Our immigration system is broken, CO Dem's choices aren't helping. Vaulted Deep storing Ag waste underground? It's like fracking but with poop.
Ah yes, immigration is broken and this is something our Congress needs to fix.
Except ...
Except that our Democrat politicians cannot escape the fact that they are not helping things. In fact, they are aligning incentives in this state to draw people in this country illegally here.
Oh, and our state courts are doing their part too!
The CPR article linked below details a Colorado Court of Appeals ruling from early July stating that state or local law enforcement officers are barred from arresting and detaining individuals on a civil immigration detainer.**
They are barred by a Colorado law from 2019, see the second link below, which the CPR article euphemistically characterizes as "clarifying" any role local law enforcement can have in holding people for ICE detainers.
You know, just like how other Colorado law clarifies any role I might choose to have in robbing a liquor store.
Apparently the Teller County Sheriff had his people trained by ICE and was actively seeking out people who had ICE detainer orders out on them, pseudo-deputizing them as ICE agents (and/or likely holding people after their county release dates if they had a detainer order by ICE--the article doesn't specifically state this but I don't think it's a stretch to see it happening).
The sheriff got sued and the appeals court told him to stop per the state law.
Yes, our immigration system is broken. Yes, it is almost entirely a federal problem to solve. That doesn't absolve the actions of those in our state government from creating "pull factors" which exacerbate the problem.
Remember that when you hear the talking points.
**Let me illustrate here with an example. Let's say that ICE suspected you were in this country illegally. Likely they're not going to spend the resources to come out and find you, but if you happened to be picked up for a DUI and were on ICE's list, they might ask the locals to hold onto you after you post bail so they can come and get you.
Of course with this law, you are free to go after you post bail. And we'll all just pray that you come back for that offense, certainly something you will do given how much concern you've already shown for US law.
https://www.cpr.org/2024/07/08/colorado-appeals-court-teller-county-sheriff-detaining-inmates-eligible-for-ice/
https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/hb19-1124
Vaulted Deep storing Ag waste underground? It’s like fracking … but with poop.
And Fronteir Airlines buying big into this?
I had a reader message me and share a tip. If memory serves, he was either getting an offer from Vaulted Deep or was aware of it.
I thought I'd share.
I have written about carbon sequestration by first scrubbing CO2 out of the air and then piping it into deep wells underground, mainly in the sense that some people are none too happy about the pipelines going through leased public land and/or their land.
Interestingly, it seems many environmental advocates aren't that jazzed either, mainly from the standpoint that they feel we need to spend our resources on a "clean break" from fossil fuels instead of adaptation and a more measured pace.
If you want context on this kind of sequestration, check out the first link below.
The kind of sequestration that the reader shared with me is a little different. Instead of taking out atmospheric carbon dioxide and putting it underground, the company Vaulted Deep (see the second link below) is going to do it with Ag waste (among others, if you read their site you'll also see things like paper mill waste in the mix).
The idea being that they take wastes (think the sludgy animal waste from a dairy as an example) and make it into a slurry which they pump deep into the earth into porous rock. They then cap the well they piped it down and there the waste stays instead of being up here on the surface where its decomposition adds carbon to the atmosphere.
The idea has apparently impressed Fronteir Airlines greatly (see the third link below). Perhaps not so much because they're fans of sequestering waste, but because they're salivating to get their hands on carbon credits.
Nothing like having some green indulgences to paper over your sins so you can continue to make money burning jet fuel. Praise God and pass the kerosene.
If you do happen to go read Deep Vault's site you'll see just how safe and monitored this whole thing is. I'm not surprised. This is their site and why would they express doubt when they're trying to get money?
I hope you understand some skepticism on my part.
This is new technology. The closest analog I can think of is the RM Arsenal starting earthquakes by pumping their waste deep into wells Northeast of Denver proper. That didn't go so well. I'm sure that if you asked the designers prior to starting that endeavor they would have waved away any doubt, telling you about the safety, monitoring, and impossibility of any problems.
I get it that we've learned from that experience, but are we so certain other problems we weren't planning on won't come up? What then?**
If private industry and landowners want to try and risk it, I suppose I'm not so concerned as to say that they must be stopped. I wouldn't allow it on my land, and I don't want my tax dollars going to it, but if others want to try and take the risk (and reap what could possibly be a good benefit), go ahead.
I just hope we taxpayers aren't on the hook if this goes south in some way.
**Vaulted Deep's site lists that their process has been used safely with slurry in the oil and gas industry for years. Perhaps. But I doubt that the slurry in question was liquified crap.
https://vaulteddeep.com/about/
Related:
In keeping with what I put before (the themes of buying carbon indulgences and also of rabid environmentalists wanting all-or-nothing on their goals), I present the Sum and Substance article linked below about Colorado air quality regulators' proposed program to allow trading of carbon credits.
Gotta toss some sort of bone to industry as they tighten the rules about emissions more and more (and as they expand them to other, previously unregulated bits of industry).
My prediction? Higher prices, fewer small companies, and someone making lots of money (not you) as the trading market gears up.
https://tsscolorado.com/colorado-regulators-offer-proposal-for-manufacturers-credit-trading-program/