Gov. Pritzker signs carbon capture bill in Decatur

DECATUR, Ill. (WCIA) — A new bill passed through the governor’s desk on Thursday, paving the way for cleaner energy and new jobs. The Safe CCS Act, or the carbon capture bill, has been a big deal in Springfield for the last several months.

“We need to use every tool at our disposal to slow down emissions and address climate change,” Governor J.B. Pritzker said at Thursday morning press conference.

Now, Illinois is one step closer to having cleaner energy and more jobs in the state.

“This bill represents an important moment for ADM and for Central Illinois,” Chris Cuddy, a vice president with ADM, said.

The bill puts safety regulations into place around every stage of the process. That includes capturing carbon emissions, the transport of the emissions, and storage in underground wells.

“We applaud the passage and signing of this legislation which establishes some of the strongest carbon captures in the nation,” Christine Nannicelli with the Sierra Club of Illinois said.

Sen. Bill Cunningham (D) said it captures the carbon emissions at their source and try to return the carbon to the ground.

But, not everyone has been on board.

“Why would we take this risk at this point in time, storing even more stuff that could poison our water?” Sen. Chapin Rose (R) said.

He’s worried about its potential impact on the Mahomet Aquifer.

“There’s no backup plan,” he said. “If you screw this up, you got nowhere else to go for water for half a million people.”

Gov. Pritzker said he wouldn’t have signed this bill if it wasn’t protected. Representative Ann Williams (D) agreed.

“We developed this bill with science in mind,” Rep. Williams said. “We based it on the science of the data and the modeling that we had access to. We felt very comfortable about how we were providing safeguards to drill, not just through the aquifer, but anywhere.”

Now, Sen. Rose is filing a bill to keep this from happening around any soul-source aquifer in Illinois. Right now, that only includes Mahomet’s.

“Whatever it is, I’m gonna try to build a bi-partisan coalition just like the group that signed the letter to keep this off of our water,” he explained.

Meanwhile, others are excited for the economic impact this could have on their own communities.

“We look to see industries coming to this area as they try to reduce their carbon footprint,” Julie Moore Wolfe, Decatur’s mayor, said. “It makes great sense for them to locate here.”

This bill also puts a two-year ban on carbon dioxide pipeline projects. That includes massive multi-state pipeline proposals that have come forward from Wolf and Navigator in recent years. Those projects have not gotten off the ground.

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