Illinois legislature passes carbon capture and sequestration regulations

Environmental advocates are touting Illinois' recently passed carbon capture and sequestration bill as one of the strongest in the nation — though they also say it doesn't go far enough.

With dozens of projects being proposed in Illinois, the legislation touches on all parts of the process: capture, transportation and storage. Highlights include a two-year moratorium on CO2 pipelines or until federal safety standards are released, “do no harm” mandates to limit emissions from polluting facilities, and a requirement that pipeline operators use more enhanced modeling for Illinois’ emergency planning and first responders in case of a disaster.

Having passed the Senate May 26 after weeks of intense negotiations, the legislation now heads to the governor’s desk for the final stamp of approval.

“Illinois is a national leader on climate and energy policy, and (the bill) ensures that if companies are going to use CCS as a climate mitigation strategy, they will need to meet some of the strongest standards in the nation,” Rep. Ann Williams, a Chicago Democrat and lead sponsor of the bill, said.

Carbon capture technology has been at play for nearly a century to separate the CO2 sometimes found in natural gas reservoirs from the salable methane gas. The resulting carbon is commonly used today for enhanced oil recovery — a use that Illinois’ bill bans.

Instead, the technology has emerged as a potential climate solution. The idea is to pull carbon out of the air — or from existing industrial processes such as ethanol production — and store the potent greenhouse gas deep in underground formations for perpetuity.

Though the rollout of carbon capture and sequestration projects is in the early stages, recent federal incentives have energized the industry, and Illinois is particularly attractive for its flat landscape and geology.

“The geology of Illinois is ideal for safe carbon storage, with the Mount Simon Sandstone capped by layers of sedimentary rock that act as a ‘seal,’” according to the Prairie Research Institute, which is based at the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana. “For almost 20 years, PRI geologists and engineers have been developing methods for the safe capture and underground storage of CO2 from power plants and industrial operations, helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Multiple projects have shown that carbon storage can be done safely and effectively in Illinois.”

Already, companies have proposed injecting CO2 underground through 22 wells in six Illinois counties and three CO2 pipelines have been proposed in 23 counties.

Jenny Cassel, a senior attorney for nonprofit Earthjustice who was involved in drafting the bill, said the legislation was crucial given the state’s position.

“I think a lot of us are not confident that our geology is sort of impeccable, but nonetheless, with the tax incentives and geologists talking up Illinois’ underground subterranean conditions as sort of the place to be for this, it seems to our coalition that this is coming,” she said. “With this barreling toward us, given the IRA money really making this more of a potentially viable economic activity, it was critical to get these protections in place.”

While the bill took a significant step to regulate the industry, Cassel said it fell short in several areas, one being landowner protections.

As introduced, the bill would have required that project owners obtain surface rights from 100% of impacted landowners. As passed, the legislation permits an owner to proceed so long as they obtain surface rights from 75% of impacted landowners.

This provision in particular also drew opposition from the Illinois Farm Bureau.

Another major compromise, Cassel added, was the bill did not ban projects that go through sole-source aquifers. The Environmental Protection Agency defines a sole source aquifer as one that supplies at least 50% of the drinking water for its service area.

“This bill begins to address some of the greatest threats from CCS and offers nearby communities concerned about potentially deadly leaks and disasters critical protections to guard against and address problems,” Cassel said in a news release. “While I am profoundly disappointed that industry did not agree to our recommendation to ban injection through the Mahomet and other sole-source aquifers, the bill provides far more protections than are in place today.”

· Jenny Whidden, jwhidden@dailyherald.com, is a climate change and environment writer working with the Daily Herald through a partnership with Report For America supported by The Nature Conservancy. To help support her work with a tax-deductible donation, see dailyherald.com/rfa.