Environmental Research Foundation  [Printer-friendly version]
July 9, 2009

CARBON DIOXIDE POISONING INCIDENTS

Carbon dioxide (CO2) is the fizzy in soft drinks and beer. So what's
to worry about?

Unfortunately, CO2 is also a deadly gas. Countless miners have been
killed by "choke damp" -- an accumulation of CO2 in coal mines. CO2 is
odorless, tasteless, invisible, and heavier than air. In high
concentrations, it can quickly kill living things, including plants,
animals, and people. One observer, recounting the fate of 8 men and
one woman who walked into an area where CO2 had accumulated, said they
"fell down dead, as if they had been shot."

CO2 is mixed into our air everywhere, so we hardly think about it. But
the PurGen One coal plant, being planned for Linden, is proposing to
capture 500 million tons of highly-concentrated carbon dioxide,
pressurize it into a liquid, pipe it 70 miles offshore, and pump it
half a mile beneath the Atlantic ocean, hoping it will stay there
forever.

An accident that released concentrated CO2 could have widespread
deadly effects. In the six carbon dioxide poisoning stories listed
below, the first one tells of 1,746 people killed in their sleep when
CO2 bubbled up from the bottom of a lake in Camaroon in 1986.

Obviously, PurGen One's 500 million tons of concentrated carbon
dioxide could represent a considerable danger to the people of Union
County, N.J., and Staten Island, N.Y.

Six carbon dioxide poisoning incidents

1. More than 1700 people killed by carbon dioxide in Camaroon (Aug.
21, 1986)

2. Brewery worker killed by CO2 at Heineken brewery (April 3, 2007)

3. Australian hotel worker killed by carbon dioxide buildup (April,
1998)

4. MidWest delivery driver killed by carbon dioxide (June 21, 1996)

5. In Florida, 2 McDonald's employees killed by carbon dioxide (Feb.
12, 2005)

6. Munich (Germany) brewery worker killed by carbon dioxide (Apr.
29, 2008)