On this day four years ago, February 22 2020, a pipeline carrying carbon dioxide ruptured. It turns out that Carbon Dioxide is Not Good For You…
It was just after 7 p.m. when residents of Satartia, Mississippi, started smelling rotten eggs. Then a greenish cloud rolled across Route 433 and settled into the valley surrounding the little town. Within minutes, people were inside the cloud, gasping for air, nauseated and dazed.
Some two dozen individuals were overcome within a few minutes, collapsing in their homes; at a fishing camp on the nearby Yazoo River; in their vehicles. Cars just shut off, since they need oxygen to burn fuel. Drivers scrambled out of their paralyzed vehicles, but were so disoriented that they just wandered around in the dark.
https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/gassing-satartia-mississippi-co2-pipeline_n_60ddea9fe4b0ddef8b0ddc8f
The context
Pipelines are everywhere, transporting things we rely on without even knowing about. It’s only when something goes wrong (and things always go wrong, eventually) that you notice. The broader context is that the CCS proponents are suggesting an INSANELY LARGE number of pipelines, built almost instantaneously. Yeah, that’s gonna happen…
What we learn
Normal accidents will happen. And we never learn, really, because that would require close and sustained attention of those with power…
What happened next
It oddly didn’t get a lot of global coverage. But it will if pipelines from capture sites (be they power plants or from “Direct Air Capture” start springing up…
What do you think? Does this pass the ‘so what?’ threshold? Have I got facts wrong? Interpretation wrong? Please do comment on this post, unless you are a denialist, obvs.
References
https://www.npr.org/2023/05/21/1172679786/carbon-capture-carbon-dioxide-pipeline
Also on this day:
Feb 22, 2000 – Japanese coal-burning to be dealt with by Australian trees?
February 22, 2013 – Idiotic “Damage” astroturf attempted by miners