Champaign-Urbana area lawmakers want legislation to ban carbon capture near the Mahomet Aquifer, the massive underground water flow that supplies nearly a million people with drinking water in Central Illinois.
Democratic State Sen. Paul Faraci and Democratic State Rep. Carol Ammons said they will introduce measures preventing carbon dioxide sequestration wells in 14 counties, including McLean. Those wells are supposed to help reduce greenhouse gasses and address climate change.
"This aquifer serves over 100 communities, businesses, industry, and farmers throughout Central Illinois. It is vital to our economy and well being. We need to ban sequestration activities in order to protect the Mahomet Aquifer from contamination in perpetuity,” said Pam Richart, co-director of the advocacy group Eco-Justice Collaborative.
Earlier this year, Gov. JB Pritzker signed a law to regulate carbon dioxide storage. It requires corporations to provide an alternative drinking source if it becomes contaminated from CO2. Ammons and Faraci said the Mahomet Aquifer is a sole source of drinking water for many residents, so no company could provide an alternate source.
“We must protect our water from corporate interests that prioritize profits over people,” said Ammons. “I fought for the sole source designation in 2015, and I’m standing up again to protect our Mahomet Aquifer, which supplies millions of gallons of water daily to our Central Illinois communities.”
“The Mahomet Aquifer is too valuable to our community to take any chances,” added Faraci.
Three carbon capture and sequestration projects are proposing to inject carbon through the Mahomet Aquifer and its recharge areas and store it under the aquifer, according to the Illinois Prairie Rivers Network, adding there is a history of leaks impacting the Mahomet Aquifer.
In 2016, the environmental group said, methane stored under the aquifer leaked near rural Mahomet, and residents in that area still rely on bottled water.
Ammons and Faraci said the legislation could be introduced as early as next month's fall veto session of the Illinois General Assembly.
