After months of community engagement, the Illinois House and Senate are endorsing a bill that would ban carbon sequestration near the Mahomet Aquifer.
This comes after the Senate put a proposed ban on hold last fall to better study the technology and its environmental risks. Carbon capture technology involves injecting climate warming CO2 deep underground.
Advocates say the ban would protect the aquifer from possible leaks that could lead to contamination of a major water source for much of Central Illinois.
A year ago, Illinois placed a two-year pause on carbon sequestration.
Much of Republican State Sen. Sally Turner's district is served by the Mahomet Aquifer. She's said she's open to carbon capture, but not near the aquifer.
“The biggest thing for me is it's a sole sourced aquifer. It's the water for over a million people. I think that it's really important that we make sure and safeguard that area,” said Turner, adding that protecting the aquifer, so far, has been bipartisan effort.
"Everybody has a source of drinking water wherever they are throughout the state," Turner said. "How would this affect me if it happened to me in my area? So, I think that's how they all look at it. And don't get me wrong, we all want jobs. We all want economic development. We just need to put this process in the right place.”
Even with the bipartisan support, Turner said she and chief sponsor Sen. Paul Faraci, D-Champaign, are ready for further discussion with opponents.
“If there's something that needs to be tweaked to assist in another avenue that would help all the way around, I think Sen. Fauci is willing to look at that,” Turner said. “But we haven't heard what those things are they're looking for. So, we're waiting to see what those things are.”
Andrew Rehn is director of climate policy at the Prairie Rivers Network, a Champaign-based environmental group. Rehn said polluting the aquifer is not worth the risk, citing carbon capture leaks at ADM last year.
“While policy decisions often involve how much risk do we want to take for said economic benefit, for the Mahomet Aquifer, the tolerance has got to be zero,” Rehn said. “And that means that any number you come up with on how much risk you want to take is not appropriate in the Mahomet Aquifer.”
Rehn isn’t opposed to carbon sequestration as a practice, but thinks it should be done someplace else.
“We're taking our aquifer, our sole source of drinking water, and we're proposing to do an experiment under that aquifer doesn't make sense,” Rehn said. “Let's do this somewhere else. Let's not do it under the aquifer. Let's not induce those risks, whatever those risks might be. Let's make sure the risk is zero for a sole source of drinking water.”
Republican State Sen. Chris Balkema who represents parts of Bloomington-Normal is not a sponsor of the bill, but said the issue deeply affects those he represents.
Balkema said he, too, is worried about the possible leaks, but also acknowledges the technology's potential. In his district, companies are working to produce sustainable aviation fuel.
“We have to grow jobs in Illinois,” Balkema said. “We have to find ways for these companies to produce sustainable aviation fuel, and we gotta do all of the above, protecting the environment and the water source, while not losing out to companies outside of Illinois.”
Balkema said he is ready to discuss the issue further on the Senate floor when it heads there April 1. The measure unanimously passed out of an Illinois Senate committee on Thursday.
Illinois currently has a moratorium on all carbon capture pipelines until July 2026.
