Fossil Fuel’s Quiet Business Model
The More You Burn, the More You Earn
The Business Model:
Capture CO2 from ethanol production.
Build a network of pipelines through the midwest to ferry the CO2 through the ground.
Don’t tell people you will inevitably inject that CO2 into low-producing oil wells to push out more oil - something called Enhanced Oil Recovery.
Get taxpayers to pay for it.
Policies that support this business model
Federal Level - Section 45Q provides a tax credit for capture and storage of CO2 that would otherwise be emitted. Geologically sequestered: $85/ton. Geologically sequestered w/ EOR: $60/ton.
State Level - A Low Carbon Fuel Standard assigns transportation fuels a CI (Carbon Intensity) score: Higher CI-scored fuels accrue deficits that fund credits for lower CI-scored fuels. One way to lower a CI score is to capture CO pollution and move it by pipeline for “storage” or EOR.
Fossil Fuel’s (Quiet) Business Model harms our water and climate
Ethanol
5% of MN’s total surface area is dedicated to ethanol production
Industrial farming practices: CAFOs and row crops - have led to rising nitrate levels in drinking water across the state
Emissions from ethanol are likely up to 24% worse than gasoline
Pipelines
Building pipelines is inherently destructive to aquifers, surface water, trees, land, and family farmers.
CI (carbon intensity) scores often fail to incorporate the emissions from EOR.
2000+ miles of Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage (CCUS) pipelines are proposed across the midwest, including in Minnesota.
Once in operation, leaks and explosions present a constant danger to people and ecosystems.
Enhanced Oil Recovery
Oil companies are desperate for CO2 to inject into the ground to get more oil out of their marginally producing wells.
13 out of 15 Carbon Capture facilities are used for Enhanced Oil Recovery.
Both EOR and sequestration processes leak CO into the atmosphere, adding to the lifetime emissions of these methods.
