2023 Fall Farm Outlook Lincoln Daily News Oct 2023 Page 43 regarding the actual pipeline. There is a plan within the plan for emergency shut offs that would stop the free flowing of product at a specific point if a rupture were to occur. This would decrease the amount of gas released into the atmosphere. The concern is about the frequency of those shut offs along the pipeline, and how much gas could potentially be released before the shut off was deployed. At the same time, there are others who are thinking in another direction. At a public meeting, State Representative Bill Hauter said he was still undecided on whether CO2 pipelines should be permitted in his district. He said there are dangers, and he too is concerned about the maintenance of the pipeline and the location of shut offs. He said that right now there are too many vague answers and what he would like is open, honest facts about the benefits and hazards of CO2 pipelines. But at the same time, he noted that whether it be via a pipeline or a semi tanker or rail tanker, the fact is CO2 is going to be transported and sequestered. And there are opportunities for accidents and derailments that could again release toxic gas into the atmosphere at the point of the incident. A disastrous train derailment in Ohio earlier this year was noted as an example of what can happen. In fact, according to an article published in February of this year by Newsweek, there are more than 1,700 train derailments in the United States each year. According to Forbes Advisor in 2021 there were over 500,000 crashes involving semi-trucks on our nation’s highways, and approximately 55 percent occurred on rural roads or two-lane highways. Approximately one percent of those accidents involved hazardous chemicals. An accident in the tiny town of Montrose in Effingham County in September reflects this. Happening on a two-lane highway, the semi involved in the accident was carrying Anhydrous Ammonia which is also quite hazardous to humans when inhaled. There were no deaths reported from the inhalation of the Anhydrous though the town was evacuated for a time, and five people died in the crash. So, what is the answer, should a pipeline be permitted in Logan County? That is not for us to decide, it is reliant on the decisions of government officials from state to county. What is known is that the Logan County Board is keeping Carbon Sequestration on the agenda for the Zoning and Economic Development Committee. Logan County Board Chair Emily Davenport stated at the September meeting of that committee that there will be more discussion on the subject in the future. She also noted that she has been contacted by several county board chairmen and all are keeping in contact about how they are proceeding (in their counties). At the October meeting of the committee the item remained tabled with further discussion still pending. [Nila Smith]
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