| October 2024 |
Your Comments to U.S. EPA and Illinois DNR Needed: Ask for a Ban on Any New CO2 Injection Wells Until Full Information and Solutions Found at ADM
By Joyce Blumenshine
ADM knew in 2022 that they had a carbon dioxide monitoring well problem but they did not inform EPA. The public first learned of this when a U.S. EPA Violation Notice issued to ADM was made public by the press on September 13, 2024. The violation was due to a leaking monitoring well that allowed the movement of injected carbon dioxide and formation fluids containing chemicals, wastewater or other substances, into unauthorized zones deep underground. The company indicated corrosion was the leak cause at the base of the monitoring well where the first leak was detected. Then, in a September 27th letter to EPA, ADM stated the company is stopping all CO2 underground injection due to failures found in their remaining monitoring well.
The second leak is still under investigation, but concerns include this leak may be from a hole in the CO2 storage reservoir meaning the ground layers stated to permanently keep the CO2 deep underground are not perfect. Repeated claims by carbon dioxide sequestration and injection proponents that ground layers will keep the CO2 from moving are now fully in question. Until these incidences, ADM was the nationally leading success story for carbon capture and sequestration.
Please send your personal letter, email, or phone your U.S. Representative and Senators. Ask they support a freeze on all carbon dioxide deep well injection permits until ADM has made public why their monitoring wells leaked, how they are preventing the escaped CO2 and formation fluids from migrating further, and how these problems will be prevented in the future. The U.S. EPA issues Class VI CO2 deep injection well permits and 22 new deep well permits are pending in Illinois.
We urgently need a hold on any new permits and a ban on any CO2 injection where aquifers are at risk. Please go to the Prairie Rivers Network and the Protect the Mahomet Aquifer websites and sign the petitions to ban CO2 sequestration under the Mahomet.