PEORIA, Ill. — An Illinois farmer with experience in carbon pipeline negotiations cautioned other producers and rural landowners to approach potential land usage agreements with carbon pipeline companies carefully. Steve Hess, a McDonough County farmer whose land would be crossed multiple times by a proposed carbon pipeline, said during a Feb. 6 webinar that Wolf Carbon Solutions and ADM’s proposed Mt. Simon Hub would carry high-pressure CO2 through 10 Illinois counties, adversely affecting prime farmland for decades while placing rural communities in danger.

“It’s easier to lay out a pipeline on flat land (such as farmland), and I would imagine that’s the strategy Wolf will be operating with,” said Hess, who is currently in negotiations with Navigator CO2 Ventures, the company behind the Heartland Greenway CO2 pipeline, and has cousins who farm along the proposed Mt. Simon Hub pipeline. 

One of the issues with CO2 pipelines, Hess explained, is that the pipelines must be installed deeper in the soil than flat pattern drainage tiles, necessitating a lengthy and expensive reinstallation of field tile that can cause harmful soil impacts. According to an illustrated map provided to him by Navigator, Hess estimates the company will need to cut through 40 to 50 of his four-inch, corrugated field tiles on one of his 80-acre fields in order to install their CO2 pipeline.

The installation process would adversely affect his crop yields, according to Hess.

“It’s well known that when pipeline companies come to install in a field, they don’t care what the weather is. If they’ve got a crew there, they are going in, even if it’s a wet, muddy mess. After they put the pipeline in, I assume ADM will offer some compensation for a couple of years like Navigator, but…,” said Hess, before showing photographs he said were of a farm field that was clearly disrupted by the installation of a CO2 pipeline several years prior. 

“You can see that there is significant crop yield impact there. I’m not sure but in that area I would estimate a 30 to 40 percent loss of crop, and it doesn’t just stop there,” Hess said of the image. “It’s very hard to replace soil. Once you scrape away topsoil and compact subsoil, it’s just really hard to return the soil to its natural flow.”

Speaking with a land agent, Hess learned that Navigator allegedly has “no plan” for reinstalling field tiles after installing their CO2 pipeline other than to “bring in local contractors.” He also learned that in addition to the company’s negotiated 50-foot wide easement, it would require a temporary easement of another 75 feet during the construction stage.

“So they tell me they are going to be cutting a 125-foot wide swath through my crop field. Usually they take the topsoil down about 24 inches, so you can imagine how much topsoil would be removed and how much impact there will be to the subsoil,” said Hess, who pointed to a recent Iowa State University study that placed the potential crop loss due to the construction of a CO2 pipeline at 25 bushels per acre for soybeans and 15 bushels per acre for corn during the first two years after installation.

“When land is bringing the kind of value it is right now and if you are a farmer, you need to be really concerned. I would also encourage you to not sign anything without talking to your attorney,” said Hess.   

The proposed 280-mile Mt. Simon Hub would enter northwest Illinois near the Quad Cities and follow a southeasterly corridor to cross the Illinois River at Pekin, with a mini-hub extension into Peoria’s BioUrja refinery, before continuing to termination at the Decatur ADM plant. The 16-inch diameter pipeline would transport an estimated 12 million tons of CO2 per year— as much as 40 times the current industry rate of carbon pipeline pressure — according to Lan Richart, co-director of the Eco-Justice Collaborative in Champaign. 

“One of the biggest concerns about CO2 pipelines is safety. You will hear a lot of marketing from pipeline companies saying ‘it’s the air we breathe’ and what plants use to grow, or the fizz in your soda, so it must be safe,” said Richart. “They will tell you they intend to comply with all federal, state and local pipeline regulations and that those regulations are very rigorous. The three primary agencies you would expect to regulate CO2, including the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, have declared they have no jurisdiction over CO2 pipelines. The Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) approves the route alignment, but they don’t regulate pipeline design or construction. 

“That leaves PHMSA, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration who sets design, construction, operation and maintenance of CO2 pipelines. But their standards were originally developed for oil and gas in the 1980s…and don’t address the unique characteristics of CO2 pipelines. New oversight is due in 2024, but needless to say pipeline companies don’t want to wait for the new regulations.”

Richart concluded by saying there are plenty of reasons for additional public and regulatory scrutiny of proposed CO2 pipelines such as the Wolf-ADM Hub. 

“There are concerns of private companies using eminent domain for their projects and there are concerns over farm impacts. There is the issue of long-term liability, along with the use of taxpayer money to subsidize private industry that really is a windfall for investors,” he said. “Is it in the best interests of our families and communities? This is really a multi-generational commitment, and once this train starts there will be no stopping it.” 

According to Kathy Campbell, a landowner along Navigator’s proposed CO2 pipeline route, it may be necessary for those opposed to CO2 pipelines to band together in order to fend off possible eminent domain claims made by private companies and approved by the ICC. She  warned that under current regulations, no public meetings are required prior to pipeline approvals. 

“In Illinois ADM has held no public information meetings and is not required to provide maps until approved by the ICC,” said Campell, who is a member of the Coalition to Stop CO2 Pipelines. “The ICC grants authority to the pipeline developer to acquire property by eminent domain when they find that the pipeline meets all (ICC’s regulatory) criteria. A pipeline developer does have to show that they have negotiated in good faith, but Wolf-ADM could get approval without obtaining any signed agreements”

To see the entire Feb. 6 webinar and farmer Steve Hess’ presentation slides, visit www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqP_PBXSM-U