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Pipeline Fighters Hub Webinar: Analysis of PHMSA Report on Denbury CO2 Pipeline Rupture in Satartia, MS

Pipeline Safety Trust executive director Bill Caram, and Bold Alliance attorney Paul Blackburn provided an overview and analysis, and then answered attendees’ questions about the U.S. Dept. of Transportation’s PHMSA (Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration) recently issued “Consent Order and Agreement” with pipeline operator Denbury, whose pipeline carrying supercritical carbon dioxide (CO2) ruptured in Satartia, Mississippi in 2020. The toxic plume of 31,405 barrels of CO2 released caused the entire town to be evacuated and sent 45 people to the hospital, reporting symptoms of CO2 poisoning and oxygen deprivation.

According to PHMSA, Denbury had several areas of non-compliance that exacerbated the failure’s effects on the community of Satartia. Most critical were that Denbury did not notify local responders to advise them of the failure (nor train them how to handle one before the incident happened), address the risks of geohazards to its pipeline system, or correctly determine the areas that could be affected by a CO2 release in its plume dispersion modeling.

Our discussion and Q&A will focus on the implications of this Order on other potential CO2 pipeline operators besides Denbury (Summit, Navigator, Wolf et al.) that are currently proposing massive CO2 pipelines spanning the Midwest that would endanger countless communities and first responders in their paths.

SPEAKERS:

PHMSA Consent Agreement and Order: March 24, 2023:
42022017NOPV_Consent Agreement and Order_03242023_(20-176125)

Pipeline Safety Trust press release: April 6, 2023:
PR-4.6.22-Denbury-Enforcement_ES_KC_ES_Final3

Pipeline Fighters Hub