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IL ag groups split on carbon capture bill

Ag groups are split over a new carbon capture bill passed by the Illinois General Assembly.

Andrew Larson, director of government relations and strategy with the Illinois Soybean Association, says the SAFE Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS) Act brings many questions.

“It sets up an unclear system with how landowners are going to be able to address concerns that happen on their property with pipelines, the use of eminent domain overall.”  He says, “There are a lot of things that we believe warranted a lot further discussion before they got passed into state law.”

AUDIO: Andrew Larson – Illinois Soybean Association

The act (Senate Bill 1289) outlines a series of CCS standards for the state, including pore space ownership, monitoring requirements, a two-year moratorium on CO2 pipelines, and more.

Illinois Farm Bureau president Brian Duncan says they were also against the legislation.

“It does not align with Illinois Farm Bureau policy.”  He says, “We do support carbon capture and storage because we do recognize the positives that that can bring to agriculture. However, we think it should not come at the expense of private property rights.”

Matt Rush, farmer & board member with the Illinois Corn Growers Association (ICGA), tells Brownfield that ICGA and the Illinois Renewable Fuels Association supported the legislation and its potential impact on the ethanol market.

“Is it a perfect bill? By all means, it’s not.”  He says, “But the pore space cannot be separated from the landowner and the surface rights. We felt like that those not being able to be separated was a big deal.  There were just little tidbits that we felt like we were able to negotiate some things to protect our farmer members.”

All groups say they expect further CCS-related proposals to come forward in future legislative sessions.  Governor J.B. Pritzker is expected to sign the legislation.

AUDIO: Matt Rush – Illinois Corn Growers Association