FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Monday, February 27, 2023
Contacts: Hannah Lee Flath, hannahlee.flath@sierraclub.org, 860-634-0225
Lan Richart, coalition@noillinoisco2pipelines.org, 773-556-3417
Local Landowners and Advocates Respond to Navigator Heartland Greenway’s New Proposal to Expand Dangerous CO2 Pipeline
SPRINGFIELD, IL -- Today, just one month after withdrawing its original, incomplete application, Navigator Heartland Greenway LLC filed a new petition with the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) for a Certificate of Authority to construct a dangerous CO2 pipeline through 14 Illinois counties. The new application calls for significant expansions to the pipeline’s original route, with a lateral route proposed from Sangamon County through Montgomery County and sequestration sites where liquified carbon will be injected underground in both Christian and Montgomery Counties. Local residents along the pipeline’s proposed path, the Coalition to Stop CO2 Pipelines, and Citizens Against Heartland Greenway Pipeline will continue to fight Navigator’s proposal in order to protect farmland, public health and safety, and the environment.
In response to Navigator’s application, the Coalition to Stop CO2 Pipelines and Citizens Against Heartland Greenway Pipeline released the following statement:
“Navigator Heartland Greenway may be persistent in its attempts to endanger Illinoisans through the construction of this pipeline, but they are up against farmers like me who will not let a greedy corporation take our land through eminent domain without a fight,” says Steve Hess, McDonough County farmer and board member of Citizens Against Heartland Greenway Pipeline (CAHGP). “Farmers and landowners formed Citizens Against Heartland Greenway Pipeline last year in order to intervene against Navigator’s application for a Certificate of Authority with the Illinois Commerce Commission. CAHGP now represents nearly two hundred Illinois landowners, townships, and a rural water district, and we remain united in our opposition to this project. We will not allow Navigator to permanently damage land, adversely impact farmers’ livelihoods and Illinois agriculture, and endanger our lives. CAHGP will again file a petition to intervene with the ICC and continue to fight this project.”
“Navigator might be changing the proposed route for the pipeline and adding another sequestration site to the project, but there’s one thing that hasn’t changed: the growing opposition from landowners and townships in Montgomery County,” said Sabrina Hamlin Jones, a Montgomery County landowner and member of the newly-formed Montgomery County Citizens to Protect the Aquifer. “Navigator’s plan to transport liquified carbon dioxide through Montgomery County and then store it under our feet puts our lives at risk. There is no guarantee that the CO2 won't leak and contaminate our land and water, and the pipeline is too close to our homes. If it ruptured, we'd be dead. My neighbors and I are doubling down on our work to educate the community about the dangers of this project and urge the ICC to deny Navigator's project.”
“The expansions to the pipeline’s original route in Navigator’s new application and the significant opposition from farmers and landowners across the state should ring the alarm to policy makers in the Illinois General Assembly that this issue needs their attention,” said Ann Baskerville, Sierra Club Illinois organizer and member of the Coalition to Stop CO2 Pipelines. “Companies like Navigator are rushing forward with unproven and unsafe technologies that don’t offer real solutions to the climate crisis, despite a serious lack of state and federal regulations. The Illinois General Assembly must act swiftly to regulate Carbon Capture and Sequestration to ensure Illinoisans’ land, livelihood, and safety are protected.”
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Coalition to Stop CO2 Pipelines
The Coalition to Stop CO2 Pipelines is a growing coalition of Illinois environmental groups, landowners, and residents concerned about the environmental, economic, and the unprecedented safety hazards associated with building a network of CO2 pipelines across the state. The coalition believes the mad rush to build these pipelines as part of the technology called carbon capture and sequestration is dangerous and a false solution that will keep Illinois reliant on fossil fuels.
Citizens Against Heartland Greenway Pipelines
Citizens Against Heartland Greenway Pipelines (CAHGP) formed as a non-profit to collect fees that enable group representation for the purpose of intervening in Navigator CO2 Ventures’ proceedings before the Illinois Commerce Commission. Membership is open to landowners along Navigator's planned CO2 pipeline route, organizations, or anyone interested in stopping the CO2 pipeline.