Today, environmental justice and climate groups met with California’s Office of the State Fire Marshal’s (OSFM) Pipeline Safety Advisory Committee (PSAC) to discuss OSFM’s proposed draft regulations on carbon dioxide (CO2) pipelines and call on regulators to include vital public safety measures in its regulations. 

The OSFM has been working to establish new pipeline safety regulations after the moratorium on CO2 pipelines was lifted last year. 

“Thursday’s Pipeline Safety Advisory Committee meeting is a critical opportunity for the communities we represent to have their voices heard in a process that will determine whether CO2 pipelines can be built near their homes, schools, and farms,” said Ileana Navarro, Policy Associate for the Central California Environmental Justice Network. “We cannot afford regulations that treat our communities as acceptable sacrifice zones for carbon capture infrastructure. We are calling on the Committee to make sure the Office of the State Fire Marshal develops safety standards that will protect the communities that will be most impacted. This means higher design standards near sensitive receptors, clear risk thresholds, and meaningful community notification requirements.”

In advance of the meeting, groups sent a number of letters to the OSFM outlining the need for strong regulations and emergency preparedness measures to protect surrounding communities, many of which are already burdened by pollution. Groups also highlighted the potential impacts of CO2 pipelines on water and public health. 

“Now that California has lifted its moratorium on dangerous CO2 pipelines, the least that regulators can do is make sure there are robust safety measures in place to protect Californians,” said Food & Water Watch Northern California Organizer Isabel Penman. “We urge the OSFM to make the necessary changes our groups have called for.”

The OSFM is required to adopt final regulations by July 1, 2026.