EPA on Thursday proposed ordering Archer Daniels Midland to take a series of steps to protect drinking water sources after a leak was discovered at its underground carbon dioxide storage site linked to its ethanol plant in Decatur, Illinois.
POLITICO first reported last week that the company had suffered a leak at the nation’s first carbon injection site, where it stores nearly pure carbon dioxide more than a mile underground. The facility has been seen as an important proof of concept as the Biden administration and congressional Democrats pour billions of dollars of investment and tax incentives into the nascent technology that advocates say is crucial to meeting U.S. climate targets.
In a proposed enforcement order, the agency directed the agriculture giant to take emergency actions to address the liquid carbon dioxide that leaked from the carbon sequestration well and to quickly assess and report on the extent of the damage and any pathways through which it could leak further.
“The Biden-Harris Administration is committed to ensuring that carbon management projects are designed, built, and operated safely and responsibly, and in a way that reflects the best science and responds to the needs and inputs of local communities,” EPA Region 5 Administrator Debra Shore said in a statement.