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ADM leak a ‘wake-up call’ (Updated)

Friday, Sep 13, 2024 - Posted by Rich Miller

* 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.”

  10 Comments      


Fun with numbers

Thursday, Sep 12, 2024 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Total electric vehicle counts for Illinois as of August 15th of each year, according to the Secretary of State’s office

* I asked Isabel to make a couple of graphs…

* Crain’s headline…


* Scroll way down

A big reason for slower growth in Illinois this year: New registrations of Teslas, which is the top-selling brand of EVs in Illinois and accounts for more than half of the state’s unit sales, dropped 18% in the first six months from the year-ago period.

Elon has been damaging his brand with his online antics

Trump surrogate Elon Musk sends creepy tweet to Taylor Swift as campaign goes beyond weird

* Also, according to AAA, last year at this time, Illinois gas prices averaged $3.979 per gallon. Today, they’re $3.49 per gallon, a 12 percent drop.

* More from the Crain’s story

Illinois has one of the lowest amounts of public chargers per EV in the country, according to data compiled by digital-mapping company Here Technologies and research firm SBD Automotive. Growth in EVs is outpacing the growth in charging capability, and the buildout of public charging points in Illinois has lagged other states, SBD says.

But the state is working to solve that problem. This week, Pritzker announced $25 million in grants to companies who are installing chargers along interstates as part of a nationwide program funded by the Inflation Reduction Act.

Illinois also previously awarded its own funds to build publicly accessible chargers. The state has spent $82.6 million since last year to fund 2,000 fast-charging ports and 638 Level 2 chargers, which will come online this year and next.

That’s still only about half the chargers the state needs, according to the article.

* If the current rate of a 40 percent annual increase holds (and it may not), Illinois will have 837,000 electric vehicles on the road by mid-August of 2030. That’ll obviously be short of the governor’s 1 million goal.

But, if auto manufacturers continue improving their products and Illinois’ charging infrastructure finally catches up with demand, then the goal is achievable.

…Adding… There are also 359,738 hybrid vehicles registered in Illinois. The last time I had a hybrid, I barely used any gasoline except for road trips.

  48 Comments      


Fourth time’s the charm: Chicago data residency ordinance moves forward (Updated)

Thursday, Sep 12, 2024 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* Crain’s in June

Envious of the data center boom in the suburbs and elsewhere around the country, Ald. Gilbert Villegas, 36th, thinks he has the ticket to boost the city’s share of the pie and increase property tax revenue.

Villegas, who chairs the City Council’s Committee on Economic, Capital & Technology Development, proposes 8% of the city’s new data spending go to vendors who are required to store the information in Chicago facilities. He predicts the ordinance would spur data center construction in the city that could one day generate $50 million to $100 million a year in property tax revenue, as well as jobs to build the facilities.

Villegas is hoping the city can replicate the success of Loudoun County, Va., which has one of the nation’s largest concentrations of data centers just outside Washington, D.C. The county gets $800 million a year in taxes from property and equipment related to data centers, which it says has led to a reduction in the overall tax rate over the past 12 years, according to a presentation at a committee hearing in February. […]

The Chicago region is the nation’s third-largest market for data centers, the often-massive buildings that house computer servers required to run websites, process stock trades or route wireless calls and data.

But much of the local construction boom has taken place in the suburbs near O’Hare Airport, where land is cheaper and access to electricity and optical-fiber networks is plentiful. Despite having 29% of the Chicago metro area’s population, the city has just 21% of the region’s data center capacity, according to Intelligence & Strategic Advisors, a consulting firm based in Oak Brook.

* The ordinance was blocked by the mayor’s office and the business community in July

The ordinance has been amended several times since it was first introduced by Ald. Gil Villegas, 36th, who chairs the committee. He says the incentive would encourage data center construction in Chicago, which would boost the city’s property tax base without burdening taxpayers. […]

Ahead of the vote, Johnson’s intergovernmental affairs team whipped votes against the ordinance, and the administration told the committee it was thankful for the amendments but still had concerns. […]

Brad Tietz, vice president of government relations at the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, told the committee the chamber appreciated Villegas’ attempt to lure data centers to the city, but argued the best way forward was through zoning and permitting reforms to make it easier to construct the centers.

