Letter to the Editor
Against Carbon Capture
I am speaking on behalf of myself as a resident and commissioner of Hancock County, and NOT on behalf of the county commission as a whole. The views expressed here are my own. Personally, I want to ensure Hancock County landowners are aware of the risks associated with signing carbon capture leases with Tenaska and their CO2 sequestration ‘plans.’ If the process of capturing carbon and putting it back into storage cavities in our earth sounds like a really bad idea, that’s because it is. Please research the proven and documented environmental issues associated with CO2 sequestration wells, either in the storage cavities themselves or the pipelines carrying the waste. While carbon sequestration didn’t originate with the Biden Administration, it really ramped up heavy with Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act in 2022, which committed billions to carbon capture subsidies with huge tax credits given to companies along with the vastly increased rates per metric ton of capture and storage. Tenaska themselves received nearly 70 million.
Even if it can be proven that this process is safe and reliable, which it isn’t, it’s still a bad deal for Hancock County. From a financial perspective, we will not be able to harvest our natural resources in the future. The shallow Marcellus and the deeper Utica will be off limits. Section 2.4 in their lease gives that authority of approval to Tenaska. ‘The Limitation of Further Encumbrances’ section addresses the issue of permanently protecting the integrity of the deep subsurface. With Tenaska’s plan, with our earth full of CO2, future fracking and drilling can and will disturb the plates and cavities containing CO2, allowing for its escape. Even if Tenaska would ‘approve’, I have articles where heads of oil and gas companies state that when CO2 is mixed with any type of saltwater brine, which is the plan with cavity storage, it produces a very toxic fume which corrodes piping at an extreme rate. Even if ‘allowed’, this all but eliminates small and mid size companies from coming to Hancock to drill. They can’t afford it. And the big monster companies who have the funds won’t come either, because the precautions and extra efforts will substantially eat into their profits. They’ll just go to another state or county where they don’t have to deal with carbon capture.
In my opinion, carbon capture could cause serious, substantial environmental issues. And it critically hinders, if not outright eliminates, our future prosperity that our natural resources give us. The small financial gain they are offering is less than 1% of what oil and gas leases were at their peak. If we want a thriving Hancock County with all options on the table, the possibility of a natural resource hub with our oil and gas under our control, and to attract companies with their jobs and subsequent increased tax base with them, we’ll need the ability to harvest our natural resources. Please study Tenaska’s lease, and/or take it to an attorney. Is the small, up front, 1% gain worth all the long term environmental risks and the jeopardizing of our future financial prosperity? In my opinion…NO.Tommy Ogden
Hancock County Commissioner
304.670.7986
[email protected] to the Editor
