carbon dioxide

Three companies are proposing pipelines across the Midwest that would carry carbon dioxide captured from ethanol plants to underground sequestration sites. The plan is to inject the CO2 deep into rock formations under Illinois and North Dakota, but some landowners are pushing back.

Three companies want to capture carbon dioxide from Midwestern ethanol plants, transport it by pipeline and store it underground. Many in the ethanol industry claim it’s essential to the industry’s survival. Environmentalists and even farmers argue the pipelines are a boon for the industry — not a real solution for climate change.

Twenty-two Republican representatives sponsored the bill that would require owners of 90% of the land in a carbon pipeline’s path to agree to the pipeline before eminent domain could be used to access land from unwilling owners.

A study done for the ethanol industry predicts dire consequences if carbon dioxide pipelines don’t go forward in Iowa but do in other states.

Navigator Heartland Greenway LLC has voluntarily withdrawn its Application for a Certificate of Authority to construct the pipeline that would cross through 13 Illinois counties.

Board Chair Scott Schwerer said the county wants to give the federal government time to potentially upgrade safety guidelines for such projects.

The board voted 18-1 to intervene in the case before the Illinois Commerce Commission.

The federal piece of legislation expands tax credits available for companies that capture and store carbon underground. But, Iowa environmental organizations say it’s a step back in the fight against climate change.

Agriculture accounts for a tenth of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, which are a big driver of climate change worldwide. Some farmers in the U.S. are taking on climate change by trying to sink the air’s carbon in the ground.

Landowners fear private companies will use eminent domain to construct carbon capture pipelines on their land.