IS CARBON CAPTURE A CLIMATE CHANGE SOLUTION OR IS IT GREENWASHING?
By Vivian LaMoore
Leading international scientists, policymakers, industry experts, and climate advocates convened at the Carbfix Mineralization Summit in Reykjavík, Iceland, to discuss the global status and potential of carbon dioxide (CO2) mineralization, and Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe leaders were presented with the opportunity to have a seat at the table and participate in conversations, voice concerns, and understand the various aspects of current and potential technologies from various entities. As the only federally recognized Native American tribe invited to participate on a panel discussion, the Band was able to have a voice at the table and share its concerns with the international community. Chief Executive Melanie Benjamin and Solicitor General Caleb Dogeagle were two of the Mille Lacs representatives who attended. DNR Commissioner Kelly Applegate was scheduled to attend but canceled due to a death in the family.
Why is carbon capture and CO2 mineralization a concern to the Mille Lacs Band? The U.S. Department of Energy has awarded $2.2 million in Research and Development (R&D) funding to Talon Metals Corp. to explore the carbon capture and storage (CCS) potential at the proposed Tamarack Nickel Project near Mille Lacs Band lands. The Mille Lacs Band is deeply rooted in the commitment to protect Mille Lacs Band members, natural resources, and cultural sites from the negative impact of nickel mining. Caleb Dogeagle, Solicitor General for the Mille Lacs Band said the promotion of CCS at Tamarack is a prime example of greenwashing (the act or practice of making a product, policy, activity, etc. appear to be more environmentally friendly or less environmentally damaging than it really is).
The proposed Tamarack mine was on the agenda two times during the two-day summit, which included a Talon Metals presentation and a separate presentation by Rio Tinto, Talon's partner — an illustration of the international attention that the proposed Tamarack mine has generated.
“When we learned that the mine was on the agenda for discussion twice by two mining companies at this international conference, we decided we needed to hear what was being said about the mine and about Indian Nations," Chief Executive Melanie Benjamin said.
U.S. Department of Energy officials were also on the agenda. One official stressed in her presentation that "community engagement" was an absolute requirement of mining companies receiving grants from the federal government. “Community engagement basically means public relations. That was new information for us, and I had concerns about that,” said Chief Executive Benjamin.
Benjamin followed the official out of the meeting room to talk with her following her presentation. “I told her that the community engagement requirement in the federal grants means that the federal government is basically paying for the mining company’s public relations campaign. Yet we use our own resources to raise attention about our concerns about this mine.”
The DOE took that message back to D.C. and it has been a discussion point with DOE since then.
What is carbon capture storage/mineralization? It is a process that extracts carbon dioxide from the air, turning it to liquid form, and then pumping it deep underground for permanent storage. Carbon mineralization is a process that naturally occurs over hundreds or thousands of years in which certain minerals inside rocks react with atmospheric CO2 to create carbonates, solid minerals, that securely remove and sequester (isolate) CO2. Proponents say the biggest advantage of carbon mineralization is that the carbon cannot escape back to the atmosphere.
But there are risks. Water contamination and seismic activity are potential risks associated with carbon mineralization, although further research is needed. Contamination of surface and groundwater is a potential risk associated with carbon mineralization. Large-scale implementation raises concerns and is unproven beyond laboratory-based and small field-based experiments. Not to mention the entire process from extraction to transportation and storage creates emissions of CO2 into the atmosphere. “We don’t know what we don’t know; the uncertainty is cause for caution,” Dogeagle said. "We attended the summit to educate others and ourselves, as well as engage as a sovereign nation on an international platform.”
Nickel mining in itself poses significant threats to the environment. The additional threats of carbon capture and storage/ sequester (CCS), may multiply the environmental threats, but it is unknown at this time the scope of Talon’s proposed project. Talon’s joint venture partner Rio Tinto plans to lead a team of climate researchers who will explore new approaches in carbon mineralization technology as a way to “safely and permanently store hundreds of millions of tons of carbon in solid rock form,” according to their website with the initial release of the project.
Mille Lacs DNR Commissioner Kelly Applegate said the Band has made several requests to Talon for information on the proposed CCS project at Tamarack. To date, there has been no solid data or proof provided to the Mille Lacs Band by Talon as to the scope of the CCS project at Tamarack. Dogeagle spoke on a panel regarding Environmental Justice at the Carbfix Summit. The topic of environmental justice has a focus on recognizing past harms and past problems that have disproportionately affected cultures and communities by large infrastructure projects over the years.
Panelists discussed the importance of environmental justice and the rights of Indigenous peoples at the onset of projects, including in the research and development stages where Indigenous peoples are often not included particularly in the United States. Federally recognized tribes are governments, and as such, the federal government, along with state and local governments, are required to consult with tribal governments, even at the research and development stages before a project gets off the ground.
“Equity is a good target and goal to be looking towards,” Dogeagle said during the summit. “I don’t want to brush pass the importance of greenwashing. We want to make sure that projects where the carbon is coming from are being held to certain standards. We want them to stand alone on their own merits. We don’t want previous bad actors, or polluters, to not move towards more sustainable mechanisms just because they can do carbon capture. We don’t want to lose sight of that. Our goal is to reduce carbon output and move towards more renewable and sustainable practices.”
Dogeagle later said in a follow-up interview that mining projects are major polluters. “There is not a mine in the world that has not polluted. Ever,” Dogeagle said. He believes extractive industries like mining projects in particular greenwash the project of mining by also including “green” projects such as carbon capture. “It’s a sleight of hand type of thing. 'Never mind this bad thing over there, but look at this good thing we are doing over here.' Each should stand alone. If there is a proposed mine such as Tamarack, even if it is also proposing a carbon capture mine along with it, it shouldn’t lessen the scrutiny placed upon the initial project.”
A lot of the mineralization projects worldwide have been on Indigenous lands. Dogeagle told the panelists and audience at the summit that companies and industries in the United States have requirements from federal, state, and local laws. “One of the things that has not been mentioned previously, but I am going to mention now, is tribal laws. The UN Declaration on Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) has provisions built in for consultation with Indigenous peoples. The FPIC [Free, Prior, and Informed Consent] is a specific recognized right. The UNDRIP protects the rights to land, resources, territories, and self-determinations, and a lot those legal frameworks are also within US law. I don’t think a lot of companies realize the complexities of tribal rights in the American legal system.”
“The right of Indigenous consultation is required under federal law. It is important that we are part of the dialogue. It is important that we are at the table at the start and part of the conversations,” Dogeagle said. “Consultation is not consent. It needs to be meaningful. Consent needs to be gotten without any sort of coercion.”
The U.S. Government provided funding to private companies across the United States, including Talon Metals, specifically for community engagement regarding their proposed projects that have not even been approved. Yet the communities who are potentially affected are not receiving funding for community engagement and are not afforded the same funding opportunity to advocate for their own rights. “There is still unbalance in the scales,” Dogeagle said.
One of the main goals of the Carbfix Mineralization Summit was to promote awareness and engagement around mineralization technologies, which could have a critical role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and mitigating the impacts of climate change. The summit provided a platform to discuss the challenges and opportunities associated with the deployment of CCS.