EPA has finalized an enforcement order against Archer-Daniels-Midland more than a year after an underground carbon dioxide leak in Illinois, clearing the way for the company to restart injections in the days ahead.
The agency’s Region 5 office learned last summer that carbon dioxide and salty water had moved into a formation where they weren’t authorized to be. That prompted the agency last September to hit well operator ADM with a proposed order, which specified compliance measures the company needed to take. ADM has attributed the leak to corrosion in a section of a monitoring well.
The final order arrived Wednesday as ADM, a Chicago-based agribusiness company, said it received an all-clear from EPA to resume CO2 injection at the storage site in Decatur, Illinois. ADM has implemented a plan to replace equipment on two existing deep monitoring wells, according to company spokesperson Jackie Anderson. That work is nearly done, she said.
“ADM has been working closely with the U.S. EPA regarding issues discovered with our carbon capture and storage… deep monitoring wells approximately 5,000 feet underground,” Anderson said in a statement Wednesday. She said ADM plans to restart CO2 injections in Decatur in the coming days.
