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Carbon Capture and Storage Ignites Debate in Germany

Posted by: Alek Miller

7 October 2009 - 11:00am

A proposed CCS site under an eastern German village has met serious opposition from locals who fear their crops and families will suffer. Scientists and the energy company say it's perfectly safe.

"Still, 'people are worried about leaks,' says Thomas Lautsch, Vattenfall Europe AG's head of CO2 storage. 'They worry their kids will be suffocated, their cows will die, their property values will slump.'

To reassure them, Dr. Lautsch, a mining engineer, organized around six town-hall meetings to explain Vattenfall's plans. Germany has more than 40 natural-gas storage sites, many of them under residential areas, he said. If people could accept natural gas on their doorsteps, why not the less-dangerous CO2?"

Full Story: Locals Try Sinking Plan to Store CO2 Underground
Source: The Wall Street Journal, October 6, 2009
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If hundreds of people in your community raised reasonable concerns about a planning program you developed, how would you respond? Perhaps you might call a community meeting, or ask community elected officials to reach out to community leaders.
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