President Barack Obama’s environment chief questioned the climate and public health benefits of carbon capture technologies, which many energy analysts see as critical to removing enough carbon to meet net-zero emissions goals.
“I know there’s a lot of creative thinking about [carbon capture and storage], but the thing we’re not looking at is the fact that you extract the fossil fuel itself,” said Gina McCarthy, who served as Environmental Protection Agency administrator during Obama’s second term.
Carbon capture technologies separate the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide from the emissions of power plants and other industrial facilities. That carbon is then stored underground, used to recover oil, or used in other products.
The extraction of oil is a “decision point” that emits “significant amounts” of the potent greenhouse gas methane, volatile organic compounds, and other pollutants that are “challenges for communities both from a health perspective and a climate perspective,” said McCarthy during her first appearance on Capitol Hill as the new head of the Natural Resources Defense Council.
McCarthy was responding to questions from congressman Jared Huffman, a California Democrat who criticized carbon capture projects because many existing projects are linked to enhanced oil recovery: Carbon dioxide is injected and stored underground in a process that produces more oil.
“As far as I know, that is the only financially viable way that anyone has come up with, so it seems like you’re robbing Peter to pay Paul,” McCarthy said in response.
As EPA administrator, McCarthy defended carbon capture, saying the technology is feasible. For example, in remarks in 2015, she said there is “tremendous opportunity” to scale up carbon capture and storage.
“Over time, higher levels of capture will be available as CCS technology advances,” McCarthy said then, according to a report from Bloomberg.
