Okaloosa County Commissioners unanimously agreed to reach out to state and federal legislators to oppose a 74,000-acre carbon storage hub potentially located in Florala, Alabama.
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“Our aquifer is the envy of everybody, so we have to protect that aquifer,” said Commissioner Carolyn Ketchel. “It’s appalling to me they would even consider this.”
The Pine Hills Storage Hub is a project of the company, Reliant Carbon Capture & Storage LLC. The proposed location is outside the Conecuh National Forest, in Covington County, which neighbors Okaloosa and Walton counties.
Underground carbon dioxide storage takes CO2 from power plants and compresses the discharge into a liquid-like substance that is transported through an underground pipeline to an injection site facility more than 3,000 feet below the surface.
The Pine Hills Storage Hub has already drawn opposition from Alabama residents, and last month, Walton County commissioners agreed to write Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey to stop the pipeline.
“In the long term, it has the potential to cause a host of cascading events that range from seismic activity to contamination of drinking water,” said County Administrator Craig Coffey at Tuesday’s commissioner meeting. “Maybe, it’s something that never happens, but then again, it could be something that happens, and you don’t know about it for many years, and you don’t know about it until people start showing up with ill effects.”
It’s a risk none of the commissioners are willing to take based on their comments.
“The essence of what they’re proposing, effectively, is this company wants to take industrial waste emissions and pump it into the aquifer in Florala?” said Commissioner Trey Goodwin.
“Correct,” Coffey replied.
In 2020, in Satartia, Mississippi, hundreds evacuated, and at least 45 people were hospitalized when a carbon dioxide pipeline burst in the rural community.
The Alabama site could store 30 million metric tons of carbon dioxide annually, according to the company’s website. In the Frequently Asked Questions, the company calls the geology of the Pine Hills site “ideal” to keep carbon dioxide underground “sealed by layers of impermeable rock.” The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Alabama Oil and Gas Board would oversee the site.
Goodwin said he wanted to do more than write a letter, though commissioners all agreed to write strong letters to all interested governments, including state and federal officials. He suggested directing the county attorney’s office to represent the county in opposition at the state and federal levels if necessary.
“Let’s pull out our arsenal,” said Goodwin. “I know on the (Reliant) website, there’s every assurance in the world that nothing can go wrong.”
“I think the company called British Petroleum said that once, and you know how that turned out,” he added, referencing the 2010 BP oil spill that impacted the Gulf Coast region.
Covington County lawmakers, State Sen. Josh Carnley and Rep. Matthew Hammett, shared opposition to the Pine Hills project and pre-filed a state bill that would prohibit EPA Class V and Class IV carbon storage sites in the county. During the last legislative session, Florida Rep. Lindsay Cross filed a bill that would create a Carbon Sequestration Task Force adjunct to the state Department of Environmental Protection. Before the committee hearing for the bill, Gov. Ron DeSantis posted a video calling carbon sequestration a scam.
Florida's Republican supermajority is spending time on so-called carbon sequestration. Injecting carbon into our soil, aquifers, and even our ocean floor is a non-starter. Carbon sequestration is a scam. A GOP supermajority is a terrible thing to waste. pic.twitter.com/qg5sw7dcaB
— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) March 31, 2025
Ketchel and other commissioners praised citizens for bringing the item to their attention.
“This is really, really serious,” she said.
Dave Palmer and his wife, Heather, live near the Florida-Alabama line in Walton County, just one mile from the proposed site. They wrote letters to Alabama representatives urging them to oppose the site.
“We ask that you prioritize the health, safety, and water security of all residents, both in Alabama and in neighboring states like Florida, over the risky, unproven commercial interests of the carbon capture industry,” read Heather’s letter.
“Sending dangerous waste from one part of the state to another is not just irresponsible, it is unacceptable,” said Dave in a written statement Tuesday. “They aren't worried about how it affects them, because it would only negatively affect us. Not only that, but the waste would not only affect Alabama, because we share an aquifer with them. Underground water does not stop at the Alabama-Florida line.”
