Health and Safety Risks of Carbon Capture and Storage
- John Fogarty, MD, MPH;
- Michael McCally, MD, PhD
- Author Affiliations: Department of Family Medicine, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque (Dr Fogarty); and Department of Preventive Medicine, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, New York (Dr McCally).
Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text.
- KEYWORDS:
- AIR POLLUTION
- CARBON DIOXIDE
- ECOLOGICAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL PROCESSES
- ENVIRONMENTAL EXPOSURE
- ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION
- GREENHOUSE EFFECT
- LEGISLATION
- PUBLIC HEALTH
- RISK FACTORS
- WATER POLLUTION
- WATER SUPPLY
Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is a technology being developed in an attempt to slow global warming. In theory, CCS would prevent carbon dioxide produced from coal-fired power plants from reaching the atmosphere by capturing and storing it permanently underground. The scale of this proposal is remarkable, requiring the capture of tens of billions of tons of carbon dioxide from thousands of coal and gas power plants throughout the world.1
Although carbon dioxide has been injected underground to enhance oil recovery from old wells, the use of the technology to permanently store carbon dioxide is still in a demonstration phase. Carbon capture and storage may receive billions of dollars of taxpayer support in pending energy legislation, the American Clean Energy and Security Act passed by the US House of Representatives in June 2009.2
Despite widespread political support for the technology, important and unanswered questions remain regarding CCS development. …
