Groups continue opposition to CO2 pipeline for central Illinois

[July 21, 2023]  By Greg Bishop | The Center Square

(The Center Square) – A state senator is looking to require more regulations on CO2 pipelines being proposed through central Illinois.

Earlier this week, proponents and opponents of a planned multistate pipeline traversing more than a dozen Illinois counties met in Springfield. State Sen. Steve McClure, R-Springfield, was there.

“The crowd was largely against the pipeline. It was a packed house in the basement of the BoS Center and really the concerns of the public were about safety,” McClure said. “What if the pipeline ruptures?”

Navigator Heartland Greenway initially filed a proposal with the Illinois Commerce Commission last year but withdrew it. It refiled a proposal in February to traverse Adams, Brown, Christian, Fulton, Hancock, Henry, Knox, McDonough, Montgomery, Morgan, Pike, Sangamon, Schuyler and Scott counties. The company argues the pipeline serves the public by sequestering CO2, among other things.

“It is generally understood that climate impacts of CO2 emissions are not localized to the source of the emissions or to the airsheds in which the emissions occur, but rather are widespread, even global in nature,” the company said. “Thus, capture, transportation and sequestration of CO2 from any emitting sources in the area in which the Project will operate benefits the public in all the states, including Illinois, in which the Project operates, as well as in areas beyond the Project’s operating area.”

Among other letters of support for the project, the Illinois Chamber of Commerce said it “will capture carbon emissions from over 30 ethanol facilities and transport them over a mile underground for permanent and safe storage.”

“The economic benefits from this large-scale energy operation reaches a variety of sectors,” the chamber’s letter said. “In Illinois, the capital investment for this project is estimated to be $795 million and create 3,565 employment opportunities during peak construction.”

Other letters of support filed by Navigator in February come from the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association and several labor unions.

“Navigator has put safety as a number one priority during their planning stages of the project and that is one of the reasons they approached the IBT as well as the Laborers, Pipefitters and Operating Engineers from organized labor to build this,” a letter from the International Brotherhood of Teamsters said.

Citizens and groups from various impacted counties have filed opposition to the idea. Dr. Peter Kieffer of Springfield said concentrated CO2 gas is dangerous.

A section of a map of the proposed Heartland Greenway CO2 pipeline through Illinois
heartlandgreenway.com

The only true way to protect residents along the pipeline route is to increase required setbacks so as to avoid any route that will bring the pipeline close to any occupied building and minimize the possibility that any resident will be exposed to a dangerous level of CO2 over an extended period,” Kieffer said.

An ICC engineer recommended against the project.

“The proposed pipeline is also inconsistent with the public interest, public benefit, and legislative purpose as set forth in the CO2 Act, as required by Section 20(b)(8),” ICC Senior Gas Engineer Mark Maple said. “Therefore, the commission should deny NHG’s application for a certificate of authority.”

McClure said there are significant safety concerns residents need addressed.

“And that’s why I filed a bill in the Senate to ensure that no pipeline is built until after those federal guidelines come out,” McClure said.

McClure’s bipartisan Senate Bill 1916 remains in committee.

“A CO2 pipeline ruptures and that goes out of the ground and into the air, it sucks away the oxygen. It makes it so that people can’t breathe,” McClure said. “It makes it so that cars that are gas powered cars can’t operate unless they’re electric vehicles and therefore, particularly in the rural areas, how is an electric vehicle going to get to these scenes in time.”

Montgomery County filed to intervene and said its emergency crews would have to be the responding agencies if there’s an emergency.

With the coalition of those worried about property rights and environmental groups, McClure said that could make a difference. Navigator’s rebuttal to opponents is due Aug. 15.

Last month, Navigator cited a competing proposal from Wolf Carbon Solutions and ADM as a reason some of their plans should be kept confidential.

“The entry of this new applicant, Wolf Carbon Systems, into the carbon capture, transportation, and sequestration market in Illinois and other Midwest states further demonstrates that HGCS’s information on its acquisition of land rights and pore space is competitively sensitive and should be protected as Confidential & Proprietary,” the filing said.

A panel of administrative law judges granted the redaction request.