Carbon pipeline proposal in Illinois
Project developers plan to build carbon capture pipelines connecting dozens of Midwestern ethanol refineries. Poet, the country's largest producer of biofuels, operates this refinery in Chancellor, South Dakota, shown on Thursday, July 22, 2021. The company has not indicated whether it will connect its ethanol refineries to the carbon capture pipelines. AP Photo/Stephen Groves
One of the key drivers of global warming are carbon emissions, and one of the ideas for curbing carbon emissions is to store it in the ground. There are a number of projects to do just that here in Illinois, including the proposed Heartland Greenway. A 13-hundred-mile pipeline of steel would connect industrial facilities in South Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska and Iowa, sending carbon to Illinois, where it would be stored deep underground. But not everyone is enthusiastic about the project — especially some of the landowners in Iowa whose land would be used for the pipeline.
We were joined by an agriculture reporter who's been covering the issue and a scientist from the Illinois State Geological Survey to talk about how these pipelines would work and possible concerns.
GUESTS
Katie Peikes
Agriculture Reporter at Iowa Public Radio and Harvest Public Media
Sallie Greenberg
Principal Scientist, Energy & Minerals, Illinois State Geological Survey
Thirty ethanol plants in the Midwest are part of a project to capture the carbon dioxide released in ethanol production and store it underground. @HarvestPM's @katiepeikes looked at how much it could help combat climate change. https://t.co/56CChrz960
— KCUR (@kcur) June 28, 2021
NEW: The world's largest carbon dioxide pipeline could soon tote captured CO2 from ethanol plants more than 2,000 miles across the Midwest.
— Leah Douglas (@leahjdouglas) November 23, 2021
But farmers along the route fear for their crops, and their safety.
A quick thread on my latest story: https://t.co/VMDWTAS2Bo
Three pipelines proposed for Iowa could capture and sequester up to 40 percent of the state's annual carbon dioxide emissions, estimated an associate professor of petroleum engineering. @gazettedotcom https://t.co/Sz5Yf46Unr
— FoodEnvReportingNet (@FERNnews) January 21, 2022
Prepared for web by Owen Henderson
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