{"id":409,"date":"2023-12-05T11:38:28","date_gmt":"2023-12-05T16:38:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/research.american.edu\/carbonremoval\/?p=409"},"modified":"2023-12-07T14:19:39","modified_gmt":"2023-12-07T19:19:39","slug":"carbon-removal-in-california-striving-toward-environmental-justice-in-the-central-valley","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/research.american.edu\/carbonremoval\/2023\/12\/05\/carbon-removal-in-california-striving-toward-environmental-justice-in-the-central-valley\/","title":{"rendered":"Carbon Removal in California: Striving Toward Environmental Justice in the Central Valley"},"content":{"rendered":"

Authored by\u00a0Jake Ferrell<\/a>, Carbon Justice Fellow at the\u00a0National Wildlife\u00a0 Federation<\/a> & Audrey Alonso<\/a>, Digital Organizer at Our Climate<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Orchard<\/p>\n

Orchard in California’s Central Valley. Credit: Ian Abbott\/Flickr<\/span><\/p>\n

Crops, cattle farms, and oil wells. Look out over the landscapes of Kern County, California, and you can find the physical infrastructure of various industries. The latest industry poised to shape Kern County landscapes is carbon dioxide removal.<\/p>\n

California appears set to become a national leader in carbon dioxide removal (CDR)\u2014<\/em>a climate strategy that removes CO2 directly from the ambient air and sequesters it in a form where it is prevented from re-entering the atmosphere. CDR addresses the climate crisis by targeting excess atmospheric CO2, a result of societal industrialization, and can range from natural solutions like reforestation to more technological processes like\u00a0direct air capture (DAC)<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Carbon Removal Projects in California Receive Federal Support<\/span><\/h2>\n

When the Department of Energy (DOE) announced the first round of awardees for its $3.5 billion Direct Air Capture Hubs (DAC Hubs) program in August 2023, no fewer than four projects in California were selected, the most of any one state. The\u00a0most advanced project<\/a>, led by a subsidiary of fossil fuel company California Resources Corporation, will receive up to $11.8 million to conduct a Front End Engineering Design (FEED) study to explore the potential for a DAC hub in Kern County, California.<\/p>\n

The other three\u2014<\/em>led by Aera Energy, Chevron, and the University of California\u2014<\/em>will receive up to $3 million each<\/a>\u00a0to explore the feasibility of their proposed projects. All projects are located in the southern part of California\u2019s Central Valley, in and around Bakersfield and Kern County.<\/p>\n

What Goes On in the Central Valley?<\/span><\/h2>\n

Oil and gas production in California. Credit: John Ciccarelli, BLM<\/span><\/p>\n

The Central Valley is no stranger to economic sectors of national importance. According to the\u00a0U.S. Geological Survey<\/a>, the Central Valley is among the main agricultural regions in the U.S., producing a quarter of the nation\u2019s food, including 40% of the fruits and nuts consumed. Alongside agriculture, fossil fuel extraction dominates the landscape.<\/p>\n

In 2019, Kern County was the\u00a0leading oil producing county in the state<\/a>, and the seventh largest in the country. While these industries helped build a city like Bakersfield into what it is today, participants at a\u00a0carbon removal workshop<\/a>\u00a0convened earlier this year in Bakersfield, were quick to point out the environmental degradation and human health consequences those same industries have brought with them.<\/p>\n

Though these consequences impact nearly all residents of Bakersfield and the broader Central Valley, the burden falls especially on low-income communities and communities of color. Bakersfield, a city of over 400,000 people, is located 100 miles northeast of Los Angeles.\u00a0Census data shows<\/a>\u00a0around half of the residents identify as Latinx, 7% Black, 7% Asian, and around 30% as white (these numbers may not be fully representative of the population, due to Kern\u2019s\u00a0large population of undocumented people<\/a>). More than 16% of county residents live below the poverty line.<\/p>\n

