Carbon management plans start to take shape

Jan. 21—Almost four years have passed since John Hofmeister, the late Shell U.S. president, told Kern County oilmen they should "learn how to make hot dogs."

Just as meatpackers market waste — ears, snouts — so, Hofmeister said, should oil producers. That is, build industrial plants to turn carbon dioxide emissions into liquids that can then be buried.

"Yes, the climate is changing, and yes, it's the CO2 in the atmosphere," he said at the 2019 West Kern Petroleum Summit at Taft College. "So, get rid of the CO2 in the atmosphere."

Kern still hasn't produced its first hot dog, but progress is accelerating with the active assistance of local, state and federal government.

Two big steps were taken last week. County government unveiled its plan for a carbon management business park, and the state began soliciting public comments for new safety standards governing carbon dioxide pipelines.

Neither event yielded surprises beyond perhaps the depth or breadth of information put forward. The county listed key details in advance of a mountain of analysis to come, and California's Natural Resources Agency elicited input from an array of groups that immediately staked out opposing positions.

One takeaway was that Kern is well-positioned to become one of four national hubs the Biden administration will designate for capturing and burying carbon dioxide. Or not.

Industry and government leaders emphasize the climate and economic benefits of removing greenhouse gas from the atmosphere, especially in a place like Kern with ideal geological storage conditions, a ready workforce and willing investment. The concept has been embraced by federal scientists looking to California's goal of carbon neutrality by 2045.

Environmental justice groups counter that profound study is needed before proper regulations can be created to protect vulnerable communities from a tragic release of potentially suffocating, vehicle-stalling CO2.

To a point, their concern is shared by Lorelei Oviatt, director of Kern's Planning and Natural Resources Department. She said so Thursday during the state's listening session on upcoming carbon dioxide pipeline standards required by last year's Senate Bill 905.

"We should work to keep (CO2 pipelines) as far away from houses as possible," Oviatt said. She added, "I don't believe that we need to delay this, however."

One day prior, she led Kern County's online public workshop on the carbon park concept, developed with the help of a technical grant last year from the U.S. Department of Education.

Her presentation opened with an update that county staff are now processing three proposals that would capture and store 17 million tons of CO2 in existing oil field areas within Kern.

The county has its own sight set on a business park, or multiple parks, covering an area 4 miles long by more than 2 1/2 miles wide, not including up to 30,000 acres of photovoltaic solar panels to generate 4 gigawatts of power.

According to Wednesday's presentation, 600 acres would be set aside for green hydrogen production, 600 for biomass carbon removal and storage, 600 for a steel micro mill, 500 for so-called solid direct-air capture, 400 for liquid DAC and 500 for a research and development incubator. There could also be water treatment and energy projects such as heat batteries and grid storage.

Carbon dioxide would not be injected at the site but would be transported by truck, rail or pipeline to a separate site for permanent sequestration. The whole thing would be located in an area far from residences but near employment centers: somewhere in western Kern.

The presentation outlined a hypothetical business case for a project burying 2 million tons per year of carbon dioxide, the equivalent of taking 390,000 gasoline-fueled cars off the road.

Modeling has determined doing so would create 1,400 construction jobs and 100 to 400 permanent jobs. Liquid DAC would consume water, but solid DAC would actually produce between 1,300 and 3,300 acre-feet of water per year.

The price in the hypothetical case was estimated at between $1.3 billion and $2.5 billion. Ultimately, the analysis concluded, such a project would cost $60 to $200 per ton of CO2 buried.

Potential revenue was considerably greater: The county presentation said 2021's federal Inflation Reduction Act set the federal rebate for CO2 underground storage at between $50 and $180 per ton. To that California would add Low Carbon Fuel Standard credits that in the third quarter of 2021 averaged $185 per ton. The county noted private companies have paid up to $1,000 per ton.

A presentation on the business park concept is expected to go before the county Board of Supervisors in May. Comments are being accepted at the email address KernCMBP@kerncounty.com.

On Thursday, the first of two listening sessions hosted by the state Natural Resources Agency came off like a debate, with labor groups joining the oil industry to support carbon capture and sequestration, and environmental justice groups speaking out against it.

California's deputy energy secretary, Le-Quyen Nguyen, kicked things off by saying SB 905 calls for a statutory framework for the design, operation, siting and maintenance of pipelines carrying carbon dioxide fluids. Comments are being accepted by email at outreach@resources.ca.gov.

Staff attorney Josh Cleaver with Cal Fire listed potential impacts to examine in case of pipeline fractures leading to CO2 releases. There will have to be odorization of the gas, leak detection, emergency response training, corrosion prevention, seismic allowances and shutdown authority, he said, as well as a look at potential liquid contaminants and the potential for converting existing pipelines for use in transporting CO2.

Oil industry representatives said pipelines will be critical to meeting the state's climate goals, and that California is well-suited to pioneer safe new technologies. Delaying the process risks putting California further behind competing states and missing an opportunity for federal financial support.

Executive Secretary Chris Hannan at the Los Angeles/Orange Counties Building and Construction Trades Council was among several labor representatives saying the state should build a regulatory framework to help the state and federal governments meet their environmental goals — while putting qualified people to work.

"We need it," he said. "We can do it safely."

Skeptics, mostly from environmental justice groups, pointed to past accidents, including a natural release of carbon dioxide at a lake in Cameroon that killed 1,746 people in 1986.

Staff attorney Dan Ress at the Center on Race, Poverty & the Environment played a video of a large, uncontrolled release of CO2 in which the gas spread fast and low to the ground like a sudden fog. Ress and other environmental justice representatives said further study must be done to ensure the safety of surrounding communities, and that the residents themselves must be involved in the rulemaking.

Cesar Aguirre, a community organizer with the Central California Environmental Justice Network, said during Thursday's session he was worried by recent state enforcement problems and by health and safety policy positions taken previously by organizations in favor of state permitting of CO2 pipelines.

"Seeing the type of people that support this," he said, "I would like for more investigation to be done on this."