As a Gibson City ethanol producer scales back plans to transport and store sequestered carbon in a McLean County well, nearby residents and environmental advocates worry the pipeline may risk air quality.
One Earth Energy held its fourth meeting Thursday evening at the Interstate Center in Bloomington, part of a series of public meetings presenting its adjusted carbon capture proposal. Around 60 people heard the company’s new plans, with about 20 making public input.
Steve Kelly, CEO of One Earth Energy, told attendees that after hearing comments at its previous meeting Sept. 16, his company has lowered the number of injection sites from three wells to one. He said the company would extend a five-mile pipeline west of the plant to the well. Among additional features, Kelly noted the new pipeline design shrinks the pipeline down from 16 inches to 8 inches in diameter.
At a prior meeting last month, public commenters expressed concern with how close the wells were to the Mahomet Aquifer. During Thursday’s meeting, Kelly said the project is clear of the aquifer.
Kelly said the pipeline route would not cross any municipal boundaries or require eminent domain. Over the life of the project, he said it would generate $37 million in tax revenue and support corn production in Central Illinois along with the regional agriculture economy.
“For example, today our plant consumes about 43 million bushels of corn,” Kelly said. "In the near future, we'll be consuming about 70 million bushels of corn.”
When asked what’s driving demand for its carbon storage plans, Kelly explained One Earth Energy produces fuel-grade ethanol that’s blended into the gasoline market. If his company can reduce the plant's carbon footprint, he said its ethanol could qualify as sustainable aviation fuel.
The project is currently undergoing a pre-filing process with the Illinois Commerce Commission. Once One Earth Energy applies for a permit and receives additional approval from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and other review processes, Kelly said it could obtain an authorization from the ICC next year.
Several people who gave comment at the meeting said the ethanol plant isn't hearing their concerns. However, Kelly said in an interview after the meeting that the the company heard a lot of good things Thursday evening.
Kelly explained that One Earth has listened through the public outreach that they've done over the past three years.
"So, we have listened and we have changed, and we've modified it to make a much safer product," Kelly said.
‘Ugly democracy’ backed as ‘danger zone’ looms
Several commenters at the meeting pointed to a February 2020 rupture of a CO2 pipeline near Satartia, Miss.
They included Sherilyn Meiners, who said she’s lived outside of Anchor for 50 years. When CO2 was released in Mississippi, she said a “heavy invisible cloud” came over the town and people caught in the plume had trouble breathing. At least 45 people were hospitalized.
“Federal investigators found that the company's dispersion model underestimated the area the rupture could affect,” Meiners said. “That model left Satartia outside the danger zone, so no one in town had been told about the pipeline, and no one knew what to do."
Meiners asked for One Earth Energy to release their plume modeling before filing with the ICC. She noted the pipeline in Mississippi was broken after heavy rains caused a landslide, and then “Satartia’s residents found out what the model got wrong the night the pipe broke."
“We are asking to find out now,” Meiners said.
Wes Ifft, also of rural Anchor, said environmental advocacy group Eco-Justice Collaborative had mapped 1,700 homes within a two-mile range of the proposed pipeline and well. He added that area includes 21 sensitive sites in Gibson City, including four schools, childcare sites, a hospital, senior care homes and clinics.
“Most are children or elderly patients who can't walk without help. None of them can simply get in a car and leave, and in a CO2 release, cars may not run anyway,” said Ifft.
He asked if One Earth Energy had tested local wind patterns, what could happen under still conditions and how people would be evacuated and rescued from a C02 leak.
“If you can’t answer those questions, you aren’t ready to file with the ICC,” Ifft said.
Other commenters backed the ethanol producer’s carbon storage plans. Among its supporters was Tom Bennett, former Republican state representative from the area.
As a public servant, Bennett said he’s learned that informed decisions are needed when important decisions affect their community. He said he’s worked with Kelly and other One Earth Energy staff members for several years and is satisfied with their answers.
“One Earth Energy has taken a thoughtful, responsible approach with safety, sound science, and our communities in mind, and that's why I strongly support this project,” Bennett said. “I believe it can be good for Gibson City, good for Ford County, and good for McLean County, and good for our future."
Tyler Young of rural Saybrook said he supports One Earth Energy’s sequestration plans. Young said he is a fourth-generation farmer with a wife, kids, pets and livestock living in the area.
He also formerly worked as a safety manager at the plant.
"You get the idea that there are hazards around every day that are safely handled by people every day," Young said.
He said economic benefits from property taxes and additional careers will help solidify a community that lost 100 jobs after the closure of a manufacturing facility, “which used to be a cornerstone of eastern McLean County.”
Young also targeted data presented in the Eco-Justice Collaborative map plotting residences by the pipeline. “Three of these dots are stuff we store equipment in that don't have running water, but are labeled as rural homes,” he said.
Based on turnout of a previous meeting held in Ford County over the CO2 project, Young said there has been meaningful outreach to residents living in the Gibson City area.
“The opposition seems to think that they can throw any topic at the wall [and] see if it sticks, because they've been stating many times they'd just rather see this project go away,” Young said. “This is democracy at work. It's ugly, but it's necessary.”
‘Murphy’s law happens over time’
Pam Richart, co-director of Champaign-based Eco-Justice Collaborative, said after the meeting that “there was no information to comment on.”
Richart said the company didn’t present visual maps of homes near the route or fluid modeling of a carbon dispersion event. During her comment, she said she was submitting her map for the record to show what needs to be considered for safety.
Richart said she is not against One Earth Energy sequestering carbon, adding a company has a right to make money.
“But they do not have a right to put their business interests before the public and before safety,” Richart continued.
John Sedbrook, a professor of biology at Illinois State University, gave public comment, describing the carbon being emitted from the ethanol plant as a fermentation reaction — the same used to bake bread or brew beer.
He supported One Earth’s Energy plan and praised its efforts to mitigate climate change. Sedbrook also noted the pipeline that burst in Satartia, Miss., was 24 inches in diameter and held 9 times the volume of the line being proposed.
"It's going to be buried close to a mile deep, or 7,000 feet, and that [geology] structure is very stable. It's been there for hundreds of millions of years,” said Sedbrook.
Dane Simpson said he hadn’t planned to comment at the meeting, but he felt compelled to after hearing the opposition speak. He said industry professionals will build the pipeline to the highest standards possible.
“The project in Mississippi was installed by untrained, low-skilled, low-wage workers. That's not going to be the case here in McLean County,” Simpson said.
Robert Meiners, husband of Sherilyn Meiners, said Gibson City has had its fair share of widespread flooding.
“Big rains are an issue,” he said, adding that Gibson City saw 10 inches of rain in 10 hours on Aug. 21, 2021.
Meiners said he’s worked with tile drainage contractors for more than 35 years, and one big issue they run into during extreme rain is “floating.” When a trench is backfilled with dirt that’s more porous than the virgin soil that was dug out of it, he said water can accumulate and push the pipe upward.
Then, Meiners said, the pipe can buckle, break or float out of the bottom of the trench. He said he hasn’t seen anything in One Earth Energy’s documentation or presentation that would protect the pipeline from external forces like excessive rainfall.
“I believe in Murphy's law, and that's what usually happens over time. And, this will have a Murphy, and it will occur,” said Meiners. “ … I'll sell you a London Bridge if you believe it won't.”