Tietz also alleged the ordinance was meant to “support only one company, while simultaneously doing nothing to attract data centers to Chicago, yet imposing antiquated procurement requirements on Chicago government agencies.”

*The ordinance passed the Economic, Capital and Technology Development Committee yesterday. The Tribune

An ordinance requiring Chicago’s data be stored within the United States and adding incentives to encourage data be stored locally is moving forward in the City Council. The measure passed the Economic, Capital and Technology Development Committee on Wednesday and is set to face a full council vote next week.

The ordinance broadly defines data, suggesting the information generated by the city in the many tasks it and its employees complete — such as issuing tickets, collecting fees, sending emails and more — would be affected. No rules govern where Chicago’s data is stored now and it is likely scattered at many locations, said Ald. Gilbert Villegas, 36th, sponsor of the measure and chair of the committee.

The bid to leverage the millions Chicago spends on data storage to spur storage center development is another step toward turning Chicago into the “Silicon Prairie,” Villegas said. State incentives for data centers have already sparked $3 billion in economic development, he added.

“How much of that has come to Chicago? I’ll tell you: less than 15%,” Villegas said. “We have to demonstrate that Chicago is open for business.” […]

The data storage incentives advanced Wednesday are lower than those proposed in a first draft of the ordinance Villegas initially shared. That version faced opposition from the Johnson administration, but the mayor’s team is now “neutral” on the ordinance after a series of changes, Villegas said.

* Sun-Times

A single data center could generate as much as $13 million annually in property taxes, according to ordinance supporters. But many centers are located in Chicago’s suburbs such as Hoffman Estates, where construction has started at the former Sears headquarters to build a massive data center campus.

Advocates say that data centers would create short-term construction jobs and permanent positions, ranging from tech roles to security and maintenance positions. Data center jobs don’t necessarily require a four-year degree and are more accessible to diverse job seekers.

Craig Huffman, CEO of Metro Edge Development Partners and supporter of the ordinance, said in a statement, “As the only Black developer of data centers in Illinois, I am dedicated to paving the way for others who look like me to enter this expanding market, and create new career opportunities and economic growth in underserved communities.”

In 2022, Metro Edge announced plans for the company’s first data center in Illinois Medical District. The 191,000-square-foot facility will provide data storage for hospitals, healthcare providers, universities and corporations, according to the company’s website. A groundbreaking is scheduled for next year.

* Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce…

“The Chicagoland region has become a national and global hub for data center growth, which has led to billions of dollars of investment into our local communities, significant property tax revenues generated, and thousands of union construction jobs. However, despite claims made by proponents, the data residency ordinance before City Council today will give data centers a reason to cross Chicago off their list for site selection. This ordinance would be the first in the country to legislatively mandate data residency requirements and will result in unintended consequences, including increased costs on city vendors and city agencies at a time when the city is already facing a nearly $1 billion budget gap, decreased cybersecurity protections, and reduced efficiency, security and innovation. Data residency is a fundamentally flawed and antiquated concept that contradicts modern data processing and storage practices.

As Chicago nears a precarious fiscal moment, we urge members of City Council to instead focus on ways to actually encourage data center growth and grow Chicago’s tax base, like establishing tax credits for minority-owned data centers, employment incentives to hire from City Colleges of Chicago, and zoning and permitting reforms for data centers. We stand ready to continue working with Alderman Villegas and other members of City Council to ensure Chicago remains a leader in the data center space.”

* The Software & Information Industry Association…

The Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) urges the City Council of the City of Chicago to reject Ordinance 2-68-050, Data Residency Requirements for City Data (“the Ordinance”). SIIA is the principal trade association for those in the business of information, including its aggregation, dissemination, and productive use. Our members include roughly 375 companies reflecting the broad and diverse landscape of digital content providers and users in academic publishing, education technology, and financial information, along with creators of software and platforms used worldwide, and companies specializing in data analytics and information services.

The Ordinance would represent a shift in City policy toward data localization, something unprecedented in the United States. We believe the Ordinance would have significant unintended consequences. Chief among these are decreased cybersecurity protections and a reduction in the general efficiency of data storage practices that accompany localization. The Ordinance would also lead to an increase in data storage costs that will hurt the City’s revenue base.

