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A used fuel barrel in the floodwaters of the Yazoo River in 2011. Heavy rains hit Yazoo County, Miss., again in February 2020, contributing to a carbon dioxide pipeline rupture that sent nearly 50 people to the hospital.Source: Mario Tama/Getty Images News via Getty Images
A 2020 industrial accident and a wave of new carbon dioxide pipeline proposals are causing a rethink of U.S. federal government safety standards.
The U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, or PHMSA, said May 26 that it would upgrade its CO2 pipeline safety standards with a new rulemaking. The agency, part of the Transportation Department, made the announcement after wrapping up its investigation of a February 2020 pipeline rupture in Mississippi that sent dozens of people to the hospital and forced hundreds to evacuate.
CO2 pipelines have been around for decades on a small scale, primarily in enhanced oil recovery, with about 5,000 miles of pipeline in the U.S. The infrastructure has come under renewed regulatory scrutiny due to a recent spate of carbon capture and storage projects driven by the Biden administration's expansion of 45Q tax credits. Many of the proposals involve piping liquified carbon dioxide from industrial facilities to...