Thursday, November 08, 2007

Deadly CO2 Dumping in Natchez

Imagine my shock as I read an article from the Austin (TX) Statesman that said:

"A 10-year, $38 million project to study the feasibility of storing carbon dioxide underground to combat global warming has been awarded to the University of Texas. The university's Bureau of Economic Geology will inject carbon dioxide into brine formations deep underground about 15 miles east of Natchez, Miss. It's thought that sequestering major greenhouse gases emitted by power plants and other sources could reduce atmospheric emissions that contribute to global warming. "

Does anyone know anything about this? Why is Texas sending its CO2 to us? Who gave them permission to do this? Why haven't we been told? What is going on here?

This is scary! CO2 is deadly. Once it's been buried, it will have to be monitored constantly because it might leak out and kill a few thousand people - like you and me. And it has to be monitored for thousands of years - so maybe it will kill our children and grandchildren.

A recent (2006) study published in Geology (a journal of the Geological Society of America) showed that the mixture of CO2 and brine dissolves minerals in the rock walls that could lead to pathways in the rock through which the gas could escape. The researchers also note the potential for the mobilization of toxic trace metals and toxic organic compounds. This does not sound good!

UPDATE: An article about this project appears in the Democrat. I am also gathering more information.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

How did this happen? Why don't we know? Are you kidding? Of course we don't know because "they" don't want us to know. I suggest you find out who owns the land; that will be the beginning of the trail to truth. Whomever, you can be assurred they'll make a killing off it and they don't give a rats-ass what happens after that.

Anonymous said...

Isn't this similar to what Rentech will be doing? They plan on capturing the C02 and use it underground for oil exploration. No one seems to be worried about the environmental effects of Rentech so I would assume all of you would be happy with this recent venture--maybe it'll bring money and a few jobs to Natchez, ya'll.

Anonymous said...

"5:09", that's not the point. If there are hazardous health concerns then it doesn't matter how much money, "a few jobs", is involved, right? Sounds like the risk far outweighs the benefit of "a few jobs". Don't know about Rentech using CO2 but if so we needed to know. Are we really a 3d world county eager to take the crumbs of industry? At the risk of our welfare, that of future generations?

Anonymous said...

Hey Chicken Little...the sky isn't falling. This is not an issue to be concerned with. CO2 is used in many processes. There are tank trucks running up and down the highways everyday delivering CO2 to beverage production facilities. They'll use 50 times more of CO2 each day making Coca Cola than pumping it into the ground. When was the last time you were 6,000 feet underground near Natchez?

Anonymous said...

I'm sure a UNIVERSITY project is loaded with phd(s). Surely THEY know what they're doing.

Anonymous said...

Not to be annoying, 5:09, but "y'all" is a contraction for "you all," so the apostrophe is after the "y", not the "a". I've seen this before in the blog and just thought i'd point it out.