WH Eco-Council At Odds Over Carbon Capture As It ‘Prolongs Fossil Fuel Use’

Members of an internal White House council President Biden established shortly after taking office are at odds with the administration over carbon capture technology which the president’s climate agenda largely hinges upon. [emphasis, links added]

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology — which involves separating CO2 emissions at fossil fuel-fired power plants and industrial factories before transporting that gas via pipeline into a deep underground cavern where it is stored forever — is at the center of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) recent proposal regulating power sector emissions.

The EPA’s plan — proposed in May and which the agency expects to slash emissions by about 617 million metric tons through 2042 — forces electric power providers to cut pollution by about 90% over the next two decades.

To achieve such emissions reductions, power plants must either adopt carbon capture or shut down. The EPA projects there will be no coal plants without the technology by 2035.

However, members and leaders of the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council (WHEJAC), tasked with providing policy recommendations, have loudly opposed CCS technology and characterized it as a false climate solution.

And the council issued a report in May 2021 listing CCS and direct air capture as projects that won’t help communities.

“President Joe Biden has been vocal about his commitment to environmental justice, but the administration must be willing to listen to those who will be most affected by potential solutions — or false solutions,” Beverly Wright, a member of the WHEJAC and executive director of the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice, wrote in an op-ed last year.

“No matter how they tout the benefits of CCS, oil-and-gas companies are looking for another method to boost profits without consideration for the human or environmental cost,” she continued.

“Carbon capture is not a safe, sustainable solution. It will encourage the growth of fossil fuel industries and continue the injustice of sacrificing communities of color for profits.”

Earlier this month, Wright issued a joint statement criticizing CCS alongside other environmental activists including WHEJAC co-Chair Peggy Shepard and fellow council members Maria Lopez-Nunez and Nicky Sheats.

They said the EPA proposal would be ineffective at combating climate change and would only encourage continued reliance on fossil fuels.

“What is being proposed at the federal level is undermining wins achieved at the local and state levels to transition away from fossil fuels and harmful co-pollutants like particulate matter to a just and equitable energy economy,” the joint statement said.

In addition, NDN Collective, whose climate justice campaign director Jade Begay sits on the WHEJAC, and the Alaska Community Action on Toxics, whose environmental health and justice program director Vi Waghiyi is on the WHEJAC, have also expressed skepticism about CCS adoption.

Also, the Asian Pacific Environmental Network, whose senior strategist Miya Yoshitani is a member of the WHEJAC, signed a letter blasting CCS with more than 80 other eco groups in October.

“CCS regularly fails to meet its promises, requires a high use of electricity and water, puts communities at real risk of harm, and would prolong the production and use of fossil fuels that are driving the climate emergency and polluting communities,” the letter stated.

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