Yesterday, after a rushed comment period, California’s Office of the State Fire Marshal (OSFM) finalized the state’s new CO2 pipeline regulations. The OSFM was tasked with crafting these regulations after the California legislature prematurely lifted the state’s moratorium on CO2 pipelines last fall, greenlighting CO2 pipelines and carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects across the state. 

The regulations fail to include vital protections that communities and experts have been asking for, including: 

• A requirement that operators supply recommended safety equipment, like CO2 monitors and air supply respirators, to nearby communities.
• A centralized public portal where the public can access pipeline locations, emergency planning zone maps, inspection records, and incident reports.
• Higher design standards for pipelines near sensitive receptors or waterways.
• A requirement that CO2 leak modeling analysis be made publicly available.
• Any requirements for the CO2 to include odorants that would make leaks easier to discover. 

“These lackluster regulations were absolutely preventable,” said Food & Water Watch Northern California Organizer Isabel Penman. “California’s legislature made the decision to prematurely lift California’s common sense CO2 pipeline moratorium and made the decision for the regulation process to be rushed. Now, California will be used as a testing ground for Big Oil’s CCS scheme without the guidelines needed to protect communities from disaster.”