The CDR spotlight shines so brightly on the Central Valley because its landscape fits\u00a0the criteria set forth by Congress<\/a>\u00a0guiding DOE\u2019s selection process, including: access to\u00a0geological storage reservoirs for CO2<\/a>,\u00a0ongoing economic reliance on the fossil fuel industry<\/a>, proximity to\u00a0low-carbon electricity sources<\/a>, and location as an\u00a0economic opportunity zone<\/a>.<\/p>\n

However, given the ongoing history of this region, the characteristics that make the Central Valley an attractive site for DAC in the federal government\u2019s eyes are the same characteristics that may make communities in the area skeptical of DAC.<\/p>\n

Indeed, \u201ceconomic opportunity zones\u201d refer to areas identified by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) where developers are offered tax benefits to \u201cspur economic growth and job creation in low-income communities<\/a>\u201d but the environmental degradation and public health consequences of the fossil industry\u2019s boon in particular, are frequently centered by\u00a0Kern residents<\/a>, even if they also acknowledge the jobs that come with the industry\u2019s presence.<\/p>\n

Given DOE\u2019s mandate to prioritize applications for these areas, and the mandate\u2019s demographic overlap with vulnerable groups, it is likely that most or all of the DAC Hub locations will have large shares of BIPOC populations, along with those of low socioeconomic status. This is true of\u00a0Kern County<\/a>, where nearly 70% of residents are BIPOC and the average income is one third of the state\u2019s average.<\/p>\n

The long history of unjust infrastructure siting and legacies of environmental injustice in the United States may bolster and inform skepticism and resistance to further projects, particularly in the communities that have borne the brunt of hosting extractive industries.<\/p>\n

Hope & Skepticism<\/span><\/h2>\n

So, how are different groups and actors in California approaching the prospect of a new carbon removal industry blossoming in the state? At the state level,\u00a0California has positioned itself as a leader in developing CDR policy<\/a>\u2014<\/em>it is the first US state to incorporate specific quantitative targets for CDR with its latest Scoping Plan for reaching carbon neutrality, and there have been a flurry of state bills recently passed supporting CDR.<\/p>\n

Local government officials are leading calls to bring the burgeoning carbon management industry to the Central Valley with the announcement of a\u00a0Carbon Management Business Park<\/a>\u00a0in Kern County. Lorelai Oviatt, the director of Kern County\u2019s Planning and Natural Resources Department, has\u00a0stated<\/a>\u00a0that the vision is to build a massive solar farm to power DAC plants, so as to replace the county\u2019s declining agricultural revenues due to droughts continuing to plague the Southwest. For Kern alone \u201cat the top end this could produce $68 million a year in county property tax revenue to the county, $25 million to surrounding cities, and 23,000 jobs,\u201d Oviatt noted. \u201cThat is hope!\u201d<\/p>\n

But it is not so simple. Local residents have\u00a0expressed oppositio<\/a>n to carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects in the past. Part of that opposition is centered around the fact that captured CO2 would have been used to extract more oil in a process known as enhanced oil recovery (EOR).<\/p>\n

Today, the California Resources Corporation FEED study has\u00a0expressly stated<\/a>\u00a0that its DAC Hub would\u00a0not<\/em>\u00a0utilize CO2 for EOR, however Chevron and Aera Energy have not yet made statements either way. Some participants in a Bakersfield\u00a0community DAC workshop<\/a>\u00a0signaled that Chevron or Aera Energy involvement in a project would be a red line for them.<\/p>\n

\u201cChevron and Aera Energy own this town,\u201d stated one participant, and other participants agreed that they did not always trust local elected officials to support the needs of the community over industry.\u00a0Workshop participants were frustrated<\/a>\u00a0that fenceline communities like theirs always seemed to be the first choice for new industrial projects, and voiced skepticism over whether DAC would be any different from past projects that did not pursue a caring relationship with the community.<\/p>\n

