This holiday season, the federal government is set to give the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) a gift, and we need you to be the Grinch who stops it from happening. This gift is transferring primary oversight of underground carbon injection wells from the EPA to the DEP.
This underground carbon injection is part of a false climate solution known as carbon capture and storage (CCS), which has been proposed across our region. Injecting this carbon underground is an unproven and risky technology that West Virginia regulators are not prepared to take on. Instead of addressing economic and fossil fuel extraction issues in our communities, this technology only serves to make the rich richer and continues to allow big corporations to extract and pollute our communities.
Even with the well-known risks and implications of this decision, the federal government has only given the public until December 30th to provide comments, while other states have been given significantly longer time to weigh in on the same issue. West Virginia residents deserve better. With only a handful of active underground carbon injection wells in the entire country, now is not the time to rush into an unproven, potentially dangerous technology.
Tell the EPA: Don’t rush this decision! West Virginians deserve more time to speak out about the risks of underground carbon injection and the DEP’s poor track record. Submit your comment today to demand accountability and protection for our communities!
