2 years ago

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Dan Harvey is a firefighter in Emmet County, Iowa, who is concerned about the carbon capture pipelines proposed throughout his state.
The pipelines are supposedly going to save us from eco-catastrophe, by capturing carbon dioxide emitted by ethanol plants throughout the Great Plains and Corn Belt and piping it thousands of miles away to underground sequestration in neighboring states. The captured CO2 is liquified and transported under high pressure.

Gargantuan safety issues surround these pipelines. An accident involving one occurred in Satartia, Mississippi in February 2020, when flooding caused the ground to shift and break a weld in the pipeline. A dense cloud of the compressed CO2 descended on the town where people collapsed, car engines could not start, and 49 of the area’s 300 residents had to be hospitalized. The rest were evacuated. Many now live with residual lung, stomach and neurological problems.

Despite all this, the companies planning to install the pipelines, and the government officials in charge of authorizing them, remain tight-lipped about safety issues.

Harvey explains the challenges that first responders in his area will face if the state Public Utilities Commission approves pipeline installation. He recommends that all Iowans visit https://boldiowa.com/ to learn more and get involved. Their very lives, and those of their families, may depend on it.

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