Stop the Proposed BP Whiting CO2 Pipeline!

Join us in urging Lake County, Indiana Commissioners and Councilors to stop the proposed BP Whiting CO2 pipeline to protect the health and safety of communities around the region.

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Dear [elected official],

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I am requesting your support in elevating my concerns about BP’s carbon capture and storage (CCS) project, Project Crossroads. This project plans to capture, pipe, and store up to 23 million metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) annually from a proposed "blue hydrogen" production facility near the refinery and the neighboring steel mills, which is part of the Midwest Alliance for Clean Hydrogen Hub (MachH2). It will affect communities and farmlands in Lake, Jasper, Newton, Benton, White, and Pulaski counties.

While the project is being promoted as a way to reduce carbon pollution in heavy industry, it is an unsafe scheme that benefits the fossil fuel industry and is not a real solution. According to the EPA, Lake County already has some of the worst pollution in the country, ranking sixth for toxic releases per square mile. This pipeline will make matters even worse for our communities.

I urge you to act to address this issue for these reasons:

1.) This project is unsafe for residents, workers, and first responders in Lake County and surrounding areas. In the event of a failure, CO2 can travel long distances without detection, shut down vehicles, and harm people and animals. At high levels, it can cause brain damage or even death within minutes. In 2020, a CO2 pipeline in Sataria, Mississippi, burst, forcing over 300 residents to evacuate, hospitalizing 46 people, the effects of which are still being felt today. Just recently, in April 2024, over 2,500 barrels of CO2 leaked from an Exxon pipeline in Sulphur, Louisiana. In Decatur, IL, CO2 seeped into the groundwater aquifer for two years with industry knowledge, yet was not reported to the appropriate oversight agency or community.

2.) CCS is a giant money grab for BP and the fossil fuel industry. Over the last decade, according to the US Department of the Treasury, 90% of CCS tax credits were based on poor reporting or fraud. Corporate documentation is private information to the IRS and is impossible for the public to review. The updated tax credit for CCS is expected to cost taxpayers, you and me, nearly $5 billion over the next few years and likely even more.

3.)  CCS projects have never managed CO2 at the scale BP and other companies are proposing. Over 70% of the world’s CCS projects have been enhanced oil recovery projects to produce more oil and gas, while only 10% have managed to store CO2 underground.

4.) CCS has a laundry list of issues, including a history of failing or underperforming; even BP admits to them. In an internal position paper, BP wrote that CCS "could enable continued large-scale use of fossil fuels in a tightly carbon-limited world but faces substantial technology, commercial and logistical challenges."

Given the absence of sufficient state or federal regulations on CO2 pipelines and my above concerns, please use your authority to enforce an immediate county moratorium to halt the development of CO2 pipelines and CCS infrastructure, including the proposed BP CO2 pipeline, and meaningfully engage communities in your decision-making process to address this pressing issue.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely, [Your information here]