Community-Led Carbon Capture Project in California Receives $3 Million Amid Skepticism from Environmental Justice Advocates.

The Department of Energy is funding nearly two dozen direct air capture projects, but only one of them aims to be community-led and possibly even community-owned. The Community Alliance for Direct Air Capture (CALDAC) is set to receive $3 million to study the feasibility of sucking carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere in the San Joaquin Valley, home to California’s declining oil and gas industry. The coalition aims to create a model for how local communities can design, govern, and even own industrial facilities. The project is part of a $3.5 billion hub program, which will also be funded to build hubs in the Gulf of Mexico aiming to remove 1 million metric tons of CO2 each year. However, environmental justice advocates have voiced skepticism about the idea of community engagement in a project.