Does a CO2 pipeline clever in Mississippi keep lessons for Canada?

In the early evening of February 22, 2020, Debrae Burns drove his brother and cousin along Highway 3 outside the city of Satartia, Miss. When they saw a nearby explosion.

“We came back from a fishing trip and actually saw the mushroom cloud. Just like an explosion, but without the fire. It was just a large white cloud in the air,” he said.

He suspected that it came from a nearby pipeline that runs through the hills over Satartia. What he did not know was that instead of oil or natural gas, compressed and liquefied carbon dioxide ran through the pipes.

The environment was immediately flooded with the suffocating gas, which can be fatal in concentrated quantities because it displaces oxygen. Burns called his mother on the phone on the explosion. Seconds later, the engine of the car was wiped out; Burns, his brother and cousin all passed out.

“My phone was still on. It gave my name: Debrae, Debrae, Debrae. And I just stopped talking.”

After this pipeline explosion in Mississippi, nobody died, but first aiders and residents say that they should have known more about the risks to better prepare for possible emergencies.

With large Canadian energy companies that work for the construction of a CO2 pipeline in Alberta, CBC went to Satartia to learn first-hand about the possible risks when a CO2 pipeline leads through a community.

Why a CO2 pipeline?

Carbon dioxide can be transported by a pipeline for several reasons. In the case of the pipeline in Mississippi, it applies to a process that is referred to as enhanced oil recovery and in which the pumping CO2 can contribute to extracting more oil.

In Canada, a consortium of the country’s largest energy companies as a pathways Alliance proposes a massive carbon dioxide pipeline that would reduce emissions from the production of oil sand in Alberta.

It would capture carbon dioxide emissions from more than 20 oil standing systems in Northern Alberta and they would save the pipeline in a naturally occurring underground reservoir in the Cold Lake region. The CO2 would then be kept underground with the aim of preventing emissions into the atmosphere.

Allianz proposed the project for the first time in 2022, but has not yet concluded any agreements with federal and provincial governments about incentives and the payment of incentives.

According to the International Energy Agency, Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) is part of the solution to achieve net zero emissions worldwide.

However, critics compared CCS to a red herring in the climate fight.

A New York Times opinion column from 2022 called “every dollar” for CCS “a waste”. Since it enables continued gas and oil production by “camouflaging as climate wall solutions” instead of switching to cleaner energy sources.

The residents who live near the proposed pipeline told the Narwal last autumn that they had concerns about potential leaks or breaking how this could affect water, arable land and indigenous contracts.

What happened in Mississippi

Satartia, Miss. A local said it was so flat in the delta that they can run away a dog for three days.

On the night of the explosion, some residents had outside and had a long pusty chef. Hugh (Bubba) Martin, a veteran of the army lived in Satartia, did not hear the pipeline bursting over the music and gas burners that cooked the crabbing. But then he discovered a smell of lazy eggs that filled the air.

Soon everyone fought to stay with consciousness.

“They were awake, but it wasn’t not a registered one. Only disoriented. Your brain didn’t work. I mean, everyone tried to dispel each other. Everyone was passed out. The vehicles would not run,” he said.

The local emergency services were soon flooded with 911 calls, which describe the smell of gasoline, the fainting and cars on the streets.

CO2 is odorless and colorless, but the locals said CBC, they believe that the smell of hydrogen sulfide or sour gas, which may have been mixed with the CO2.

Jack Willingham, Emergency Management Director of Yazoo County, where Satartia is, said that the first aiders didn’t know what the problem was for at least the first 30 minutes. He said he didn’t even know that a CO2 pipeline led through his county.

“At this certain time (da) there was not much communication between us and the pipeline operator who prepared us for what’s going on,” he said.

An uncanny scene

Carbon dioxide is not dangerous in low doses. People breathe it out every time we make a breath. With higher concentrations and cool, cloudy weather, CO2 is not always distributed into the atmosphere. Instead, it sits in an invisible cloud on the ground and displaces oxygen and makes it more difficult or even impossible to breathe. It also suffocates internal internal combustion engines, which means that many vehicles do not run.

This made the rescue operations in Satartien difficult because the first aiders had difficulty keeping their vehicles going. Some had to enter the city on foot and wore air masks and tanks to breathe.

Jerry Briggs, a firefighter and the EMS coordinator from the neighbor Warren County, said that Satartia resembled a ghost town than his team arrived. Most residents had fled, but the respondents still had to look for someone who was left behind.

“8:00 a.m. on Saturday evening. Lights on; TV on. Cars there; nobody (inside). We lit campfire. Nobody around them,” he said.

Most of the stuck cars found the driving of the highways looking for victims. But one had three people in it: Debrae Burns, his brother and cousin, all passed out.

At first Briggs thought they were dead, but soon noticed that they were still breathing. The firefighters’ utility vehicle was too small, so that the team stacked the three unconscious men on their equipment and savings air tanks at the back.

“In the south we would say that after the deer hunt we charged them like Hirsch,” said Briggs. “I know that it sounds terrible, but in retrospect they probably wouldn’t have survived.”

The firefighters drove them to safety, and the trio was then taken to a hospital in nearby Vicksburg by paramedics.

“When they found us, as I understand, we hardly foamed our mouths,” said Burns. He remembered that they would not have survived if they had found found five minutes before the found one if they had laid there for five minutes.

Follow and ask

Forty -five people needed medically in the hospital and more than 200 people and were evacuated from the Satartia region. Everyone officially recovered. But even though he cannot prove the connection, Burns believes that he has unconsciously lived with aftermath of exposure and about three hours, of which he believes that he has unconsciously.

“I suffer from memory loss. You know that I have problems concentrating. I’m not with too many people. You know, I distance myself from a lot of things,” he said.

Willens says that the explosion has probably happened because part of the toning floor in Yazoo County “tends to shift more than normal in the area”, and strong rainfall this year has made things even more unstable.

If it had happened an hour or two later, this whole community would have been dead.– Hugh (Bubba) Martin

When examining the explosion, the results of the US pipeline and the security management of the security administration of danger materials proposed probable violations of the federal security regulations and suggested a hearing. Instead, Denbury, the then operator of the pipeline, agreed to pay a fine of almost 3 million US dollars in the United States.

Exxonmobil, who bought Denbury in 2023, said that it “strengthened its infrastructure and increased its standards to prevent future incidents” and works “closely with local first aiders to ensure a well -coordinated reaction to every incident”.

In a statement to CBC, Pathways Alliance said that his proposed project “would be built in a stable corridor primarily after the existing paths, in contrast to the CO2 pipeline incident in Mississippi, which was built in an area that is susceptible to landslides”.

It also said that it would have “a multi-layered security system” that comprises real-time pressure monitoring, seismic imaging and leak detection both through computer systems and by human operators.

According to Willingham, the public should be informed about whether a CO2 pipeline is installed in its area, regardless of where they live. Therefore, first aiders have better information to save lives and protect their own at the same time.

“Have you ever taught what to do in your life when there is a CO2 incident near you? Why don’t we inform our people about what to do?” he said.

“I’m not an anti-pipeline, I’m not a Pro pipeline. I’m only for public security.”

Martin says things could have been catastrophic if the explosions have taken place after people were already in bed.

“If it had happened an hour or two later, this whole community would have been dead.”