JEFFERSON COUNTY, Texas — The 12New Power City team is going in-depth to investigate concerns about a new carbon capture project in western Jefferson County.
From China to Cheek and over toward Diamond D Ranch, some neighbors want to know why ExxonMobil wants to inject carbon dioxide into the ground so close to their homes.
Experts say carbon capture could save jobs and protect the Southeast Texas economy for years to come. Many people say there's nothing wrong with the technology. They like they idea of reducing emissions, but they question the location for this project.
"We're like a family in this community. On Fridays, we get a food truck and come to the park…we come hang out…. meet everybody," said Diamond D Ranch homeowner Constance Wallace.
When families in Diamond D Ranch, west of Beaumont picture perfection, this is it.
"We look out for each other and we enjoy each other," Wallace said.
Now that vigilance has turned into an environmental fight.
"You have people who want to sell their homes now, " said Wallace. "You have people out here with over $100,000 in equity in their homes. They're gonna lose that."
"We will be the first residential area this is happening in, and I don't feel like we should be the test rabbits. There's plenty of land in Texas to do this," said Jen Traeger, another Diamond D Ranch homeowner.
The panic these neighbors share involves ExxonMobil's proposed Rose Carbon Capture and Storage or CCS project. Drilling has already started about two miles from their homes.
"It has never been done in an area that's a residential area. They are in rural areas," said Wallace. "We were never asked about anything….this was thrown at us and forced on us."
"So right now, we're on the Rose CCS injection pad or well pad," said Brandon Maxwell, with ExxonMobil Public and Government Affairs.
12News asked Maxwell about the how the project captures the bad stuff out of the air, compresses it into a liquefied form and sends the CO2 down into the ground.
"In the Rose CCS case, you're actually capturing it before it gets into the air. So at the emission source, at the combustion source, and then you do capture there at a site. You put it into a pipeline and then transport it to an injection area very much like the one we're standing in today, and then inject it safely underground," Maxwell told 12News.
The CO2 ends up thousands of feet under ground. It's stored under rock formations that are hundreds of feet thick.
"We can safely inject CO2 really up to about 8800 feet beneath the surface, or nearly two miles. And then the shallowest we would get is about half a mile beneath the surface," said Maxwell.
The company calls CCS "a safe, proven and permanent solution to reduce CO2 emissions" and says the land there is ideal for this.
An 18-mile pipeline would run from the Port Arthur area to the injection sites. The drilling rig will be gone by the end of the year.
ExxonMobil has already negotiated lease agreements with land owners.
"So in the State of Texas, we have to have the pore space rights to inject carbon in the subsurface, and those rights exist with the surface owner," said Maxwell.
ExxonMobil has leased 13,000 acres in the area. Enough land to proceed with the EPA permitting process. Full approval may take two years.
"No one knew what was going on….this was a shock to everybody…we literally just found out about this about four days ago," Wallace said.
Let's take another look at the neighbors' concerns. Turns out, Diamond D Ranch is outside of the project area. That's why residents there weren't notified.
"They are very well removed from our CCS project activity. So not near injectors. They are at least two miles from our injector wells, three miles from our pipeline activity, again in the subsurface that is at least half a mile from the subsurface activity," Maxwell said.
Maxwell is quick to say, that doesn't mean residents' concerns don't matter.
"When you hear from people who say, you know, nothing against the technology, nothing against ExxonMobil but I worry about this being near my home. When you hear that, what you can tell them?" he said. "I think in regard to our proximity of our project, we just need to have additional conversations. I think it's very healthy to have a robust conversation with community members about our activity and help them understand the safety protocols and monitoring that's associated with this, and again, the track record, the long history of carbon capture, I think that helps the conversation."
ExxonMobil says the project will include tracking where the CO2 may move once its underground.
"So there's monitoring throughout. And that data isn't just held by ExxonMobil. It is then provided at regular intervals to the EPA, for them to validate to, again, also confirm that this field is developing and growing the way it's intended," said Maxwell.
But based on what was heard at a recent community meeting in Cheek, people still have questions.
"I'm concerned about my home, about them putting CO2 into the ground, and the effect that it may have on the neighborhood, the community and our lives," said Nichole Davis, a Cheek resident.
"We need some answers to these things and we don't need no chucking and jiving. We need some real answers and truth because people did their homework," said Commissioner Bo Alfred.
So is this a done deal? Is this happening?
"From our perspective, we're developing the field, we're developing the pipeline activity, but no injection activity with regards to CO2 can take place until we receive that permit from the EPA... This is an important project, that is a very important project is one of the first of its kind in the Gulf Coast area," said Maxwell.
Back at Diamond D Ranch, it's clear neighbors aren't finished fighting.
'We're trying to come together as a community, which includes Cheek, Pine Island and Diamond D. And we're getting petitions signed to come against this," Wallace said.
At the time of this publication, they have around 143 signatures.
"If they come in here and put these wells in, everything that we've invested and want to retire on is gone," Traeger said.
It may take two years for the EPA to decide whether ExxonMobil will be able to move forward.
Tuesday night the company's representatives will meet with concerned community members at a meeting happening at 6 p.m. at Saint Martin de Porres Catholic Church on Boyt Road in Cheek.
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This is a developing story. We will update with more if and when we receive more confirmed information.
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