* E&E News…

EPA has issued a violation notice to the operator of the country’s first carbon dioxide injection wells for permanent storage, alleging that the company hasn’t complied with its federal permit.

Agribusiness company Archer-Daniels-Midland — also known as ADM — operates a facility in Decatur, Illinois, that injects CO2 into deep rock formations for geologic storage. In a three-page notice, EPA said the company conducted activity that allowed injection and formation fluids into “unauthorized zones,” failed to follow an emergency response and remediation plan and did not “monitor the well in accordance with the Permit.”

EPA declined to go into detail about the violation notice, citing it as an “active enforcement matter.” But ADM said it relates to the corrosion of a monitoring well and not its CO2 injection well, which is still operating.

In March, “we detected some corrosion in a section of one of two deep monitoring wells at approximately 5,000 feet and below,” ADM spokesperson Jackie Anderson told POLITICO’s E&E News in a statement. That corrosion allowed CO2 and formation fluid to migrate into a formation where those liquids weren’t permitted to go, she said.

* From the violation notice…

Based on EPA’s inspection, review of the wells and the Permit, and review of monitoring reports submitted by you for monitoring periods from January 1, 2022, to July 1, 2024, you failed to meet the requirements of the Permit and the UIC regulations in the following ways:

• Construction, operation, maintenance, plugging, or conducting any other injection activity in a manner that allows the movement of injection and formation fluids into any unauthorized zones.
• Failure to follow the Emergency Response and Remediation Plan in accordance with the Permit;
• Failure to monitor the well in accordance with the Permit;

* Illinois Clean Jobs Coalition…

On Friday, September 13, E&E News reported that corrosion in one of Archer-Daniels-Midland Co.’s (ADM) carbon sequestration wells in Decatur, Illinois, allowed carbon dioxide (CO2) to leak. One month prior on August 14, the US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) filed a Notice of Violation to ADM related to the company’s Class VI underground injection well facility, alleging that ADM failed to comply with federal regulations and the terms and conditions of its permit.

The Illinois Clean Jobs Coalition worked closely with Governor Pritzker and his administration, Senator Laura Fine, Representative Ann Williams, and industry stakeholders in the spring legislative session to pass a Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS) protections law that ensures Illinois communities and our land and water are protected from the risks associated with new CCS projects. Bolstered by new federal taxpayer incentives, there are 22 pending applications for new CO2 injection wells in Illinois.

In response, the Illinois Clean Jobs Coalition released the following statement:

“This incident demonstrates how important strict CCS regulations are to protect our communities and environment, and is exactly why we passed the CCS protections act in Illinois this year. There are significant risks at every step of the CCS process, and it’s not a matter of if carbon sequestration facilities leak, but rather when.

“Neither ADM nor the USEPA have released any details about the nature of the leak or its impacts on the local community, groundwater, or the environment, and we are anxious to learn more. This is why we fought for more rigorous public notification requirements, emergency response planning, site monitoring, and to require that sequestration site operators are legally and financially responsible for sequestration sites in the CCS Protections Act. The total lack of public notification of the leak in the month following the agency’s alleged notice of violation to ADM is unacceptable and dangerous.

“When CCS protections passed this spring, we made clear that the fight to protect our communities, land, water, and climate, from the risks associated with every step of the CCS process was not over, and that these protections would likely need to be updated and strengthened as we learned more about these projects. There are real concerns from many legislators, community partners, and Illinoisans who rely on public drinking water about the need for even stronger protections, and this incident shows that these concerns need to be taken seriously to ensure Illinoisians are protected to the fullest extent possible.”

* Protect The Mahomet Aquifer campaign…

A recent leak at Archer Daniels Midland’s carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) facility underscores concerns for the safety of the Mahomet Aquifer, a critical drinking water source for nearly one million people across 14 counties in Central Illinois.

The leak, reported by E&E News to have occurred at ADM’s ethanol plant near Decatur, has raised fears about the long-term safety and viability of carbon storage in the region. ADM began sequestering CO2 on its site in 2011, and has injected and stored about 4.5 MMT CO2 over the past 13 years. The leak occurred about five miles outside of the Mahomet Aquifer.

This leak spotlights the risk to the Mahomet Aquifer if carbon sequestration is not banned through or under the aquifer.

This week, Sen. Paul Faraci (D-Champaign) and Rep. Carol Ammons (D-Urbana) introduced legislation that “would prohibit carbon sequestration activity over, under or through a sole-source aquifer.” The bills will be considered during the November veto session and HB5874 is already available on ilga.gov.

“This leak is a wake-up call. It’s a stark reminder that carbon capture is not the climate solution it’s sold as, but a dangerous gamble with our drinking water,” said Pam Richart, co-director of Eco-Justice Collaborative.

The Mahomet Aquifer was designated a sole source aquifer by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 2015, meaning that contamination would create a significant public health hazard with no feasible alternative drinking water source available to the region.

“The proposals for storing CO2 under the Mahomet Aquifer and its recharge areas now under review by the U.S. EPA are over 50 times that already sequestered by ADM, and this could be just the beginning,” Richart said. “The Mahomet Aquifer, which sustains nearly a million people in Central Illinois, cannot afford to be put at risk by experimental technologies like carbon capture and storage. ”

“We applaud Senator Faraci, Representative Ammons, Senator Rose and Representative Schweizer for taking action to protect the Mahomet Aquifer. This incident demonstrates why a ban is the only way we can be certain that the Mahomet Aquifer will be protected,” said Andrew Rehn, Director of Climate Policy at Prairie Rivers Network. “We need clean water forever, and to do that, we must take action now to protect the Mahomet Aquifer before it’s too late.”

The U.S. EPA is reviewing several carbon sequestration projects across Central Illinois. Three of the projects aim to inject carbon through the Mahomet Aquifer and store it underground, potentially exposing the water supply to contamination from carbonic acid and harmful heavy metals.

The push for a legislative ban aligns with growing public sentiment against CCS projects. A recent poll conducted by Embold Research found that 71% of Illinois registered voters oppose carbon sequestration under the Mahomet Aquifer, citing fears of water contamination and the unproven safety of the technology.

ADM has received more than $281 million in federal funding for carbon capture and storage projects since 2009, in addition to tens of millions of dollars in tax credits.

Earlier this year, Governor JB Pritzker signed Senate Bill 1289 to regulate carbon capture and storage in Illinois. The law requires corporations to provide an alternative drinking source if it becomes contaminated by a leak. But there is one critical gap that wasn’t addressed in the legislation — sole source aquifers like the Mahomet. The sole source designation means that there is no reasonably available alternative drinking water source for users of the Mahomet Aquifer. Therefore, no company would be able to provide an alternate source.

The Protect The Mahomet Aquifer campaign is urging citizens to contact their local legislators and demand that the proposed legislation to ban CCS projects under the aquifer be passed without delay.

…Adding… Sen. Chapin Rose…

State Senator Chapin Rose released the following statement regarding the reported leak of a carbon sequestration well operated by ADM in Decatur:

“This is exactly what I was sounding the alarm about back in May when Democrats were ramming through their supposedly ‘green’ Carbon Sequestration bill. This is exactly why that bill should not have passed, why Governor Pritzker should never have signed that bill. Because it leaves the Mahomet Aquifer exposed to this exact danger. And this is why my legislation, Senate Bill 3963, which would protect the aquifer from CO2 injection, needs to be passed immediately.”