Carbon Sequestration Project Illinois – Ethanol Plant?

U.S. EPA Seeks Public Comment on Proposed Permit for Carbon Sequestration Injection Well in Decatur, Illinois

Release Date: 04/16/2014
Contact Information: Peter Cassell, 312-886-6234, cassell.peter@epa.gov

CHICAGO – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is accepting public comment on a proposed permit that would allow Archer Daniels Midland to inject carbon dioxide deep underground at a facility in Decatur, Illinois. This process – known as “carbon sequestration” – is a means of storing carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change. The public comment period opens today and closes May 30, 2014; a public hearing will be held on May 21, 2014.

ADM plans to capture carbon dioxide emitted during the production of ethanol at the company’s Decatur facility and to inject the carbon dioxide deep underground in the proposed well. ADM’s goal is to capture and inject 1.1 million metric tons of carbon dioxide each year. Sequestering 1.1 million metric tons of carbon dioxide each year is the equivalent of eliminating carbon emissions from 232,000 cars.

The public hearing on the proposed permit will begin at 7 p.m. on May 21 at the Decatur Public Library, 130 North Franklin Street. Oral and written comments will be accepted at the hearing. Two question-and-answer sessions will be held at the library before the public hearing: from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.

Draft documents and information about the public hearing are available at the Decatur Public Library and on EPA’s website atwww.epa.gov/region5/water/uic/adm. Comments can be submitted online atwww.epa.gov/region5/water/uic/adm or mailed to Allan Batka, U.S. EPA (WU-16J), 77 W. Jackson Blvd., Chicago, IL 60604-3590. For additional information contact EPA’s toll-free line at 800-621-8431, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. (weekdays).

Grant Summary
Motivation/Economics:
Total cost $208 million. DOE share $141.5 million (68%).
The project is to test the storage potential of the Mount Simon Sandstone and the integrity of the overlying sealant rocks. 

Phase 1: DOE awarded $66.7 million of the $84.3 million needed for the project. The DOE announced on June 2010 that Decatur was one of 3 projects to receive up to $612 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act – matched by $368 million in private funding – to demonstrate large-scale carbon capture and storage from industrial sources.

Comment
1. Investing in a corn based ethanol facility ?  (I thought this was a huge water hog and barely efficient).
2. Would not it be better to make this investment in a coal application?

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