No False Solutions NWI Campaign
Photo by Matthew Kaplan, 2/22/24 IDEM public meeting on BP air permit
In November 2021, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act was enacted to invest $1 trillion in modernizing our nation’s aging infrastructure. Then, in August 2022, the Inflation Reduction Act, also called the IRA, was approved by U.S. lawmakers and included a record $369 billion in spending on climate and energy policies. More than $80 billion in federal funds are available over the next decade for industrial decarbonization.
While some federal monies will reach frontline communities to support vital clean energy and low-income initiatives, vast amounts of money and tax credits are being invested in projects that could prolong our dependence on fossil fuels and perpetuate pollution harms in already overburdened communities. These technologies include carbon capture and storage, fossil fuel-based hydrogen, and “sustainable” aviation fuel. All of these technologies have been rolled out with little to no transparency.
We call these technologies “False Solutions.” These are market-based schemes promoted by the fossil fuel industry to create the illusion of meaningful climate action while allowing polluters to keep polluting.
Apply to Become a Paid Canvasser
Are you a people-person who is passionate about engaging with your neighbors on environmental justice issues? Are you interested in getting paid to canvass for a cause? If so, we want to hear from you!
We are looking for canvassers to go door-to-door to engage in a canvass of East Chicago, Whiting, Gary, and Hammond to inform them about new projects coming to the region and their hopes for a sustainable future.
What are False Solutions Being Pushed in the Region?
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Carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) captures carbon emissions at fossil-fueled power plants and industrial facilities. The carbon is then either sequestered underground or put to use.
CCS is linked to:
Surface migration resulting in asphyxiation and death and stalled vehicles
Water and soil contamination resulting in contamination of our drinking water and the leaching of other contaminants
Earthquakes due to the activation of existing or the creation of new faults and fractures of tectonic plates.
CCS is going hand in hand with the MachH2 Hub because the hub will be utilizing "Blue" Hydrogen, which is fossil-fuel derived with the addition of CCS, where CO2 is filtered out of emissions and stored underground in dumps or pipelines. While the law required only 1 Blue Hydrogen Hub, four were awarded across the U.S.
One needs to look no further than the 2020 CO2 pipeline explosion in Satartia, MS, to see the disasters that are possible with CCS pipelines. The emergency was so dire that the Pipeline Hazardous Materials Safety Administration at the Department of Transportation agreed to revisit the regulations, now due in 2024.
CCS projects are already underway in Indiana. In Vigo and Vermillion Counties, Wabash Valley Resources plans to build a fertilizer plant and create, transport, and dump 1.67 million tons of waste carbon dioxide (CO2) every year for 12 years, which would make this project the largest CO2 dump in U.S. history. Due to the advocacy of community members and the Citizens Action Coalition, this proposed project is getting notable pushback.
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Hydrogen is the most abundant chemical element, contributing 75% of the universe's mass. Hydrogen is being touted as a replacement for fossil fuels and can store energy for transport for later use. Hydrogen can be made by splitting water, H2O, with a lot of electricity, and a machine called an electrolyzer. The electrolyzer can be powered by various resources, such as natural gas, steam, nuclear power, biogas, and renewable power, like wind and solar energy.
Ninety-nine percent of hydrogen is currently produced using fossil fuels. Investing in hydrogen will only perpetuate Indiana’s reliance on the oil and gas industry at a time when climate change demands an urgent need to phase out fossil fuels.
All forms of hydrogen use vast quantities of water that will impact our Great Lakes ecosystem. Hydrogen transportation poses unique safety issues: hydrogen is highly flammable, burns hotter than gas, and is more explosive and corrosive to pipelines.
Learn more about hydrogen via this zine by Pueblo Action Alliance and NM No False Solutions Coalition.
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Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) is fuel for the aviation industry derived from feedstock ranging from cooking oil, plant oils, municipal waste, waste gases, and agricultural residues.
In Gary, a California company called Fulcrum BioEnergy proposes constructing a gasification plant and refinery in Buffington Harbor to turn the Chicago area’s trash—as much as 30 percent of its waste plastic—into jet fuel.
Despite the claims of SAF, it is both an energy-intensive and polluting process, leading the Gary community to push back through the advocacy of Gary Advocates for Responsible Development (GARD). This project is on hold, though Fulcrum is trying to gain traction with a similar project in Texas.
The Proposed Midwest Hydrogen Hub & Carbon Capture and Storage
In the Fall of 2023, the Department of Energy (DOE) unveiled its $7 billion plan for constructing and implementing a hydrogen hub across the U.S.
The BP Whiting tar sands oil refinery, the Midwest’s largest and BP’s largest in the world, will serve as the center of the Midwest Alliance for Clean Hydrogen (MachH2) Hub, servicing Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan and is proposed to receive up to $1 billion in funding. The MachH2 hub will utilize primarily fracked gas with carbon capture and storage for hydrogen production.
As part of this hub, the DOE recently announced that BP Whiting will receive $98 million to develop a carbon capture and storage project, proposing to inject, store, and pipe up to 23 million metric tons of CO2 per year, threatening communities across six Indiana counties - Lake, Newton, Jasper, White, Benton, and Pulaski Counties.
These False Solutions will only perpetuate environmental injustice in a region that has historically suffered the disproportionate burdens of polluting industry. NWI needs real climate solutions like community renewable power and energy efficiency.
Northwest Indiana Spotlight
Northwest Indiana is the country’s steel-making capital and a historic Rust Belt region. For more than a century, the steel industry — U.S. Steel and now Cleveland-Cliffs — has been the region's economic backbone, employing 28,000+ workers.
Four of the country's 11 steel mills are clustered in the region. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that people living near mills are exposed to 80 tons of toxic metal emissions annually, perpetuating environmental justice impacts, as reported by the Sierra Club. Ninety percent of nationwide steel emissions derive from Northwest Indiana. This pollution is worsened due to the cumulative effects of industry along Lake Michigan, including BP Whiting, and the country’s largest steel mill, U.S. Steel Gary Works.
According to the International Energy Association, emissions from the steel industry must fall by at least 50 percent by 2050 to meet global energy and climate goals. Some of the steel industry’s largest consumers — General Motors, Honda, Toyota, Stellantis, and Subaru — all of which have plants in Indiana — have pledged to achieve carbon neutrality in their supply chains between 2038 and 2050, varying by manufacturer, as reported by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy for Citizens Action Coalition.
Under the guise of carbon reduction, the region is being targeted to host these false solutions to meet these climate goals.
Become a Paid Canvasser
Join our community canvass to inform and dialogue with residents in Lake County about the BP CO2 pipelines proposed for our backyards.
We are looking for canvassers in the region to hire to go door-to-door in Summer 2024 to engage our neighbors in East Chicago, Whiting, Gary, and Hammond. Our goal is to inform residents about unproven, dangerous projects coming to the region and hear about their hopes for a sustainable future.
Learn More
Read the groundbreaking environmental justice report on hydrogen
Just Transition Northwest Indiana and nine other environmental justice organizations from across the U.S. collaborated to publish an EJ framework for a three-part report that scientifically quantifies the “false solutions” hydrogen and carbon capture and storage present to frontline communities and the public.
Sign Our Petition
Tell the Department of Energy and Midwest Decision-Makers to Stop the Hydrogen Hub Rush!
Billions of federal dollars from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act are slated to fund technologies that will expand the fossil fuel industry and allow corporate polluters to keep polluting our air, water, and land. Fossil fuel-powered hydrogen and carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies are among the schemes being incentivized and marketed as solutions to the climate crisis under the Biden administration, but these are false solutions!