Meeting in Gibson City on CO2 Pipelines, Carbon Sequestration Reset for Feb. 6
The CO2 would be captured, dehydrated, compressed and readied for transport at the ethanol facility located on the western edge of Ford County.
A meeting about CO2 pipelines and carbon sequestration originally scheduled for Tuesday, Jan. 16, has been rescheduled for 6:30 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 6, at the Kruse Center at 207 N. Lawrence St. in Gibson City, Illinois.
The meeting had been postponed due to extreme cold.
The Coalition to Stop CO2 Pipelines is organizing the meeting to educate the public about the risks of CO2 pipelines and carbon sequestration and what people can do to protect their families, land and water.
For more information, people can contact coalition@noillinoisCO2pipelines.org.
The meeting was scheduled after Gibson City-based One Earth Energy became the latest company to formally ask state regulators for permission to build a pipeline capable of transporting for permanent storage the carbon dioxide captured from ethanol production. One Earth Sequestration filed Oct. 18 its Application for Certificate of Authority (CoA) with the Illinois Commerce Commission to construct in Illinois the 7.34-mile One Earth Sequestration (OES) Pipeline.
The project represents the third proposed CO2 pipeline before the ICC, after Wolf Carbon Solutions applied to build 166 miles of the Mt. Simon Hub Pipeline and Navigator CO2 Ventures moved to build 292 miles of the Heartland Greenway Pipeline System in Illinois. Navigator’s project was canceled on Oct. 20, and Wolf’s project is still moving through the ICC review process.
Unlike the previous two proposed interstate pipelines, the OES Pipeline would have a smaller footprint and function as an intrastate project. The OES Pipeline would transport liquid carbon dioxide captured from the 150-million-gallon ethanol facility operated by One Earth Energy in Gibson City to an injection site in McLean County, according to the 36-page filing.
About 420,000 metric tons of CO2 is produced by the ethanol facility each year, but the pipeline would be built with the capacity to transport up to 4.5 million metric tons annually, “capable of servicing additional third-party customers looking to lower their CO2 emissions,” the filing reads.
The emitted CO2 would be captured, dehydrated, compressed and readied for transport at the ethanol facility located on the western edge of Ford County. It would then move west and north into McLean County through a 6.72-mile trunkline before splitting into 0.62 miles-worth of lateral lines. Those lateral lines would connect to three separate injection wells, according to the filing.
An Agricultural Impact Mitigation Agreement (AIMA) related to the proposed project has been finalized between the company and the Illinois Department of Agriculture, according to the filing.
If approved, construction of the OES Pipeline would start in 2024, with service expected in 2025.
The proposed project is largely the result of a multiyear effort, launched in 2020, between One Earth Energy and the Illinois State Geological Survey to study whether the facility’s CO2 emissions could be injected below ground near the plant.
If approved, the OES Pipeline would sequester an amount of CO2 equivalent to removing 100% of the vehicles registered in Ford County, 59.7% of the vehicles registered in McLean County and offsetting 100% of the electricity used by all homes in both counties, the filing states.
And the project would ensure the “long-term viability” of the ethanol facility and the Illinois ethanol industry because it will enable the facility to reach its carbon reduction goals, according to One Earth’s filing.
“Not only will the OES Pipeline and the OES CCS System benefit the ethanol facility, but it will also support and benefit local farmers, plant workers, truck drivers, contractors, local businesses and numerous other individuals who produce, market and distribute ethanol,” the filing states.
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