Feds Pump $10 Million Into Carbon Storage Research In Illinois

Two new federal grants worth more than $10 million will give researchers in Illinois money to investigate carbon storage in the state.

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin visited Richland Community College in Decatur on Friday to announce details about the U.S. Department of Energy grants headed to the Illinois State Geological Survey.

The Decatur Herald and Review reports that the money will go to research commercial-scale geologic storage of carbon dioxide. The goal is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The survey will receive nearly $9 million to address feasibility of a storage complex within the Mount Simon formation in Macon County. And it will receive more than $1 million to study building a carbon capture and storage project elsewhere in east central Illinois.