Underground leak at the US CCS well could be a bad sign for northern Alberta

An 8,000-ton liquid carbon leak at the United States' first commercial underground carbon dioxide storage site is raising alarm bells for more than 100 other projects that may use similar materials.

The leak at a sequestration well operated by agricultural corporation Archer Daniels Midland beneath Lake Decatur in Illinois was likely caused by corrosion in the steel used to construct the storage well, Politico PRO reports. As a result, more than 150 environmental groups are calling for a pause in carbon sequestration activities, adds Politico's Power Switch newsletter, as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reevaluates more than 100 pending permit applications.

“The risks associated with carbon capture and storage … are too great to ignore,” the groups told the EPA in a letter this week calling for tougher oversight and permitting.

“The steel, 13 Chrome, has been used in oil and gas wells for decades, but appears to be susceptible to corrosion when exposed to the fluids in carbon storage wells,” explains PRO. “Using an alternative material would likely be more expensive and could delay many of the projects that the agricultural and energy industries want to undertake to access federal tax credits and combat the pollution that is driving climate change.”

While the review is ongoing, Power Switch says, the EPA is requiring companies to “either switch to a more corrosion-resistant material – which would likely be more expensive – or justify their use of 13 Chrome with rigorous engineering analysis specific to the site.” which isn’t cheap either.”

But local water resources and public health are at risk if CCS wells leak. “This is because pressurized CO2 stored underground can escape or power brine trapped in the salt reservoirs typically used for permanent storage,” Grist explains. “The leaks can lead to heavy metal contamination and potentially lower pH levels, all of which can make drinking water unsafe to drink. That’s what bothers critics of carbon capture, who fear it solves one problem by creating a new one.”

“Just because carbon sequestration can be done doesn't mean it should be done,” retired elementary school teacher Verlyn Rosenberger, 88, told the Decatur City Council in mid-October after tests revealed a second leak at the Lake Decatur plant had revealed. “At some point, pipes leak.”

Officials are in the dark

Jessie Stolark, executive director of the US Carbon Capture Coalition, told Politico that restricting CO2 injections into saline aquifers or suspending permit reviews would “penalize an industry that follows federal regulations.” She added that the fact that the initial leak was discovered and fixed “shows that the carbon storage regulatory system is working as intended.”

But Grist says ADM “kept local and state officials in the dark for months about the initial leak.” They discovered it back in March, five months after they discovered corrosion in the sequestration well's pipes.” Local stakeholders told Grist that The company also withheld the information during negotiations over government CCS regulations in April and May.

“Therefore, when Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker signed these CCS regulations at the ADM Decatur plant in July, he was unaware of the leak that had occurred more than 5,000 feet below his seat, his office confirmed.” In the end The public learned what was going on when Politico and E&E News covered the story in September.

“I thought we were negotiating in good faith with ADM,” the bill’s sponsor, State Senator Laura Fine (D), said in a statement. “When negotiating complex legislation, we expect openness and transparency from all parties to ensure we enact effective legislation.”

It's not clear whether disclosure was required by law, and the EPA said the two leaks “posed no threat to water sources,” Grist writes. “Nevertheless, they raise concerns about whether further leaks are likely, whether the public has a right to know when leaks occur, and whether CCS technology is truly a viable climate solution.”

“We’re ramming it down our throats.”

Politico says it's unclear how many of the pending CCS applications in the U.S. 13 use chrome steel, although industry experts say a large percentage of them likely do. And the same question could soon arise in northern Alberta, where representatives of the 3,000-member Cold Lake First Nations say the Pathways Alliance, the lobbying group that represents Canada's biggest oil sands producers, is failing to consult on its own huge plans CCS network.

“It just seems like they're shoving it down our throats,” boss Kelsey Jacko said at an industry conference last month. “We ask questions and they don’t get answered.”

Pathways had not yet applied for regulatory approval for its planned CCS complex, DeSmog wrote at the time. The plan was to transport captured CO2 from 20 different oil sands production facilities via a 400 kilometer network of pipelines to Cold Lake, where the waste product would be stored.

Despite the community's best efforts to find out more about the project, Economic Development Commissioner Heather Bishop said very little information was being offered. “We don’t know the full scope of the project,” she said at the time. “We only received an initial advice package last week. They made contact but did not receive any detailed information until last week.”

Pathways “has been running a national media campaign in recent months touting the Cold Lake project as an important part of oil producers’ plan to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050,” DeSmog writes. The ads are now being reviewed by the Federal Competition Bureau following a complaint from Greenpeace Canada, and Bishop told DeSmog that the community has asked the lobby group to stop the campaign.

“What you see in the media is about the level of detail we received up until last week,” she said.

Jacko told DeSmog that a total of eight tribal chiefs had expressed his views on the lack of information. “We stand united together; We raise the same concerns,” he said.

Pathways president Kendall Dilling told CBC that the companies consulted with 25 Indigenous communities across the project area in northeastern Alberta. But “Jacko said his community has been impacted before by extractive projects that have caused tailings pond problems and a decline in the caribou population in the area,” the national broadcaster writes. “He believes the carbon capture and storage project will be more of the same.”

“It's frustrating because the route is 400 kilometers long [leakage] could happen [along] the pipeline or it could happen directly at the memory [area]” he said.

“I want my children, my grandchildren and their children to have a nice and safe place to live,” agreed Cold Lake First Nations Councilor Jacinta Janvier. “I think people really need to think about what can happen and what the consequences are.”