The plan -- advanced by Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom's administration -- comes just as the Biden administration has boosted incentives for carbon capture projects in an effort to spur more development nationwide. Ratcheting up 20 years of climate efforts, Newsom last year signed a law requiring California to remove as much carbon from the air as it emits by 2045 -- one of the world's fastest timelines for achieving so-called carbon neutrality.
"We do not expect to see happen at a large scale unless we are able to address that pipeline issue," said Rajinder Sahota, deputy executive officer for climate change and research at the air board. The geology for storing carbon dioxide gas is rare, but California has it in parts of the Central Valley, a vast expanse of agricultural land running down the center of the state.
Safety concerns increased in 2020 after a pipeline in Mississippi ruptured in a landslide, releasing a heavier-than-air plume of carbon dioxide that displaced oxygen near the ground. Forty-five people were treated at a hospital, and several lost consciousnesses. There are thousands of miles of carbon dioxide pipelines operating across the country and industry proponents call the event an anomaly.