After years of controversy, state pauses CO2 pipeline construction, for now

New safety requirements for carbon dioxide pipelines as well as a temporary ban on their construction are now in effect after Gov. JB Pritzker on Thursday signed a bill that passed the General Assembly earlier this year.

The law issues new regulations for carbon capture and sequestration, a technology used to take carbon dioxide pollution and store it deep underground. Sandstone formations in central Illinois are uniquely suited for gas storage, which has attracted national attention to the region as a possible hub for carbon dioxide storage.

“We are essentially attempting to refossilize fossil fuels – put them back under the ground and keep them from going into the air and contributing to global warming,” state Sen. Bill Cunningham, D-Chicago, said at a news conference Thursday. “That’s very important work.”

But some oppose the technology on environmental grounds while others say the pipelines used to transport carbon dioxide from where it’s produced to storage sites brings the risk of catastrophic – and potentially lethal – failure.

“There are a range of opinions within the environmental community on carbon capture technology,” Christine Nannicelli of the Sierra Club Illinois chapter said during Thursday’s bill signing. “That said, there is overwhelming agreement within our broad coalition on the need to have critical safeguards in place.”

The legislation signed Thursday, which was backed by the Sierra Club and other environmental groups, as well as business and organized labor groups, contains provisions that Nannicelli said are the “strongest carbon capture protections in the nation.”

It requires developers of carbon capture projects to obtain state permits that require safety monitoring during a project’s life cycle and for at least three decades after it finishes. It also requires that the projects result in a net reduction of greenhouse gases – satisfying some environmentalists who worry companies might end up contributing more pollution in building these projects than they would actually sequester.

Pritzker on Thursday pitched the technology – and its regulation in Illinois – as a boon for the state’s economic development.

“This bill adds carbon capture to the growing list of new and burgeoning industries being built right here in our state,” Pritzker said.

This mirrored comments from business leaders Thursday, such as Chris Cuddy, an executive at ADM, the Illinois-based company that operates the oldest large-scale carbon sequestration project in the U.S.

“CCS is an enabler for job creation, innovation and economic growth and the more we do to support it, from this legislation to the building of critical infrastructure, the more this region and the state will benefit,” Cuddy said.

In the legislature, the bill drew bipartisan criticism – as well as bipartisan support.

Republicans in the Statehouse generally opposed the bill, with many noting that no Republicans were involved in the final negotiations around its details. That’s despite most carbon capture projects being located in rural areas which tend to vote for more conservative officials.

Multiple lawmakers also raised concerns over the potential risks to drinking water, notably the Mahomet Aquifer in central Illinois, the sole source of drinking water for hundreds of thousands of people around central Illinois.

“We based it on the science and the data and the modeling that we had access to,” Rep. Ann Williams, D-Chicago, said when asked about the aquifer. “So (we) felt very comfortable about how we were providing safeguards to drill, not just through the aquifer, but anywhere in the state of Illinois.”

While multiple projects have been proposed in Illinois, the largest – from companies Navigator CO2 and Wolf Carbon Solutions – were either canceled or stalled in the face of opposition from landowners and regulators.

One smaller project, from Gibson City-based One Earth Energy, was under consideration for a permit from the Illinois Commerce Commission, but the company requested that the case be pulled in June in anticipation of the bill signing. An administrative judge formally suspended considerations in the case on June 10.

“While this legislation sets some new requirements for our planned carbon capture system in Ford and McLean counties, it creates a path forward for carbon capture here in Illinois,” Steve Kelly, president of One Earth Energy, said in a statement Thursday. “We’re committed to meeting those standards set by our elected officials and we’re excited to continue moving forward in this process.”

Kelly added that the company plans to file new paperwork with the ICC when the moratorium is lifted.

Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service covering state government. It is distributed to hundreds of newspapers, radio and TV stations statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation, along with major contributions from the Illinois Broadcasters Foundation and Southern Illinois Editorial Association.