PA Environment Digest Blog: No False Solutions PA Coalition: 2nd Carbon Dioxide Leak Reported At ADM Carbon Capture Plant In Illinois, Delay In Notifying Public Should Give PA Pause On Carbon Capture Storage

The US Environmental Protection Agency issued a notice of violation in August to Archer-Daniels-Midland Company for failing to construct carbon capture facility wells to contain carbon dioxide in two monitoring wells and failing to follow emergency response procedures based on a review of well records between January 1, 2022 and July 1, 2024 and inspections of the wells done in June, 2024.

Local officials found out about the leaks on September 13 based on news media reports. Read more here.

On September 27, ADM notified EPA they would be temporarily pausing carbon dioxide inspections after discovering a potential brine fluid leak in their second monitoring well. Read more here.

The Decatur, Illinois site hosts two of the four Class VI injection wells in the country to be fully permitted and operational.

No False Solutions PA Coalition Letter

On October 3, News of a second CO2 leak at Archer Daniels Midland’s (ADM) Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) operation in Illinois prompted the No False Solutions PA Coalition to write a letter to legislators urging them to reject plans to open the state to the risky, unproven technology. CCS operations have been halted at ADM’s plant.

The leak reported today occurred on one of two monitoring wells. In March, a leak detected on the other monitoring well allowed 8,000 metric tons of CO2 to leak 500 feet above the area where sequestration is authorized.

Although the EPA became aware of the leak in July, the violation was not issued until August and the public was not told until mid-September.

The No False Solutions PA Coalition co-published a brief, Too Infrequently Asked Questions About Carbon Capture and Storage, with the Better Path Coalition that was sent to legislators when they returned to Harrisburg last month.

The story of the first ADM leak was a last-minute addition to the brief that calls on our state government to consider all of the facts on CCS.

The brief follows from statements sent to elected officials this summer when Senate Bill 831, now Act 87, was making its way through the legislature. Read more here.

The statements focused on how little is known about CCS. The brief discusses what is known to make the point that it does not paint a more favorable picture of CCS.

Act 87’s subsurface eminent domain provisions pertaining to pore space have been particularly controversial.

The letter notes one important footnote in the timeline of the earlier ADM leak: Decatur’s city council and ADM had been hammering out a pore space agreement for months before it was signed in May - after the leak was detected in March.

The city was not informed of the leak until August, several months later.

“The fact that ADM’s CCS operations are on hold should give us pause here in Pennsylvania. CCS is a technology whose risks are becoming increasingly apparent, not the least of which is the seeming impossibility of forever storage. Our rush to embrace this faulty technology should likewise be suspended until our concerns are fully addressed,” commented Karen Elias, co-founder of No False Solutions PA.

“Before Act 87 was enacted in July, we expressed our many concerns about how little is known about CCS. Of particular concern was the amendment made to the bill that makes it possible to shift long term liability to the state at any time after injection operations cease.

“If leaks like those in Illinois were happening in Pennsylvania, would the public find itself dealing with the contamination and paying for the clean up? We have been telling legislators that they are not compelled to act on a bill just because they’ve passed it, especially when so many important questions remain unanswered, ” said Karen Feridun, Co-founder of The Better Path Coalition and No False Solutions PA, lead author of the brief.

News of the leak comes as the No False Solutions PA and Better Path coalitions are launching PA Energy Month.

Each week, the groups will take on a false climate solution. The first week’s topic is Carbon Capture and Storage.

Click Here for a copy of the letter.

DEP Applying To Regulate Class VI Wells

The Department of Environmental Protection’s Oil and Gas Program is applying to EPA for primacy to regulate Class VI injection wells serving carbon dioxide storage facilities.

NewsClips:

-- E&E News/Politico: First US Carbon Dioxide Injection Well Violates Permit - EPA

-- Inside Climate News: Carbon Capture Monitoring Well Leaking In Illinois; Most Residents Found Out When The World Did, Failed To Follow Emergency Procedures

-- PrairieRiversNetwork: Leak At ADM’s Carbon Capture Facility Underscores Need To Ban Sequestration Under Mahomet Aquifer

PA Oil & Gas Industry Public Notice Dashboards:

-- PA Oil & Gas Weekly Compliance Dashboard - Sept. 28 to Oct. 4 - Five More Abandoned Shale Gas Well Violations; Failure To Disclose Fracking Chemicals; Failure To Report Waste Generation & Disposal; Lawnmower Causes Conventional Pipeline Gas Leak [PaEN]

-- DEP Issues Violations To 7 Shale Gas Drillers For Failure To Submit Monthly Waste Generation, Disposal, Production Reports - 1 Company For 3 Years; 2 More Drillers Fail To Disclose Fracking Chemicals [PaEN]

-- PA Oil & Gas Industrial Facilities: Permit Notices, Opportunities To Comment - October 5 [PaEN]

-- Susquehanna River Basin Commission Sets Oct. 30 Hearing On The Proposed 2025 Fee Schedule; Water Withdrawal Requests, Including 4 Supporting Shale Gas Development [PaEN]

-- DEP Posted 72 Pages Of Permit-Related Notices In October 5 PA Bulletin [PaEN]