PeoriaStory

CO2 pipeline is a threat

PEORIA, IL -- An important news release:

PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                               

A new kind of pipeline for our state concerns the Central Illinois Healthy Community Alliance (CIHCA). Beginning in January, a Texas venture capital company will hold meetings about a liquified carbon dioxide (CO2) pipeline crossing thirteen counties. CIHCA sees liquified CO2 pipelines as major public health and safety concerns.

A CO2 pipeline explosion in February, 2020, spread a gas cloud over Sartartia, Mississippi, sickening people across the town. CO2 is an asphyxiant and displaces oxygen. In too high quantities it can cause unconsciousness or death. Lesser amounts can cause convulsions, disorientation, foaming at the mouth, nausea, vomiting, and other health problems.

In the Sartartia incident, some individuals could not escape the gas cloud because their vehicles could not start due to the displacement of oxygen by the leaking CO2 mixture. Gasoline and diesel vehicles need oxygen to operate and will not run with high levels of CO2 in the air.

Navigator CO2 Ventures, LLC, has announced it plans to pipe CO2 from South Dakota, Nebraska, Minnesota, and Iowa, ending in Illinois. Thirteen Illinois counties will be impacted: Hancock, Adams, McDonough, Henry, Knox, Fulton, Schuyler, Brown, Pike, Scott, Morgan, Sangamon, and Christian. Given the risks posed by CO2 pipelines as well as the probability that such pipelines will extend the useful life of fossil fuels in electricity generation and various industrial processes, it is important people learn more about what is being planned. A major question is if the company is considering eminent domain.

The CO2 pipeline will stop at a yet-to-be announced carbon sequestration site in central Illinois, where the company intends to inject the CO2 deep into the state’s Mt. Simon sandstone formation. Tenaska and Advanced Resources International, Inc., are working on the carbon sequestration location details, according to a Navigator press release.

CIHCA sees a better investment in more renewable energy and energy efficiency, instead of spending millions to build pipelines moving liquid CO2. The organization is especially concerned about any routes through residential areas due to pipeline hazards.

Navigator will hold a virtual meeting on January 14^th, 2022. Registration appears to be limited to landowners only and is at the Navigator Heartland Greenway LLC website. Directions are to click on your state at https://heartlandgreenway.com/landowners/

A series of informational meetings will be held in several counties beginning January 11^th, 2022. As of December, the full listing of Navigator meetings is as follows:

• Tuesday, January 11^th at 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. at the Knoxville American Legion, 749 Henderson Rd., Knoxville, IL 61448, about Henry and Knox Counties
• Tuesday, January 11^th at 6-7:30 p.m. at the Spoon River Outreach Center, 2500 East Jackson, Macomb, IL 61455, about Fulton and McDonough Counties
• Wednesday, January 12^th at 10-11:30 a.m. at the University of Illinois Extension Center, 550 N. Madison, Carthage, IL 62321, about Hancock County
• Wednesday, January 12^th at 6–7:30 p.m. at the Knights of Columbus, Rt. 24 West, Mr. Sterling, IL 62355, about Brown, Schuyler, and Adams Counties
• Thursday, January 13^th at 10-11:30 a.m. at Hamilton’s, 110 N. East St., Jacksonville, IL 62650, about for Pike, Scott, and Morgan Counties
• Thursday, January 13^th from 6-7:30 p.m. at Edgewood Gold Club, 16497 Kennedy Rd., Auburn, IL 62615, about for Sangamon and Christian counties

Please attend and ask questions about safety, construction, materials used, what routes impact residential areas, local impacts to the environment, accident response, inspection frequency, and other issues of concern to you. It is hoped interested community members who do not own land in the pipeline path can attend the meetings, but Navigator controls who attends and who is allowed to speak.

Central Illinois Healthy Community Alliance is a coalition of individuals and organizations committed to creating a sustainable and healthy community for Central Illinois. CIHCA is concerned about air and water pollution and is working to transition Central Illinois to a clean energy economy. We urge transparency and open information regarding new projects, such as the Navigator Heartland Greenway, LLC, CO2 pipeline and carbon sequestration.

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Hog Farm Killed, Aquifer Saved, for now

HAVANA, IL -- Citizen action works. From a news release:

Mason County Residents Get Early Christmas Gift: Swine CAFO FSA Loan Withdrawn

Residents in Mason County, Illinois, specifically in the populated area of Peterville, breathed a sigh of relief upon notification by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 5 that a Farm Service Agency (FSA) government loan application for a new swine concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO) proposal has been terminated.

A Dec. 23 memo from USEPA Region 5 to residents in and near Peterville, which was established in the late 1800s and sits adjacent to the site, stated that “based on recent communications with USDA-FSA on 10/26/2021, 11/12/2021, and 12/21/2021, EPA Region 5 understands that the applicant has withdrawn the funding application for this project.”

The proposed 2,480 head CAFO has drawn considerable opposition from area residents and has been extensively covered by local media since March 2021. It was to be constructed over the shallowest point of the Sole Source Mahomet Aquifer in Mason County. The aquifer provides drinking water for over 500,000 residents in Illinois and posed a threat of contamination to the aquifer and shallow sand point wells of residents living near the site.

Fanter Farms applied for a Beginner Farmer Loan through the USDA direct and guaranteed FSA loan program. In accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), FSA is tasked to consider the environmental and cultural resources effects of government loans through its program.

Many Illinois residents and members of the Mason County Concerned Citizens (MCCC) coalition submitted individual and group comments to the FSA on the potential impacts of the project on the surrounding community and beyond. Issue concerns raised included the impacts to the Sole Source Mahomet Aquifer and shallow sand point wells in a populated area adjacent to the site, local infrastructure costs, property devaluation, the threatened species of Illinois Chorus Frog in the area, and the proven public health impacts of families who reside near CAFOs and manure application sites.

Experts and residents also submitted public comments to FSA on its “finding of no significant impact“ (FONSI) report by the FSA with a request to deny the loan or to perform an Environmental Impact Statement review.

“The FSA only performed a cursory examination or Environmental Assessment (EA) when a more thorough and comprehensive Environmental Impact Study should have been carried out, especially due to the impact on the Mahomet Aquifer,” said Hugh McGarry of the Mason County Board and spokesperson for the MCCC. “But most importantly, the loan decision by FSA of FONSI was based on faulty and incomplete information.”

“The MCCC coalition vows to remain vigilant in their efforts to preserve quality of life in their community,” stated Karen Hudson of the Socially Responsible Agriculture Project. They have joined with others such as the statewide Illinois Coalition for Clean Air and Water in educating the public and elected officials about the devastating impacts wrought on rural communities from loosely regulated CAFOs,” stated Hudson.

About Mason County Concerned Citizens

The Mason County Concerned Citizens is a growing coalition of farmers and residents calling for more stringent regulations regarding industrial animal feeding operations. Follow them on Facebook at The Mason County Hog Farm Forum.  

About Socially Responsible Agriculture Project: SRAP informs the public about the negative effects of industrial livestock operations—also known as factory farms or concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs)—while providing direct assistance to communities impacted by this destructive industry. Through education, advocacy, and community organizing, SRAP empowers people to protect public health, environmental quality, and local economies from the damaging impacts of factory farms, and to advocate for a socially responsible food future. For more information, visit www.sraproject.org.

About Illinois Coalition for Clean Air and Water: ICCAW is a statewide coalition of family farmers and community groups advocating for sound policies and practices that protect the environment, human health, and rural quality of life from the impacts of large-scale, industrialized livestock production facilities in Illinois. For more information, visit www.iccaw.org.    

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