Transporting CO2 through Proposed Pipeline Dangerous
Galesburg Register-Mail
Editor, Register-Mail: A Texas-based company has proposed constructing a 1,300 mile pipeline that will capture CO2 from ethanol and fertilizer plants and transport the CO2 through South Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska, Iowa, and Illinois. The CO2 will then be injected underground in our own backyards in central Illinois.
If that sounds like the plans of a cartoon villain, you’re not far off. Navigator CO2 Ventures plans to use federal tax funds earmarked for “green energy carbon capture reduction” to transport CO2 through pipelines covering 13 Illinois counties. Allowing corporations like Navigator to take control of our land and use it as a dumping ground for a new carbon capture project is a bad and potentially deadly deal. Liquified CO2 is transported in steel pipes under extreme pressure. If a pipeline ruptures, the CO2 evaporates into a rapidly expanding gas that is heavier than air, easily displacing oxygen. This nightmare became reality for the community of Satartia, Mississippi, when a pipeline ruptured there in 2020. A firefighter that rescued three victims affected by the pipeline rupture said they were "foaming at the mouth” and “acting like Zombies.” How can we consciously allow a poisonous vein to be installed across the heartland of our country and stamp it as “green”?
Allowing the Navigator CO2 Pipeline to be built will set a precedent for another century of bad deals for central Illinois and beyond. Sangamon, Christian, Morgan, Hancock, Adams, McDonough, Henry, Knox, Fulton, Schuyler, Brown, Pike and Scott counties are all directly affected by the Illinois portion of the proposed pipeline. We must demand that local, state, and federal officials stop this pipeline in its tracks.
Please join our coalition in saying this is not what our country or community wants.
For more information please visit https://noillinoisco2pipelines.org/ — Nick Dodson, Springfield, Sangamon Valley Sierra Club
Artwork by Raven Dodson. 2022.