PORT BYRON, Ill. — Two companies are looking to push forward with a CO2 pipeline, but it's not without pushback from communities in Henry and Rock Island Counties.
Wolf Carbon Solutions is working on a proposed 300-mile pipeline, which would connect food processing company ADM's plants in Cedar Rapids, Iowa and Decatur, Illinois.
Port Byron's library was packed on a Monday night, as the Coalition to Stop CO2 Pipelines was giving a presentation on what they said are the risks of the proposed project.
Local resident Marla Skelton said she's concerned for the community's safety.
"I just don't think it's a good idea because it's dangerous," Skelton said. "It's not just going across my property, but being close to the school, being close to the housing additions."
Jeanie Custer came from rural Henry County because she's worried.
"I live by myself but I've been told the pipeline will intersect the farm ground I live near," Custer said. When asked what she's most worried about, she said "ruptures, and how they affect people living near the rupture site."
On its website and through an email statement to News 8, Wolf Carbon insists that strict regulations will be followed during construction, and when the pipeline is operational, a 24/7 center will monitor the entire system that can isolate leaks and notify first response.
Activists at the presentation, however, are convinced that a different company's CO2 pipe burst in 2020 is the only proof they need that a pipeline is too dangerous. The situation was in the rural town of Satartia, Mississippi where over 200 people were evacuated, and more than 45 hospitalized.
On the importance of carbon capture, Wolf Carbon says the pipeline is the only efficient way for the U.S. to meet goals for reducing emissions, and that experts from the White House, the U.N. and other international organizations agree.