Americans’ general frustrations with President Joe Biden continue to mount — and now the incumbent president seeking re-election is facing heat from some of the very same groups he so often champions.
Biden and his beleaguered administration have long pushed “green” initiatives no matter how polarizing those policies may be.
This time, however, it seems that polarization is hitting groups of environmentalists who are typically all aboard all things “green.”
The policy in question this time, per The Washington Post, is the method of “carbon capturing.”
“Carbon capturing” is exactly what it sounds like — taking those carbon emissions from various high-emission sources, “capturing” them and then storing them underground.
The entire process is a direct response to carbon dioxide being pumped into the air.
The problem: If these carbon emissions are as dangerous as they are being touted, is storing them right below people’s feet a better answer?
Many environmentalists are arguing, “No.”
The Post reported that “environmental justice advocates” in Louisiana are opposing carbon capture techniques there because of the close proximity of these emissions to black communities as well as the already higher-than-normal cancer rates found in the region — earning one stretch of the state the nickname of “Cancer Alley.”
Is Biden’s underground carbon capture plan a good idea?
Yes: 0% (0 Votes)
No: 0% (0 Votes)
Additionally, others fear that carbon capturing will embolden the very same fossil fuel titans they want to kneecap.
If your emissions can just be stored underground, what’s to stop you from maximizing those emissions?
There are also those with more pragmatic concerns — namely, how these underground gas bunkers will affect any planned infrastructure renovations or plans.
“What they’re trying to do to Louisiana now is I think the worst of anything we’ve been exposed to, because of all the uncertainty,” Beverly Wright, the executive director of the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice and member of the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council, told the Post.
Wright didn’t mince words about what she thought of carbon capturing: “In the real world, this is an experiment.”
Chad Ross, who lives in the Donaldsonville area, told the Post he doesn’t trust any of what is being peddled.
“It is called Cancer Alley, and that’s part of the reason we don’t trust them,” Ross said. “It’s still not so good to have all these plants, so many of them, all around us. Anything could happen.”
According to the Post, the “world’s largest ammonia and nitrogen plant” is just south of Donaldsonville.
Ashley Gaignard, a part-time secretary for the city council, offered a counter-solution to the Biden administration.
“Don’t do it in my neighborhood. Do it where you live,” Gaignard said. “Right about now it’s politics over people. And I don’t think they give a damn about people.”
Of particular concern for the president is the fact she voted for him in the 2020 general election and seems positively nonplussed by this.
Biden can seldom afford to lose support from anyone. A recent CNN poll had his favorability at 32 percent — the lowest of his presidency — heading into the 2024 presidential campaign.
And yet, as the drive toward “green” initiatives plows forward, it seems as though it will only get more divisive and polarizing — even among those who consider themselves environmental activists.
