Fairfield – Today, Communities Against Carbon Transport & Injection (CACTI), officially launched to protect the Bay Area from the Montezuma Carbon Hub, 45-mile carbon dioxide pipeline and waste injection well that could transport CO2 from sources such as power plants and refineries via pipelines through the Bay Area – including underwater pipelines – and ultimately inject it underground near the Suisun Marsh. 

It would be the first carbon capture and storage project in the Bay Area and presents a clear risk to the health and safety of the surrounding communities and wildlife. 

CACTI – a coalition of community members, climate organizations and health advocates – rallied outside of the Solano County Supervisors building to demand that the Board of Supervisors reject any attempts to build this dangerous pipeline infrastructure. The group also aims to warn Californians of the harms of CO2 pipelines and carbon dumping projects. 

“I have lived in Benicia for 40 years,” said Benicia resident and 350 Bay Area Action member, Kathy Kerridge. “I raised my family in Benicia and my daughter, and her family also live here. They live by the refinery fenceline. The proposed Montezuma carbon dumping project could have a profoundly negative impact on our area.”

The potential health risks from this proposed project could be severe. When compressed CO2 leaks, it stays low and spreads quickly as a dense, white fog and can lead to asphyxiation, seizures, loss of consciousness, and potentially death. Further, transporting CO2 in pipelines and injecting it underground is inherently risky because CO2 reacts with trace amounts of moisture to form an acid that can corrode pipelines and put any nearby drinking water sources at serious risk. 

“Putting CO2 pipelines in our communities puts us at major risk of potential CO2 leaks,” said Bonnie Hamilton MD, San Francisco Bay Physicians for Social Responsibility, and 30 year resident of Solano County. “Pipeline ruptures could release massive amounts of hazardous concentrated CO2 into our air. This could literally suffocate people, stall cars and block emergency responders. That’s why we are launching this campaign, to warn Californians of the dangers of these pipelines.”

“This is not the time, nor the place to take such risks for so little benefit except to the oil refineries and access to federal money. This is too risky with too many unknowns. The risks are not justified,” said Elizabeth Patterson, Mayor of Benicia 2007-2020. 

Additionally, these carbon dumping projects are an expensive lifeline for the fossil fuel industry – at the cost of taxpayers who are subsidizing these projects and the people that are already living near fossil fuel infrastructure. 

“We are beyond the point where we can afford to waste time and money investing in false climate solutions, especially ones like carbon capture and storage which will make communities and wildlife pay the price when pipelines leak or explode,” said Aundi Mevoli, Staff Scientist and Field Investigator, San Francisco Baykeeper.

“Carbon capture and storage is basically throwing a tarp over an oil rig,” said Victoria Bogdan Tejeda, an attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity’s Climate Law Institute. “These projects don’t work, use large amounts of energy, and line the pockets of corporate polluters. Most captured carbon is used to pump more climate-killing oil out of the ground. The science is clear that instead of these dangerous distractions, we need to focus on the transition to renewable energy and proven climate solutions.”

The risk to these community members could become even more real as two bills that would create a pathway to lift California’s current moratorium on CO2 pipelines are expected to pass through the California legislature this month. 

“California is poised to lose one of the best ways of protecting ourselves from the harms of CO2 pipelines and carbon dumping projects,” said Food & Water Watch Northern California Organizer Isabel Penman. “That’s why it’s so powerful to see these community members coming together today to demand that our state leaders do better. We deserve a thriving, sustainable economy and climate that doesn’t rely on pollution and extraction.”