By Joyce Blumenshine

Two current projects raise questions if companies seeking new high-pressure liquified carbon dioxide pipeline routes and carbon dioxide sequestration locations are using tactics to keep information out of the public view.  

Wolf ADM “Mt. Simon Hub”

The Wolf ADM “Mt. Simon Hub” CO2 pipeline is proposed to cross the Mississippi River north of Rock Island and Moline, Illinois, in the Quad cities area which includes Davenport and Bettendorf, Iowa. In Illinois, the pipeline will then cross all or parts of Rock Island, Henry, Stark, possibly a corner of Knox, Peoria, Tazewell, possibly a corner of McLean, Logan, DeWitt, and end in Macon County.  (See map below.) The public mapping from the project states it is for a two-mile wide corridor. Within that corridor, the company has published they will have a 50-foot permanent right-of-way and a 75-foot temporary right-of-way. Narrowing the two-mile corridor down to the actual area impacted for any detail on how close the route may be to communities or public buildings is tough to say the least, and a guess at best.

In contrast to the Navigator Heartland Greenway coming into Illinois further south, the Wolf ADM project has not held public information meetings in Illinois. There are no details on the Wolf “Mt. Simon Hub” website regarding how far apart line shut-off valves will be, if the company will add a colorant and odorant to the gas, and other details of concern.

Wolf ADM is expected to file to the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) for the necessary pipeline construction permit within months, if not weeks. Once that filing is done, the clock begins on the project approval at the ICC level. While the company must provide a detailed filing to the ICC, they can also request protection from releasing information to any case intervenors, to protect company interests. Without knowing the exact route and any engineering specifics, the public is severely hampered in its ability to understand the real impacts of the pipeline. It also means much greater difficulties for those concerned to prepare for the ICC filing. Wolf ADM is certainly well aware of that fact. 

See Population Density Issues Major Concerns for Wolf ADM Mt. Simon Hub CO2 Pipeline for more information about this pipeline.

Navigator Heartland Greenway

The Navigator Heartland Greenway appears to have a two-part plan going in Illinois and one part is clearly not in the general public view. The public can monitor the Friday, February 24th, 2023, Navigator filing to the ICC for a second time, adding a new CO2 pipeline extension into Montgomery County (shown in red on the map below), where CO2 injection well sites and pore space have been acquired. At this point it is not known if the company has enough pore space in Montgomery County for their project, which is stated to collect CO2 from Nebraska, South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, and Illinois locations.

What is not in general public view is the fact Navigator has been working in Logan, Tazewell, and McLean Counties in Illinois to acquire deep well injection sites and underground pore space. The public has to know what name these transactions are been done by and attempt to follow property transactions in these counties if there is any chance to learn about the extent of what is being done. Navigator is not making any CO2 pipeline route through these areas public. The property owners who sign up for Injection well sites and CO2 pore space are not being given information on pipeline routes. How many individuals are tracking this information to follow the extent of what Navigator is planning?  Heart of Illinois Group Sierra Club would like to know: if you have any information please contact Joyce at 309-688-0950 or joblumen@yahoo.com.