Opposition to carbon pipelines grows after monitoring well leaked in Illinois

After a monitoring well leak in Decatur, Illinois, opponents of carbon pipelines argue that the injection process itself isn’t safe, let alone pipeline projects that stretch across the Midwest.

Archer Daniels Midland was the first place in the country to ever put in a CO2 sequestering well, starting injecting in 2011. Over the course of a few years, ADM has put a million metric tons of CO2 into the injection well.

Such wells monitor the movement of CO2 within the injection well. These wells help ensure that the CO2 is spreading as expected and that there are no signs of leakage. In Decatur, a monitoring well leaked.

Jule Fosdick, a landowner and opponent of CO2 pipelines, said there are currently 22 injection well applications with the Environmental Protection Agency for sites in Illinois that are scheduled to have draft permits issued in the next six months.

"So now both of their monitoring wells have failed, and that tells me that the technology is just not there to know how to engineer a monitoring well that’s going to last,” said Fosdick, who lives in central Illinois.

Enactment of the SAFE CCS Act passed by state lawmakers in late May makes Illinois just the second state after California to put a moratorium on approval of carbon dioxide pipelines while the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration decides on regulations for such projects.

"If injection is not safe, then there’s no reason for [carbon] pipelines to bring CO2 to an injection well,” said Fosdick. The leak in Decatur "tells me that injection is not safe. As a landowner, who is looking at potentially having CO2 under our property, a leak is my worst nightmare.”

Eighty-one percent of registered voters say they oppose corporations utilizing eminent domain for private projects, according to a new poll. The poll, commissioned by Bold Alliance, was conducted by Embold Research and surveyed registered voters across six Midwestern states.

Fosdick said that poll was conducted before the Decatur monitoring wells leaked. According to reports in March, ADM detected some corrosion in a section of one of two deep monitoring wells

"They’re moving forward with this technology because there’s political pressure. This is to achieve a political goal of taking CO2 out of the air,” said Fosdick.

Fosdick said PHMSA is only working on pipeline regulations, not the injection wells.

"The injection wells, that’s all under EPA. EPA has regulations in place and what I find stupid is that EPA put out a proposed course of action, what they demand of ADM, in response to this leak,” said Fosdick. “I think they should’ve figured out what they’re going to do about a leak before they started issuing permits for wells.”

Prior to the law being signed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker, lawmakers expressed concerns about eminent domain and aquifer protection not being included in the SAFE CCS Act.