201cmore than 90% of their rainforest offset credits \u2013 among the most used by companies \u2013 are likely to be \u2018phantom credits\u2019 and do not represent genuine carbon reduction.\u201d Companies using the Verra standard included<\/a> Disney, Shell, and Gucci.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Corporate interest in the $2 billion carbon offset market has sagged in recent years, and it is not clear that the White House\u2019s guidelines, including such things as voluntary disclosures by market participants, will improve matters. But carbon offsets and direct air capture and sequestration of CO2 fit neatly into the prevailing narrative that rising atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide are dangerously warming the plant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But are they? Atmospheric levels of CO2 began rising in the mid-20th century, but the slight warming the Earth is undergoing dates from the late 17th century. In other words, the planet\u2019s slow rebound from the Little Ice Age (ca. 1250-1800) cannot have been caused by something that happened after World War II. Moreover, today\u2019s higher levels of atmospheric CO2 \u2013 about 420 parts per million (ppm) compared with roughly 250 ppm in the Little Ice Age \u2013 are highly beneficial to plant life and essential to growing crops needed to feed the world\u2019s 8 billion people<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some entities \u2013 whether selling carbon offsets, providing software platforms to facilitate carbon market transactions, or pocketing taxpayer subsidies for carbon capture and sequestration \u2013 can make money on the scheme the White House is trying to rescue. But the price paid by ordinary people for solving a non-existent climate crisis is incalculable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article originally appeared at Real Clear Energy<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The world of climate policy abounds with bad ideas \u2013 from force-feeding an increasingly reluctant driving public a steady diet of EVs, to regulating popular household appliances out of existence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":332216,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691827130,691819556,691819173,691821977],"class_list":{"0":"post-332212","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-carbon-dioxide-co2","9":"tag-ccs-technology","10":"tag-decarbonization","11":"tag-electric-vehicles-evs","13":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/0post-apocalyptic-ruined-city-destroyed-buildings-burnt-out-vehicles-and-ruined-roads-ai-generative-free-photo.jpg?fit=3497%2C1960&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1oqg","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":230618,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=230618","url_meta":{"origin":332212,"position":0},"title":"Big Brother Is Nudging You","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"23\/11\/2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Don\u2019t be a\u00a0pushover","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/0pexels-photo-3671145.webp?fit=1200%2C799&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/0pexels-photo-3671145.webp?fit=1200%2C799&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/0pexels-photo-3671145.webp?fit=1200%2C799&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/0pexels-photo-3671145.webp?fit=1200%2C799&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/0pexels-photo-3671145.webp?fit=1200%2C799&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":226269,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=226269","url_meta":{"origin":332212,"position":1},"title":"Climate policies vs. nature","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"29\/10\/2022","format":false,"excerpt":"\"Green policy\" can be destructive to green things.","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/image-1343.png?fit=871%2C550&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/image-1343.png?fit=871%2C550&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/image-1343.png?fit=871%2C550&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/image-1343.png?fit=871%2C550&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":332835,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=332835","url_meta":{"origin":332212,"position":2},"title":"The EV Tax Credit Is a Climate Lemon","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"14\/06\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"The Inflation Reduction Act\u2019s consumer tax credit for electric vehicles (EVs) is a fiscal blowout and a gift to Chinese mineral companies. If that isn\u2019t bad enough, it also swindles American taxpayers into paying up to $821 per ton of avoided emissions, which is several multiples above the Biden Administration\u2019s\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Biden Administration\"","block_context":{"text":"Biden Administration","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=biden-administration"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/0BidenFord3-MAIN.webp?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/0BidenFord3-MAIN.webp?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/0BidenFord3-MAIN.webp?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/0BidenFord3-MAIN.webp?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/0BidenFord3-MAIN.webp?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":318488,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=318488","url_meta":{"origin":332212,"position":3},"title":"Calling the Greens bluff? EV Sales fall 30% in Germany and Minister threatens to ban cars on weekends","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"17\/04\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Right when they are meant to be growing by double digits German EV car sales are down an astonishing 30% compared to a year ago. Their market share is actually shrinking. EV\u2019s are not much good at reducing carbon dioxide over their lifetime but they are very useful for pretending\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"ban cars on weekends\"","block_context":{"text":"ban cars on weekends","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=ban-cars-on-weekends"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/0-Fahrverbot-1973.jpeg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/0-Fahrverbot-1973.jpeg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/0-Fahrverbot-1973.jpeg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/0-Fahrverbot-1973.jpeg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/0-Fahrverbot-1973.jpeg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":325720,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=325720","url_meta":{"origin":332212,"position":4},"title":"Conrad Black: Washing away the Climate Lunatics","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"03\/05\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"The recent piece by Conrad Black titled\u00a0\u201cWashing away the climate lunatics: Canada at risk of turning into Europe\u201d\u00a0offers a poignant commentary on the current state and potential pitfalls of climate change policies, especially those aimed at achieving net zero carbon emissions.","rel":"","context":"In \"Canada\"","block_context":{"text":"Canada","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=canada"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/0Canada-Banner-C2.jpg?fit=1200%2C728&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/0Canada-Banner-C2.jpg?fit=1200%2C728&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/0Canada-Banner-C2.jpg?fit=1200%2C728&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/0Canada-Banner-C2.jpg?fit=1200%2C728&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/0Canada-Banner-C2.jpg?fit=1200%2C728&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":325123,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=325123","url_meta":{"origin":332212,"position":5},"title":"Biden subsidizes Carmageddon","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"01\/05\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"The Biden administration is pushing extremely costly policies that encourage the adoption of Low Carbon Fuel Standards and force the production of electric vehicles under the guise of reducing carbon emissions. However, these measures would have a very small impact on emissions. Rather than improving the capabilities and efficiency of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"CO2\"","block_context":{"text":"CO2","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=co2"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/image-9.png?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/image-9.png?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/image-9.png?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/image-9.png?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332212","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/121246920"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=332212"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332212\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":332217,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332212\/revisions\/332217"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/332216"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=332212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=332212"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=332212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}