* Capitol News Illinois…

An Illinois Senate committee hit pause on a bill to ban carbon sequestration injections near aquifers after more than an hour of debate Wednesday.

Senate President Don Harmon, D-Oak Park, asked that the Senate Executive Committee to wait to act on Senate Bill 3968, which would have banned the practice, until lawmakers can learn more about the carbon injection process and its environmental risks. The bill was proposed after it was revealed that ADM, the Decatur-based agriculture giant, violated federal regulations when liquid carbon dioxide leaked into areas outside the scope of their permit. […]

The Mahomet Aquifer stretches across central Illinois from the Illinois River to the Indiana state line. The aquifer is federally designated as a “sole source” for hundreds of thousands of residents in Central Illinois, meaning there are no easily available backup sources of drinking water if the aquifer were to become contaminated. […]

The bill was proposed by two senators served by the aquifer, Sen. Paul Faraci, D-Champaign, with Republican Sen. Chapin Rose, R-Mahomet, lending bipartisan support. Faraci told committee members the drinking water’s protection has been the top concern in his district, while Rose vocally opposed a measure that passed in May to temporarily pause then allow for carbon capture technology in Illinois, in part because it did not contain protections for aquifers.

That law imposed a two-year moratorium on new pipeline construction for transporting captured carbon to storage sites in Illinois while the federal government works out new regulations. Once the two years pass, or the federal government establishes regulations, the Illinois Commerce Commission will then oversee a strict permitting process to approve projects that have already been granted federal permits.

Harmon indicated that two-year ramp gives lawmakers time to further discuss potential protections for aquifers.

* Center Square…

An assessment from the Illinois Geological Survey noted the vulnerability of the [Mahomet Aquifer], warning that carbon capture activities would need to be closely monitored to prevent environmental damage.

Senate President Don Harmon, D-Oak Park, urged lawmakers not to jump to conclusions.

“I view this as the beginning of a very critical conversation and I’m glad the surveys are involved,” said Harmon. “I would like to digest this and get even more expert information.”

Archer Daniels Midland’s carbon capture facility in central Illinois was the first permitted commercial carbon sequestration operation in the country, but has experienced two leaks this year.

* WAND TV…

Faraci and Sen. Chapin Rose (R-Mahomet) said the legislation should be a top priority for lawmakers to pass during veto session. Rose stressed this shouldn’t be a partisan issue since there is a common sense solution.

“The point is we shouldn’t have any risk,” Rose said. “There’s no acceptable risk because this is the sole source. There is no other alternate source where you just turn on a switch and you get water from somewhere else. You can’t.”

* Gov. Pritzker was asked about the new proposal yesterday…

Let me be clear, we all want to protect the Mahomet Aquifer, and we want to make sure that carbon sequestration is something that’s good for the state and for the country. So thinking about, you know, legislation about it is the right thing to do if it needs to be done. Remember that the legislation that we passed actually doesn’t directly have any threat to the Mahomet Aquifer. So question is, do you have to have a new piece of legislation to address something that doesn’t seem to be faced with the legislation that we already have on the books.

* Press release…

In response to Senate leadership’s decision to withhold a vote on the Mahomet Aquifer protections bill today, the Protect the Mahomet coalition released the following statements:

“I’m disappointed in the Senate leadership’s decision to withhold a vote on the Mahomet Aquifer protections bill today,” said Andrew Rehn, director of Climate Policy at Prairie Rivers Network. “Prairie Rivers Network will engage in the ‘continued conversations’ that Senate leadership is calling for, but the need is clear: Central Illinois needs a ban on carbon sequestration through and under the Mahomet Aquifer to protect our drinking water.”

“I’m not sure what there is left to ‘get right.’ The right thing to do is to protect the Mahomet Aquifer, where the risk tolerance is zero,” said Pam Richart, co-director of Eco-Justice Collaborative. “During the hearing, the risks to our drinking water were underplayed by industry and experts. What wasn’t discussed was the failures of ADM’s leaking project. At ADM, we experienced a design failure, a material failure, an operator failure, and a moral failure. The projects already proposed (and there could be more) would be 50 times the size of ADM’s existing project, which has already leaked twice.”

“We were very disappointed this important bill didn’t proceed today,” said Dawn Dannenbring, a Leader with Illinois People’s Action. “The Mahomet Aquifer still needs protection. The Illinois Senate needs to hear from everyone who is concerned about their safe drinking water after today’s hearing.”

* WCIA…

Opponents of the legislation say they understand the concerns but argue the state has the strongest protections in the nation on this technology.

“It departs from the science based regulatory approach for CCS that was negotiated in the spring session and passed into law with strong support,” Brad Stotler with the Illinois Renewable Fuels Association said during the hearing.