To the editor:

Recent articles about a multi-state carbon capture and storage hub gives unsuspecting readers an opinion that it is basically a reversed pipeline carrying CO2 from industrial sites, to an injection site, pumping the waste thousands of feet underground with very little risk to the public. What they don’t tell you is, when a line burst the CO2 under a higher-than-normal pressure will blow hundreds of feet into the air, then fall back to earth causing a ‘Death plume area’. Yes, death area, as the CO2 sucks all the oxygen from the surrounding area killing every living thing in the plume area, people, animals, and even your car when trying to escape the contaminated area.

Now Ohio Senators and Representatives have introduced 2 bills to give these private for-profit companies the right to capture and sequester CO2 in our state, on your land, by force pooling, HB170 & SB136.

In 2021 injection wells failed in Noble County contaminating a local aquifer and ground sites costing the ODNR over a million dollars for clean-up. Now the owner of those injection wells just happens to be the sponsor of SB136.

There is no guarantee these lines will never rupture, there is no guarantee the injection field won’t leak into our aquifers, there is no guarantee that these companies cannot come in and take our property by eminent domain. We already have a natural system in place, it’s called photosynthesis where plants take in CO2 and omit Oxygen. It’s time for the people in our area to call your state Reps. and Senators and tell them NO on HB170 & SB136. Recently the state of South Dakota passed a bill that would prevent carbon capture companies from using eminent domain in the taking of private property. This bill alone has almost stopped the pipeline as the previous planed routs are no longer available. Unfortunately farm organizations are straddling the fence on this issue, so don’t count on them.

Dave Hyde

Bloomingdale