The MN PUC took up the issue of CO2 pipelines after CURE submitted petitions about the two current CO2 pipeline projects to the Minnesota Environmental Quality Board in late 2021.
The health and safety concerns of PEER (Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility) and other commenters resonated with the PUC as well.
In their comments, PEER argued that existing law already covers these pipelines as a pressurized toxic gas. “We are very pleased that the Commission is putting human health and the environment first,” said Hudson Kingston, litigation and policy attorney at PEER. “The fact that purified and highly pressurized carbon dioxide gas can explode out of pipelines and suffocate communities is more than enough reason for the PUC to immediately exercise authority over them.”
