Mississippi - Governor's Office

To Whom It May Concern:

This request focuses on the planning and safety of a nationwide high pressure carbon dioxide (CO2) pipeline network spanning nearly every state.

We submit this records request in light of the HuffPost article “The Gassing Of Satartia” by Dan Zegart, which details an accident in Mississippi where a large CO2 pipeline ruptured in February 2020, flooding a small town with a dense cloud of CO2 and injuring dozens of people, some of whom were found unconscious, trapped in their cars while trying to escape. Most residents were unaware of the danger prior to the incident or how to respond.

Pursuant to the Mississippi Public Records Act, I hereby request the following records:

I request copies of all communications, reports, notes, and discussions pertaining to the safety of carbon dioxide (CO2) pipelines that have been built or will be built within Mississippi as part of a national carbon capture and storage (CCS) plan being developed by the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) and it’s Carbon Capture Program.

Specifically, I request all copies of any notes, communications, and/or discussions between the Mississippi's Governor's Office and any state or federal agency regarding CO2 transport and CO2 pipelines related to CCS. The agencies in question include, but are not limited to the agencies listed below:

• Interagency Task Force on Carbon Capture and Storage
• Department of Energy: Office of Fossil Energy, Carbon Storage Program
• Department of Interior: Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)
• Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission (IOGCC)
• Department of Transportation (DOT)
• Environmental Protection Agency
• Ground Water Protection Council (GWPC)

I also request copies of any notes, communications, discussions including but not limited to the following topic areas:

Routing and Risks
• Any specific CO2 pipeline routes discussed within Mississippi
• Consideration of potential risks to communities or environmental justice concerns during route planning process
• Risk of leaks from CO2 pipelines
• Pipeline construction specifications - diameter, pressure, capacity of pipelines to be built
• Experiments or modeling of CO2 pipeline accidents
• Warning systems for nearby communities
• Specialized CO2 training for first responders
• Information and/or training for health care staff in treatment of hypercapnia (CO2 poisoning)

The time frame for this request is 2003 to the present.

Climate Investigations Center (CIC) requests these records so that communities may have adequate information in order to protect themselves from the hazards posed by CO2 pipelines. The state’s Public Records/Open Records/FOIA law is designed to ensure transparency and for that reason, agencies are to liberally interpret the law in favor of disclosure and to process records in a timely manner.

Disclosure of these records, especially for proposed pipelines, cannot reasonably present a danger to public safety and instead would provide a powerful tool for community input prior to construction. Additionally, to the extent your search results contain information that is legally exempt from disclosure, non-exempt material must be separated from those records to the extent feasible and provided in response to this request.

Because CIC requests this information for the public benefit and has no commercial interest in the material, I also request a waiver of fees. Should you decide to charge fees for providing copies of records in response to my request, please notify me. If practicable, provide copies of records in their native format. I also request that you provide records in electronic form. Please reach out to me with any questions or issues regarding this request.

Thank you for your assistance.

Daniel Zegart
Senior Investigator
Climate Investigations Center
info@climateinvestigations.org

&

Kert Davies
Director
Climate Investigations Center
info@climateinvestigations.org