Your elected officials need to hear from YOU!
As you know, several companies are seeking to build CO2 pipelines and underground storage facilities in Illinois, threatening our water, our homes, and our environment.
The Coalition to Stop CO2 Pipelines and many others are working to pass legislation in Springfield called The Carbon Dioxide Transport and Storage Protections Act. This Act would provide regulatory guardrails for the capture, transportation, and storage of CO2, and would prohibit the use of eminent domain for CO2 pipelines.
This Act only has a chance of passing if our State Reps and Senators hear from a huge number of constituents. This is an election year, of course, and our elected representatives need to know voters care very much about this issue.
How you can help:
Find the contact info for your State Representative and Senator. If you need to look up your Rep and Senator, go here: https://elections.il.gov/ElectionOperations/DistrictLocator/DistrictOfficialSearchByAddress.aspx
Write a letter to your Rep and Senator, making sure to include:
"I ask you to co-sponsor The Carbon Dioxide Transport and Storage Protections Act and ensure it moves through the legislative process to pass this spring."
Then share in your own words why carbon dioxide sequestration is a threat to our groundwater, why eminent domain for private CO2 pipelines is wrong, and other threats of these projects. Please write in your own words---Reps and Senators receive thousands of pre-written, “form letters”, and detailed letters from individuals will make a bigger impact. At the end of the letter, be sure to ask them for a response, and offer to speak with them and answer questions they may have.
Mail the letter.
Other ways to keep the conversation and pressure going
Call their office and ask to speak with the Rep/Senator.This is a great time to follow up and ask if they read your letter!
Ask to schedule a time to meet with them
If they do events in the community, such as a town hall or political event, attend and ask them to be a leader and protect their District from these project.
If you know others who will help, ask them to write a letter and/or call the Reps/Senators
Get more info and updates at: https://noillinoisco2pipelines.org
Some talking points …
Here are some ideas to get you started. You can pick just one or two to build on your concerns.
Carbon Pipelines
While the ICC can set a pipeline route, there are no standards for safe setbacks from a CO2 pipeline that can harm or kill people and animals if it leaks or ruptures. That's why we need you to cosponsor the Carbon Dioxide Transport and Storage Protections Act! It authorizes a study that will establish those setbacks that will keep people safe.
Eminent domain should not be used for carbon pipelines, which carry an asphyxiant. Please cosponsor the Carbon Dioxide Transport and Storage Protections Act, which prohibits the use of eminent domain for these private projects, and protects landowners like me.
First responders in Illinois have never had to rescue people from a CO2 leak or rupture, and are not equipped to do so. I am asking you to cosponsor the Carbon Dioxide Transport and Storage Protections Act, which will create an emergency preparedness fund for training and equipment, including air supply respirators for their own protection, and electric vehicles to rescue people, because gasoline-powered engines won't run.
Carbon Sequestration
Companies are trying to secure lease agreements for carbon sequestration, and hope that they will be able to get enough leases to force people like me to be part of a storage site, despite my objections and concerns. I need you to cosponsor the Carbon Dioxide Transport and Storage Protections Act. If passed, companies would need lease agreements from all landowners in a storage area, before a project could move forward.
There is no guarantee that carbon dioxide will remain permanently and safely stored underground. Will you cosponsor the Carbon Dioxide Transport and Storage Protections Act, which holds the developer liable for leaks that could contaminate my farmland and my water?
Developers are proposing to store carbon dioxide under the Mahomet Aquifer and its recharge area. If it leaks, it will contaminate fresh drinking water that serves nearly 1 million people. Please cosponsor the Carbon Dioxide Transport and Storage Protections Act, which prohibits injection wells through the Mahomet Aquifer and its recharge areas.