For years, the carbon dioxide pipeline snaked through the fields and forests of Yazoo County, Mississippi, going largely unnoticed. But that changed forever on a winter evening in 2020. Under pressure from heavy rains and a landslide, the pipeline split in two, roaring like a jet engine, carving a 40-foot crater into the ground, and sending an invisible cloud of dangerous carbon dioxide vapor .
To avoid putting more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, some companies are using pipelines to inject the gas underground. But environmentalists and landowners are concerned about gaps in health and safety regulations.