Action Alerts

Help stop the buildout of harmful carbon capture and storage projects

What's At Stake

The government is greenlighting carbon capture and storage projects that will perpetuate fossil fuel pollution that is harming communities and driving the climate crisis — and it’s proposing to give oversight of those projects to some of the most fossil fuel-friendly states. Urge the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to maintain federal oversight over emerging carbon capture injection technology. 

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Carbon capture technologies are intended to capture carbon emissions from fossil-fueled power plants and industrial facilities. The carbon is then injected underground in carbon waste injection wells, repurposed to extract more polluting fossil fuels, or reused in products. The fossil fuel industry champions carbon capture as a way to keep burning coal and gas with a supposedly smaller climate impact.  

But burying carbon underground doesn’t make its environmental impact go away. The risks from injecting it include earthquakes, drinking water contamination, and releases of concentrated CO2 that can send people to the hospital.

The federal government is responsible for regulating carbon injection wells, but currently it’s proposing to hand over that authority to fossil fuel-friendly states like Louisiana — which could open the door for other petro-states like Texas and West Virginia to apply for primary authority to dictate how to regulate (or not regulate) how carbon dioxide waste is injected and stored underneath their state’s soil. 

With your help, we can ensure that strong safeguards are in place that prioritize environmental justice review and that the federal government maintains oversight over the emerging technology of carbon waste injection wells.

A massive buildout of these carbon storage projects should not cause further harm to the land, water, and communities at the hands of the oil and gas industry. Tell the EPA there needs to be strong oversight over the rapid buildout of carbon waste injection wells and that rules are implemented to ensure that communities are protected. 

Employees work on a section of the Mississippi Power Co. carbon capture plant in DeKalb, Miss. (Rogelio V. Solis / AP)
Employees work on a section of the Mississippi Power Co. carbon capture plant in DeKalb, Miss. (Rogelio V. Solis / AP)

Delivery to the Environmental Protection Agency

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Your Actions Matter

Your messages make a difference, even if we have leaders who don't want to listen. Here's why.

You level the playing field.

Elected officials pay attention when they see that we are paying attention. Read more.

They may be hearing from industry lobbyists left and right, but hearing the stories of their constituents — that’s your power.

Our legislators serve at the pleasure of the people who gave them their job — you.

Make sure your elected officials know whose community and whose values they represent. When you contact your elected official, you’re putting a face and a name on an issue.

Whether or not you voted for them, they work for you, for the duration of their term.

Make sure your elected officials know whose community and whose values they represent. (Find your local, state, and federal elected officials.)

Your action is with us in court.

If a federal agency finalizes a harmful action, the record of public comments provides a basis for bringing them into court. Read more.

Throughout each of the public comment periods we alert you to, Earthjustice’s attorneys are researching and writing in-depth, technical comments to submit — detailing how the regulation could and should be stronger to protect the environment, our communities, and our planet.

We need you to join us — your specific experiences, knowledge, and voice are crucial to add to the Administrative Record through the comment periods.

Lawsuits we file that challenge weak or harmful federal regulations rely on what was submitted during the comment period. The court can only look at documents that are in the Administrative Record — including the public comments — to decide if the agency did something improper.

Your actions aid our litigation. Taking action and submitting comments during a comment period is substantively important.

It’s the law.

Federal agencies must pause what they’re doing and ask for — and consider — your comment. Read more.

Many of us may have never heard of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), but laws like these require our government to ask the public to weigh in before agencies adopt or change regulations.

Regulations essentially describe how federal agencies will carry out laws — including decisions that could undermine science, or weaken safeguards on public health.

Public comments are collected at various points throughout the federal government’s rulemaking process, including when a regulation is proposed and finalized. (Learn about the rulemaking process.) These comments become part of the official, legal public record — the “Administrative Record.”

When the public responds with a huge outpouring of support for environmental protections, these individual messages collectively undercut politicians' attempts to claim otherwise.

What this means is each of us can take a role in shaping the rules our government creates — and ensuring those rules are fair and effective.