West Virginia Dept of Environmental Protection

Hello:

This letter is to acknowledge that the West Virginia Department of
Environmental Protection’s (DEP) Public Information Office received your
Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Request. Your request has been sent to
the appropriate office(s) within our agency and you will be notified as to
when you may review/copy/receive the requested information.

Information in agency files is available for public inspection. However,
some material may be exempt from disclosure under the West Virginia Freedom
of Information Act, Chapter 29B.

DEP also provides an informational service to the public. Visitors to the
agency’s website can subscribe to both a listing of permit actions open to
public comment and updates on DEP news and events. To subscribe to these
e-mail notifications, go to
http://www.dep.wv.gov/insidedep/Pages/DEPMailingLists.aspx. *Please submit
all FOIAs to **depfoia@wv.gov* <depfoia@wv.gov>*. *

There is no charge to submit a FOIA request. If you need further
assistance, please contact me at 304-926-0499 ext. 49720.
Regards,

Terry Fletcher

WVDEP – Public Information

Good morning. I have checked with our staff here and they do not have any
information relative to your request. Thanks!

*Stephanie Hammonds*

*Information Management/Outreach Manager*

*WVDEP – Division of Air Quality*

601 57th Street, SE

Charleston, WV 25304

Stephanie.E.Hammonds@wv.gov

Phone: 304 926 0499, ext. 41263

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: FOIA, DEP <depfoia@wv.gov>
Date: Thu, Sep 2, 2021 at 3:04 PM
Subject: Fwd: FOIA #2021-09-009
To: Stephanie E Hammonds <stephanie.e.hammonds@wv.gov>

Below, please find a FOIA request from Daniel Zegart and Kert
Davies. Please contact the requesters at info@climateinvestigations.org as
soon as possible but no later than Friday, September 10, 2021 to let them
know whether or not you have the requested information and when they can
view/copy/receive it. Please reference the above FOIA number and cc:
DEPFOIA@wv.gov on the correspondence.

Thank you,

Terry Fletcher

WVDEP – Public Information Office

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: <requests@muckrock.com>
Date: Thu, Sep 2, 2021 at 2:32 PM
Subject: West Virginia Freedom of Information Act Request: West Virginia
Dept of Environmental Protection
To: <depfoia@wv.gov>

Department of Environmental Protection
FOIA Office
601 57th Street Southeast
Charleston, WV 25304

September 2, 2021

To whom it may concern,

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

We ask this question in light of the recently published 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.

The development of carbon capture and storage has been prioritized at the
Federal level since the late 2000s. Funding for CO2 pipelines by 2021 is
part of multiple bills before Congress.

Maps found within reports published by the U.S. Department of Energy’s
National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) Carbon Capture Program,
Princeton University and non-profit organizations like the Great Plains
Institute, show a vast nationwide network of planned CO2 pipelines.
Theoretically, the pipeline network would transport captured CO2 from
existing pollution sources like power plants, oil and gas production and
cement manufacturing, to sites in other states that have been identified
for deep injection into geologic formations.

According to maps attached below the request, West Virginia is identified
as having existing CO2 pollution sources and/or planned CO2 pipelines and
disposal sites. These modeling exercises and maps have been developed for
use in national CCS programs, budgeting and planning.

Maps attached are copied from these specific documents:
Carbon Capture Coalition (Great Plains Institute), “Federal Policy
Blueprint” February 2021, pg.16
Princeton University, “Net Zero America”, December 2020, page 243

Our FOIA/Public Records request in more detail:

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 West Virginia 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 communications about CO2 transport and disposal
within the state of West Virginia between agencies and communications
between any agency of West Virginia and any of the following Federal
agencies or task forces, regarding CO2 transport and CO2 pipelines related
to CCS

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 West Virginia
Consideration of potential risks to communities or environmental justice
concerns during route planning process
Pipeline construction specifications - diameter, pressure, capacity of
pipelines to be built
Risk of leaks from CO2 pipelines
Experiments or modeling of CO2 pipeline accidents
Potential risk contamination of CO2 waste stream, including hydrogen
sulfide and water.
Safety protocols
Setbacks from populated areas - distance
Warning systems for nearby communities
Specialized CO2 training for first responders
Availability of self-contained breathing apparatus 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.

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 request that you provide records in
electronic form using the email address listed below. 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

View request history, see two related attachments, upload responsive
documents, and report problems here:
https://www.muckrock.com/

Attachments:
• Princeton_CO2_pipeline_map.png
• Great_Plains_Institute_CO2_Pipeline_Map.png

Filed via MuckRock.com
E-mail (Preferred): requests@muckrock.com

For mailed responses, please address (see note):
MuckRock News
DEPT MR 118734
411A Highland Ave
Somerville, MA 02144-2516

PLEASE NOTE: This request is not filed by a MuckRock staff member, but is
being sent through MuckRock by the above in order to better track, share,
and manage public records requests. Also note that improperly addressed
(i.e., with the requester's name rather than "MuckRock News" and the
department number) requests might be returned as undeliverable.