Washington, D.C. — Today, more than 120 organizations representing public‐interest, landowner, Indigenous, and environmental justice advocates opposed to dangerous carbon dioxide (CO2) pipelines sent a letter to Senate Commerce Committee Chair Ted Cruz and Ranking Member Maria Cantwell urging them to adopt commonsense safety measures that protect communities from the numerous harms of this carbon capture infrastructure. The Commerce Committee will take up the PIPES Act of 2025 — the reauthorization of federal pipeline safety standards — on Wednesday.

The letter, facilitated by the national environmental group Food & Water Watch, highlights the legislation’s current lack of evidence-based CO2 pipeline safety measures required to protect communities from pipeline ruptures and mass poisoning events. A House Committee passed the PIPES Act without inadequate carbon capture pipeline safety requirements last month.

“As it stands, the PIPES Act enables dangerous CO2 pipeline buildout near hospitals, schools and homes, while allowing companies to keep vital safety information secret from first responders. The Senate Commerce Committee must change course and commit to protect communities from dangerous and unnecessary carbon capture pipelines,” said Jim Walsh, Policy Director with Food & Water Watch. “Without adequate oversight, millions of Americans will be placed in harm’s way. There are common-sense solutions to this threat and the Senate must now prioritize them.”

Recommendations the signatories are asking the Senate to consider include:

• Enact several common-sense safety standards that will prevent ruptures and help reduce harms to communities if/when ruptures happen;
• Require operators and developers to disclose emergency-response information to state and local first responders; route permitting agencies; and the public, including plume dispersion maps, to allow rigorous state, local, and private emergency response planning and route selection;

• Require CO2 pipeline companies to fund local emergency response planning and preparedness including training, drills, equipment, personal protective equipment, and real-time public alert systems;

• Ensure states and local governments maintain authority for CO2 pipeline facilities that will allow pipelines to be routed away from hospitals, schools, homes and other population centers and sensitive areas.

“People who live near proposed CO₂ routes are already carrying more than their share of industrial risk. When a CO₂ line ruptured in Satartia, Mississippi, over 200 residents were evacuated and at least 45 were hospitalized as oxygen vanished and cars stalled. That cannot be our baseline” said Dr. Alexa White, the Think 100% Climate and Environmental Justice Policy Director with Hip Hop Caucus. “The Senate must require public plume maps, real funding for local responders, tighter valve spacing, modern leak detection, limits on corrosive contaminants, and multilingual emergency alerts. Communities deserve the right to plan, to be warned, and to be safe. The Hip Hop Caucus is ready to work with Congress on a bill that puts families first, not pipeline shortcuts.”

“We have allowed the industry to write the rules around pipeline safety long enough. It’s time for Congress to enact meaningful protections for all stakeholders, not just pipeline companies. Now is the opportunity for members of Congress to serve their constituents by incorporating commonsense measures like emergency response preparedness and public risk transparency, not more toothless policies that do nothing but protect the pipeline industry from accountability,” said Emma Schmit, Organizing Director at Bold Alliance.

“As we’ve experienced in Satartia, MS and Decatur, IL, pipeline companies are continually failing to prevent leaks and incidents for CO2. And the failure of state and local governments to monitor safety and enforce regulations erodes public trust,” said John Beard, Jr. CEO of Port Author Collective Action Network. “It is my hope that the Senate takes into consideration not just the billions of dollars in profit from these projects, but also the billions of dollars in health costs and lives saved in the Gulf South and the nation if they do not have to face impacts from pipelines.”

“CO2 pipeline accidents happen virtually every year, but most CO2 pipelines in the U.S. are currently routed through remote, unpopulated areas. In Illinois, all three proposed CO2 pipelines were routed so close to occupied buildings that a rupture could have caused a 50% fatality rate within 10 minutes for occupants of churches, businesses, rural residences, housing subdivisions, an animal shelter, a federal prison, and even an elementary school. No first responder could have possibly reached people in time,” said Pam Richart, Eco-Justice Collaborative.

Groups have been sounding the alarm on CO2 pipeline safety for months. Today’s letter delivery follows one sent to the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee in September and one to Congressional leadership in May.