Climate Change in the Central Valley<\/span><\/h2>\n

<\/p>\n

California\u2019s Central Valley is experiencing extreme heat in the summer months. Credit: Flickr\/Eric Sonstroem<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Anyone who lives in or has experienced the summer months in the Central Valley likely knows firsthand the extreme heat faced by residents every year, and how it is only projected to get hotter. \u201cBy midcentury, the Central Valley is projected to experience average heat-health events that are two weeks longer\u201d states a\u00a0Summary of Projected Climate Change Impacts on California<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Experiencing 90\u00b0<\/strong>\u00a0F October days is already a common event for those living in the Valley. Alongside extreme heat, there is also the aforementioned drought. Audrey Alonso, an NWF-American University Carbon Removal Justice Fellow was born and raised in the Central Valley, and personally remembers learning how to deal with drought as a kid and has maintained those water-conserving lessons to this day.<\/p>\n

The Central Valley depends on a functioning irrigation system to maintain arable land, and droughts have put a massive strain on many households and farms in the area. The\u00a02021 drought<\/a>\u00a0caused communities to incur $1.7 billion in costs, and led to the loss of over 14,000 jobs. These issues, exacerbated by climate change, are a growing problem that continue to affect the region\u2019s agricultural production and the livelihoods that support it.<\/p>\n

Climate change is\u00a0bringing increasingly severe and frequent heat waves and droughts to Kern County<\/a>; creating\u00a0dusty conditions<\/a>;\u00a0exacerbating air quality issues<\/a>, as the region consistently ranks as one of the\u00a0worst in the U.S.<\/a>; and threatening human health, especially that of vulnerable populations like the\u00a0elderly and those who labor outside, including farmworkers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It is important that any Kern County DAC projects acknowledge this context and refrain from becoming a burden to communities as well as limited resources they might share, like water. If they are able to do this, some argue there may be a way forward.<\/p>\n

What if We Centered Equity and Environmental Justice?<\/span><\/h2>\n

In the\u00a0community DAC workshop<\/a>\u00a0conducted in Bakersfield \u201cto understand community needs, concerns, and support or opposition for a potential DAC hub in their community,\u201d participants laid out pathways toward\u00a0an equitable vision for DAC Hubs deployment<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Such a vision, they said, would need to emerge from ongoing discussions across the community, and would require rooting decision-making power firmly with community groups and local small businesses, include active involvement and oversight from the community, and work with trusted experts. Accountability, transparency, local job guarantees, and integration with the existing local economy would be paramount, and the DAC technology must be renewably powered and sensitive to the region\u2019s water conditions.<\/p>\n

Of all workshop participants, 75% would either strongly support or somewhat support a DAC Hub project in their community if it aligned with their equitable vision by addressing the concerns and needs they outlined, 20% of participants remained indifferent or unsure, and only 5% would oppose such a project.<\/p>\n

This hypothetical buy-in was uniquely high across all four DAC workshops conducted, and signals a real opportunity to pursue a responsible buildout of CDR in California centering equity and environmental justice principles.<\/p>\n

This blog is the second installment in an ongoing series examining the intersections of carbon dioxide removal and environmental justice.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Authored by\u00a0Jake Ferrell, Carbon Justice Fellow at the\u00a0National Wildlife\u00a0 Federation & Audrey Alonso, Digital Organizer at Our Climate Orchard in California’s Central Valley. Credit: Ian Abbott\/Flickr Crops, cattle farms, and oil wells. Look out over the landscapes of Kern County, California, and you can find the physical infrastructure of various industries. The latest industry poised … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Carbon Removal in California: Striving Toward Environmental Justice in the Central Valley”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[63,48,64,51],"class_list":["post-409","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog-post","tag-california","tag-carbon-removal","tag-central-valley","tag-environmental-justice"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.american.edu\/carbonremoval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.american.edu\/carbonremoval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.american.edu\/carbonremoval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.american.edu\/carbonremoval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.american.edu\/carbonremoval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=409"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/research.american.edu\/carbonremoval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.american.edu\/carbonremoval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=409"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.american.edu\/carbonremoval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=409"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.american.edu\/carbonremoval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}