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A12 SCIENCE
Wednesday 20 april 2022

The Shell Norco Manufaturing Complex is seen with several flares burning and an empty parking
lot normally full of workers cars, in the aftermath of Hurricane Ida Tuesday, Aug. 31, 2021, in Norco,
La.
Associated Press
Battle over carbon capture as tool to

fight climate change

BY DREW COSTLEY bits, fish and alligators — at Air Products.
AP Science Writer among the region's lakes, "You know, this is a mile
Polly Glover realized her rivers and wetlands. The en- below the Earth's surface,
son had asthma when he vironmental advocate has where the geological for-
was nine months old. Now been working for 30 years mation of the rock has this
26, he carries an inhaler to preserve the place she's porous space, which sim-
in his pocket whenever loved since childhood. ply absorbs the CO2."
he's out and about in Prai- That's why she is wary of Still, Glover is worried. "I'm
rieville, Louisiana, part of anything that might make not a scientist. I'm a mom
Ascension Parish. air quality worse or threat- who cares," she said. "We
"He probably needs to en wildlife — and her big- have got to be better stew-
leave Ascension quite gest fear now is that a $4.5 ards of the environment
frankly," Glover says, but he billion plant designed to and while reducing car-
hasn't because "this is his capture climate-changing bon emissions is necessary,
home and this is our family carbon and make clean- injecting them into the ba-
and this is our community." burning hydrogen fuel will sin is not the answer."
The parish is part of the 85- actually do more harm to There are several other
mile (137-kilometer) span the Lake Maurepas basin. carbon capture and stor-
between New Orleans The blue hydrogen energy age projects proposed or
and Baton Rouge officially plant is slated to be built in the works throughout the
called the Mississippi River and operated by Air Prod- U.S., including in Louisiana,
Chemical Corridor, more ucts and Chemicals, a mul- Texas, Minnesota, Michi-
commonly known as Can- tinational petrochemical gan, Iowa and California.
cer Alley. company. Companies behind them
The region's air quality is The company says the maintain they can suc-
some of the worst in the plant will capture airborne cessfully remove carbon
United States, and in sev- carbon emissions created from the air to reduce pol-
eral places along the cor- during production and put lution, then safely transport
ridor, cancer risks are much them safely underground and store the carbon un-
higher than levels consid- — a process called carbon derground — or do both.
ered acceptable by the capture and storage. In some cases, oil and gas
U.S. Environmental Protec- "Sometimes I think people companies are banking on
tion Agency. think you're kind of bub- this new technology to ei-
Glover says the air is "ter- bling this in at the bottom ther help build new profit
rible" where she lives, but of the lake," said Simon centers, such as plants that
there's also great biodi- Moore, vice president of in- make hydrogen, or extend
versity — osprey, eagles, vestor relations, corporate the lifespan of their fossil
migratory birds, deer, rab- relations and sustainability fuel facilities.
Carbon capture and stor-
age projects are gaining
traction since Congress
approved $3.5 billion for
them last year.
The Global CCS Institute,
a think tank seeking to ad-
vance these projects glob-
ally, called it the "single
largest appropriation of
money for CCS in the his-
tory of the technology."q