Negotiations on a bill creating new state regulations on carbon capture and sequestration brought together parties that had long been split. Some Illinois farmers, however, still feel left out of the agreement.
Central Illinois has been targeted for the process, removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and transporting via pipeline before storing it deep underground, due to its ideal geographic features. But despite those features and federal incentives, two major pipeline proposals have folded due to concerns over the relatively new technology's safety and lack of regulations.
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S enate Bill 1289 looks to fill some of those regulatory gaps and passed largely along party lines, 78-29 in the House and 43-12 the Senate, during the closing days of the spring session. It pauses pipeline construction for the next two years but leaves eminent domain in-tack to the ire of many farmers.
Signs heading southeast into Christian County, saying "No CO2 Pipelines," off of Illinois Route 29 depict that sentiment. The county had been considered as a potential sequestration site for the now cancelled multi-state Navigator Heartland Greenway pipeline, which struggled to curry public favor in the 13 counties it would have ran through in Illinois.
The pipeline would not have ran through lands of many fellow farmers said Mathew Heberling, the county's farm bureau president. He and other members of the bureau had specifically eminent domain as their reason to oppose the stalled proposal.
His concerns are echoed by two of the state's leading agricultural organizations — the Illinois Farm Bureau and Illinois Soybean Growers Association. The state farm bureau had met in Chicago for its annual meeting, building its policy for the upcoming year.
"The delegates made it very loud and clear that eminent domain was a non-negotiable deal, we have to protect landowner property rights," Heberling, a fourth-generation family farmer in Owaneco, recently told The State Journal-Register.
Under the legislation, prospective pipeline companies would need approval from 75% of the owners of the land above the pore space, where the carbon dioxide is stored underground.
The remaining non-consenting landowners would be subject to an order from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources to give up their land in exchange for "just compensation." Concerns exist among Democratic and Republican lawmakers for how that will be calculated.
Sen. Michael Halpin, D-Rock Island, argued pipeline companies will use the bill's language to exploit landowners and pay less than a fair market value for using their land. Bill sponsor Sen. Laura Fine, D-Glenview, said the issue could be revisited over the summer with a possibility for further legislation in the fall veto session.
"This regulatory scheme puts intense pressure on affected landowners to become consenting, so they don't get left holding the bag," Halpin said during floor debate, the sole Democrat in the Senate voting against it. Two others voted present.
Heberling added the possibility exists that non-consenting landowners could get paid nothing under the current language. Both he and Halpin said the provision prompts constitutional concerns.
The bill awaits the signature of Gov. JB Pritzker, who is expected to sign it into law. Carbon capture plays a major role in the state's attempt to cut down carbon emissions, he said in a statement, adding it will bring "thousands of new jobs and billions of dollars in investment to Illinois."
How did an agreement come to fruition?
The governor's office became involved in the final months of negotiations among business interests, labor unions and environmental organizations, who had previously butted heads in earlier iterations over the past two years. The final product provides some victories for each of those groups with some compromises.
"Each side had to make concessions to get where we are today," said Mark Denzler, president and CEO of the Illinois Manufacturers' Association during a May 24 House Energy and Environment Committee hearing.
The moratorium on carbon dioxide pipelines would run until July 2026 or when the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration adopts revised safety regulations, promising to do so after a 2020 pipeline burst occurred in Satartia, Mississippi that hospitalized over 40 people and forced more than 200 evacuations.
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If the federal agency institutes the new rules prior to then, the moratorium will expire and the Illinois Commerce Commission will again be able to review and approve permits. The commerce commission had been considering a smaller-scale project in McLean County from One Earth Sequestration LLC, who will now have to refile once the moratorium is lifted.
Once that process kicks off with the commission, pipeline companies will need to demonstrate their pipelines will lead to net reduction in climate pollution and don't add co-pollutants in the atmosphere. The state and federal Environmental Protection Agencies would also need to sign-off on the underground storage of the liquified carbon dioxide.
The moratorium is perhaps the largest victory for environmental groups while simultaneously the largest concession for business organizations. Still, IMA and the Illinois Chamber of Commerce were ultimately in favor of the bill since it promotes decarbonization without sacrificing industry.
The state will also reap the benefits of an annual fee issued on sequestration operators. Dependent on whether the operator has a project labor agreement, it will either pay a 31 cent or 62 cent fee per-ton of carbon dioxide stored at the site.
Those funds will be divvied up into several funds, covering training services and equipment for local emergency services and the creation of a grant program to benefit eligible environmental projects.
A beginning, not an end
While its backers contend the legislation creates the most robust protections in the nation, opponents note it does not include any change to setback distances between pipelines and residential areas or drinking water supplies.
This was another bipartisan concern for many lawmakers particularly with the Mahomet Aquifer, which provides drinking water for a major share of central Illinois, including Champaign and Peoria. The area already has been hit with a 2016 methane leak that affected more than 800,000 people relying on the aquifer for drinking water.
Sen. Chapin Rose, R-Mahomet, wanted the legislation to include a provision prohibiting injections underneath the aquifer. Many of his constituents still have to rely on bottled water in the aftermath of the prior leak, he said.
“I don’t want to hear a damn thing about cleaning up the f------ environment when these people can’t drink their water,” he said, one of 11 GOP senators voting against the bill.
Fine also wanted those protections but did insist the legislation includes boosted monitoring requirements beyond what the federal government requires. Injection wells, when closed, will be monitored for at least 30 years under her bill.
Fine added the bill has "some of the strongest protections for CCS in the country." Still, she and environmental groups in favor of the legislation indicate that more work could be needed in the future.
"These safeguards will likely need to be strengthened over time as this technology is deployed at-scale as we learn about its risks and needed solutions," said Christine Nannicelli, senior campaign representative for Sierra Club Illinois. "However, it does represent some of the strongest protections in the country and key safeguards at each stage of this industrial lifecycle. We need those in place now."
Contact Patrick M. Keck: pkeck@gannett.com, twitter.com/@pkeckreporter
This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Compromise on carbon dioxide pipelines leaves groups out, Illinois farmers say
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