California Resources CorpConsumer Watchdog report criticizes CCS and highlights CRC as poster child, questioning its environmental benefits and regulatory support.

Consumer Watchdog released a report questioning California's push for carbon capture and storage, calling it a bad bet for the public and the environment. As California's largest oil producer, California Resources Corp. is highlighted as the poster child for the oil industry's dangerous reinvention through CCS technology. The report notes that state air regulators have doubled a pool of CO2 emissions allowances to $4 billion for manufacturers that make approved investments in decarbonization. This week, the California Public Utilities Commission may also green light CRC's purchase of Crimson Utilities, owner of two major crude oil pipeline systems supplying California refineries. The report argues that CCS projects are a multi-billion-dollar boondoggle reliant on federal tax credits, with a global review finding capture rates as low as 10%, and that the alternative of ramping up renewables and efficiency delivers over 80% of needed emissions reductions.
California Resources CorpConsumer Watchdog report criticizes CCS and highlights CRC as poster child, questioning its environmental benefits and regulatory support.
CRC's purchase of Crimson Utilities may be approved by CPUC, but report questions CCS and the deal's environmental impact.