TX Regulator Mad About Proposed "Carbon Capture" Project, Because Joe Biden And The UN And Muh Monneeee!!!!

[hatrack]

Ed. - Just a personal take - he's not wrong about the reeking farce that is "carbon capture", but it's interesting that he finally met a drilling project he didn't like, and in Texas of all places. The global conspiracy angle is also an oldie but a goodie.

A Texas energy regulator is publicly slamming carbon injection plans, challenging the oil and gas industry over a technology designed to curb climate-warming emissions. Wayne Christian, one of three elected Republicans at the state Railroad Commission, disagreed with a recent staff decision to grant a state permit for a major Texas carbon removal and storage project.

He called the proposal “a danger” during a public meeting last week, questioning how much it was studied. And he tied government incentives for carbon projects to global emissions efforts and a Biden-era climate law. Christian is one of a growing number of Republican voices pushing back on carbon capture and storage while typically supporting oil and gas initiatives. “We’re sitting here allowing a spending of taxpayer dollars — not private corporations, not industry — we’re talking about my grandkids’ money,” Christian said. “And we find the Railroad Commission of Texas agreeing with the United Nations, the World Economic Forum, and others like that rather than what’s pro-oil and gas.”

EDIT

Groups like the Center for International Environmental Law, the Center for Biological Diversity and Commission Shift — a nonprofit watchdog group that advocates for changes to the Railroad Commission — have all expressed safety concerns that mirrored some of Christian’s comments. Worries include potential CO2 pipeline leaks and underground pressure issues in areas that have already seen seismic activity tied to fracking wastewater injections. “It’s a sign of the strange political moment that we’re in, where a Republican regulator would attack carbon capture as an unproven technology,” Andrew Logan, a senior director at sustainability nonprofit Ceres, said Wednesday. “Some of what [Christian] said could have come from the mouths of climate activists who also would raise concerns around safety or efficacy.”

EDIT

“The future of the Permian Basin and US energy security is going to rely on carbon dioxide from direct air capture facilities for enhanced oil recovery,” said Occidental’s Hollub. Class II wells are used for enhanced oil recovery. Some developers may avoid carbon projects tied to boosting oil production because the economics are affected by fluctuations in the price of crude. Supporters say that using CO2 in the oil patch produces crude while generating fewer carbon emissions per barrel. “This is a game-changing technology that will help us overcome the looming peak in Permian production and ensure job security for thousands of energy industry workers in Texas,” Hollub said of direct air capture, which pulls CO2 from the atmosphere and can be used to bolster oil production.

ED. - Emphasis added. Also,

EDIT

https://www.eenews.net/articles/republican-split-widens-as-texas-regulator-bashes-ccs/