On February 26, the Carbon Capture Coalition (the Coalition) submitted a letter to the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration urging the agency to promulgate updated safety guidelines for CO2 pipelines.
As carbon management deployment accelerates in support of domestic energy security, manufacturing competitiveness, and emissions reduction goals, the federal safety framework governing CO2 pipeline construction, operation, and reporting must be modernized to reflect current technologies, evolving operational practices, and the scale of anticipated deployment. Additionally, modernization efforts would complement the Trump administration’s efforts to ensure abundant, affordable American energy supplies.
The US Department of Transportation (DOT)’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) regulates the safety of CO2 pipelines. PHMSA has a wide range of responsibilities over pipeline systems, and safety regulations prescribe steps that CO2 pipeline operators must take to ensure these systems continue to operate safely while transporting millions of metric tons of CO2 per year, including attention to pipeline design, protection against corrosion, monitoring for leaks, and installing safeguards against overpressure. Additionally, operators are required to submit an annual report to PHMSA, which includes information such as the length (in miles) of the pipeline operated, the mass of CO2 transported through pipeline systems, and the safety inspections and structural integrity assessments conducted that year.
While the agency’s own data confirms that CO2 pipelines have an excellent safety record – one that easily surpasses other essential energy infrastructure, such as electric transmission and distribution systems – the Coalition sees an opportunity to respond to concerns arising from the rare but serious pipeline failure in Satartia, Mississippi, in 2020. The incident has increased public and policymaker scrutiny surrounding pipeline safety and the overall reliability of these systems as they scale.
Similarly, public confidence in the safety of carbon management projects is vital to the broader industry’s success, a sector that has already invested over $77 billion nationwide. Without clear, consistent, and up-to-date federal safety standards, developers risk community opposition, project delays, or cancellation. The Coalition looks forward to working with PHMSA on pragmatic updates to the nation’s safety regulations for CO2 pipelines. Robust policies that ensure the safe and efficient expansion of CO2 pipeline infrastructure nationwide are instrumental to achieving abundant American energy and manufacturing while promoting American leadership in global carbon management.
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The Carbon Capture Coalition (the Coalition) is a nonpartisan collaboration of companies, labor unions, and conservation and environmental policy organizations. Coalition members work together to lay the groundwork for the necessary portfolio of federal policies to enable nationwide, commercial-scale deployment of carbon management technologies.