US carbon pipeline faces setback as residents refuse to cede land rights
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[March 09, 2023]
By Leah Douglas
(Reuters) - Navigator CO2 Ventures’ proposed carbon pipeline project in
the U.S. Midwest is struggling to secure a site to store millions of
tons of greenhouse gas it hopes to collect from the region’s ethanol
plants, as residents refuse to give up land rights over fears the
underground reservoirs could leak, according to documents reviewed by
Reuters.
The issue could slow the project, one of three carbon pipelines planned
in the Midwest that aims to help the ethanol industry reduce its climate
footprint in line with federal government efforts to decarbonize the
U.S. economy. The projects are a major test of the viability of carbon
capture and storage as a climate solution.
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In Illinois, Navigator has restarted the permit process for its
Heartland Greenway pipeline in part due to difficulty getting land
rights from residents living above the underground formations where it
hopes to store up to 15 million metric tons annually of carbon dioxide,
according to a Reuters review of the state regulatory docket and
interviews with landowners along the proposed route.
Residents along the proposed route of the pipeline, as well as along the
routes of two other carbon pipelines proposed by Iowa-based Summit
Carbon Solutions and Denver-based Wolf Carbon Solutions, have expressed
concern about damage to their farmland from installing the pipeline and
safety risks if the pipeline were to leak.
Some living above Navigator's proposed sequestration site are also
worried that carbon dioxide stored 5,800 feet underground could seep
upward and contaminate their groundwater with carbonic acid, which is
formed when carbon dioxide meets water.
Acidification of groundwater can kill plants or sub-soil animals and
increase concentration of metals in drinking water, according to
research by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The
Department of Energy in 2021 invested $4 million for research on the
issue.
In January, Navigator withdrew its initial permit application with the
Illinois Commerce Commission. This came two months after a senior ICC
engineer recommended that the commission deny the company's application
because it had not secured the necessary sequestration site, the
commission's docket shows.
Navigator must secure land rights within an 11-month window from
submitting the application, according to state law.
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In a new permit application filed in late February, Navigator added 42
miles of pipeline leading to a second sequestration site - an
underground geologic formation where it would store captured carbon
dioxide - in a county neighboring where it had initially proposed to
store carbon.
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The company also pushed back its expected timeline for receiving
federal, state, and county approvals by several months.
Navigator Vice President of Government and Public Affairs Elizabeth
Burns-Thompson told Reuters in an interview on Monday that the
company is on track to break ground on the pipeline on its original
mid-2024 timeline and that it withdrew and resubmitted its
application to accommodate adding the new pipeline branch.
Burns-Thompson also said Navigator is selecting sequestration sites
specifically for their ability to permanently retain captured carbon
dioxide.
The company did not share the number or percent of easements it has
secured over its proposed sequestration sites.
Karen Brocklesby lives over the pore space Navigator initially
proposed in Christian County. She was quick to reject the company's
easement offer when they approached her last year and helped to form
an Illinois community group that opposes the pipeline.
"It was easy to come together as a group that said no, we don’t want
this," she said.
'GUINEA PIGS'
Elsewhere along its proposed route - which crosses Iowa, Nebraska,
South Dakota, and Minnesota, in addition to Illinois - Navigator
could seek eminent domain authority from regulators in cases where
landowners refused to sign easements.
But Illinois law does not address the use of eminent domain above
underground pore space, meaning Navigator may need to get every
landowner living over the sequestration area to agree to sell off a
portion of their land rights.
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Christian County officials don't believe residents will be more
receptive to Navigator's second permit attempt.
"There’s nothing like this in the world," said county board chairman
Bryan Sharp. "We don’t want to be the guinea pigs."
The two other major carbon pipeline projects are working to secure
underground carbon storage space.
Summit has negotiated easements with landowners for more than 85% of
its sequestration site in North Dakota, the company told Reuters.
Wolf, which is partnered with grain processor Archer-Daniels-Midland
Co (ADM.N), declined to provide updated information but said last
year that it plans to store captured carbon at a site already owned
by ADM.
(Reporting by Leah Douglas; editing by Diane Craft)
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