First, the Ordinance would increase the risk that City data could be exposed to cybersecurity incidents. By centralizing all City data in centers located within the City or the state, rather than taking advantage of hyperscale cloud computing solutions, the Ordinance would in effect put a target on the local data centers readily knowable by a malicious actor. A significant percentage of cloud breaches target on-premises or localized systems as the weakest link. As such, the approach incentivized by the Ordinance would weaken the protection of all City data storage. It would also reduce the ability of service providers to use innovative technologies to improve cybersecurity protections and implement efficient data storage methods that can reduce costs.

Second, localizing data as provided for in the Ordinance would actually increase the City’s storage costs in several ways. Currently, data centers can reduce costs to customers by providing economies of scale. Requiring that data be stored locally would require increased costs to create local architectures and infrastructure to store data, which increases storage costs. This will inevitably have a negative impact on the City’s costs, hurting the goal of increasing the City’s revenue.

…Adding… President of the Chicago Urban League Karen Freeman-Wilson…

Dear Alderman Villegas:

I am writing to express my full endorsement of Ordinance 2-68-050, Data Residency Requirements for City Data, which I believe is an important ordinance that will garner many positive results in our communities, especially in the South and West Side neighborhoods. As the President and CEO of the Chicago Urban League, our organization has been at the forefront of providing strategic and impactful advocacy, programming, and outreach in education, economic development, and social justice. Born out of a national movement to meet the needs of Black people migrating to urban areas in search of a better life, the Urban League has been fearless in our efforts to remove barriers that prevent individuals and families from opportunities that enable them to strengthen their lives and their communities. And this is one of those moments, Alderman Villegas.

The proposed Ordinance for data residency offers significant benefits, particularly for communities of color and underserved areas. By localizing data storage and management, the city can generate substantial economic growth through job creation and increased property tax revenues. This influx of resources can be directed toward improving infrastructure, education, and public services in historically marginalized communities, thereby reducing disparities and promoting equity.

Additionally, local data centers can provide new employment opportunities in tech and related sectors, offering pathways to well-paying jobs and career advancement for residents. By fostering an environment that prioritizes local investment and community engagement, data residency can act as a catalyst for sustainable development and empowerment in Chicago’s diverse neighborhoods. The ordinance has the potential to foster partnerships with minority and women-owned enterprises. This approach ensures that the technology sector’s economic growth, driven by data center developments that prioritize inclusive opportunities for diverse businesses, thrives. By supporting local talent and businesses, we can build a more equitable economy.

The Data Residency Ordinance is necessary and creates accountability in our city agencies. This proposal will help drive economic growth and create opportunities for underserved communities, and I fully support this initiative and look forward to contributing to its success. Thank you for your leadership and dedication to making Chicago a better place for all its residents.

…Adding… Alderman Gilbert Villegas…

The data residency ordinance is designed to stimulate economic activity and create jobs at a critical time for our city. By incentivizing the storage of data in Chicago, we can encourage data center development which would generate new property tax revenue without raising taxes on working families and small businesses. It is bizarre to oppose a measure that drives economic growth, creates jobs, and doesn’t ask taxpayers to bear the burden of closing our almost $1 billion budget gap.

While we appreciate points around zoning and permitting reforms, that doesn’t mean we should pass on opportunities to compete with other regions to host data centers and create a reliable source of new revenue and good-paying jobs.

Also, the ordinance does not require that all city data get stored within city limits, as opponents claim. We’re simply looking to expand our piece of the data center pie and all the benefits that come with it by providing incentives to store more data in Chicago, which is neither a mandate nor a requirement.

We need to be innovative and find new ways to generate revenue without relying on the same old mechanisms of fines, fees, property taxes, and TIF surplus sweeps, which too often fall on the backs of everyday Chicagoans. It’s puzzling to see opposition coming from those who often ask local government to come up with revenue solutions that don’t involve tax increases.

I will continue to push for the passage of this ordinance and urge my colleagues at City Council to join me in positioning Chicago as a leader in the data-driven economy and investing in our city and residents.

Thoughts?

  22 Comments      


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* Open thread
* Isabel’s morning briefing
* SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Supplement to today’s edition (Updated)
* SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Today's edition of Capitol Fax (use all CAPS in password)
* Selected press releases (Live updates)
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