Biden administration proposes safety updates for CO2 pipelines

By Mike Soraghan | 01/15/2025 06:24 AM EST

The long-awaited rules would require pipeline operators to prepare for potential leaks, after a 2020 rupture sent 45 people to the hospital.

The rupture of a carbon dioxide pipeline.

The rupture of a carbon dioxide pipeline near Satartia, Mississippi, is seen in February 2020. PHMSA investigative report/Mississippi Emergency Management Agency

The Biden administration on Wednesday proposed new safety regulations for carbon dioxide pipelines, a key step in advancing a technology intended to cut planet-warming emissions.

Developers of carbon capture and storage projects welcomed the update, eager to blunt attacks from landowners and environmentalists that the pipelines carrying that carbon would be dangerously under-regulated. The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration has been working for nearly three years to close the gaps in current safety rules, which were written primarily for pipelines that transport CO2 for industrial uses, such as enhancing production from aging oil fields.

“Today, as this technology grows rapidly across the country, we are proud to propose comprehensive new rules to ensure that carbon dioxide pipelines are safe,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, whose department includes PHMSA, said in a statement.

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Congress and the Biden administration have offered generous tax credits to encourage fossil fuel companies to pump CO2 underground rather than releasing it into the atmosphere. But, particularly in the Midwest, projects have faced opposition from safety advocates, farmers who don’t want their property taken for pipelines and environmentalists who see carbon capture as a way to prolong the fossil fuel industry.

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