Approaching downstate Decatur by car, it’s not unusual to smell the huge Archer Daniels Midland industrial complex before seeing it. The sweet aroma of fermenting grain wafts through vehicle windows and air vents, a sign that ethanol fuel is being brewed. That process, in turn, produces carbon dioxide, a heat-trapping greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change.
ADM has been pioneering carbon capture and sequestration, an emerging technique to liquefy and bury carbon dioxide that otherwise would go into the atmosphere. This page has supported the efforts to bring carbon capture online at a scale that could make a big positive difference as the world moves — slowly — to reduce emissions.
Rural Illinois especially stands to benefit from an unusual geological formation that makes the state ideal for carbon capture. With the Biden administration providing enormous grants and tax incentives to promote the technology, Illinois could be in line for billions of dollars in new investments that would create thousands of jobs.
Nobody said it would be easy — and we’re disappointed to see just how difficult this pollution-busting effort has become. Not once but twice so far this year, leaks have marred the progress being made at ADM’s carbon-dioxide sequestration wells, and the company stands accused of failing to properly monitor its operations and follow its approved emergency plan.
These issues have contributed to exaggerated fears about suffocating gas bubbling up from deep below, horror-movie-style, or infiltrating the water supply. No one wants to turn on their taps and get hot and cold running club soda, after all.
Based on public statements from the company and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the leaks at ADM were contained far underground, posing no threat to the air or drinking water.
The EPA pointed out that nearby public water systems draw on Lake Decatur as their main reservoir or rely on shallow wells less than 110 feet deep. The initial leak occurred about 5,000 feet below ground level, separated from the water supply by layers of rock stacked vertically for almost a mile. The second leak also occurred a mile underground, prompting ADM to temporarily pause its carbon-dioxide injections while it investigated.
The same environmental advocates and landowners who’ve been skeptical of the technology have been making the most of these setbacks at ADM, raising concerns that carbon-capture could have catastrophic consequences.
The Mahomet Aquifer, a formation of sand and porous rocks buried deep beneath East Central Illinois, provides millions of gallons of groundwater each day for homes, farms and commercial uses. It’s considered the sole source of drinking water for Champaign and other Illinois communities that would be in big trouble if it became polluted.
Illinois lawmakers responding to concerns that future carbon-capture projects could threaten the aquifer, among other fears, approved a law in July that imposes additional regulations around every step of the technology.
Before any new projects can proceed, the law requires the Illinois Commerce Commission to run the plans through a “rigorous and transparent assessment process,” which sounds to us like bureaucrat-speak for, “Take a number. This is going to be awhile.” The law also imposed a two-year moratorium on development of the pipelines used to deliver liquid carbon-dioxide to Illinois for sequestration.
The law could have ended up worse. The Illinois Manufacturers’ Association, among other business interests, supported the final bill.
Still, there’s nothing like hyped-up fears and a fresh pile of red tape to ensure this technology goes nowhere fast. And now critics have seized on the ADM news to claim the new Illinois law doesn’t go far enough, pushing for more red tape.
Some hard-core environmentalists are eager to ban carbon capture entirely, just as they oppose practically any effort to reduce the impact of carbon emissions short of eliminating fossil fuels — which, as a practical matter, won’t happen for decades.
With yet another giant hurricane striking Florida, not to mention an uptick in floods, wildfires, droughts, heat waves and increasingly severe storms around the globe, the world needs every technology it can bring to bear to combat climate change. There’s no single solution just over the horizon, but rather a combination of solutions.
Renewable energy, electric vehicles, greater conservation and more efficient use of fossil fuels all can play important roles. The jury is out on just how much of a contribution can come from carbon capture, which is still in its infancy.
If it’s smothered in its crib, the world will never know.
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