Illinois Advocates Petition EPA for Public Comment Extension on CO2 Sequestration Well Permits
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Update: On Friday, Sept. 18, the U.S. EPA issued a notice granting an 11-day extension to the public comment period for the CO2 waste dump wells proposed in Illinois, which are now due in by Oct. 4, 2026.
The Illinois-based environmental nonprofit Eco-Justice Collaborative submitted a letter to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) requesting a 10-day extension of the public comment period for three draft permits that would be used to inject CO2 into underground waste dump “Class VI” wells.
Joined by more than 850 citizens who signed onto the comment period extension request, Eco-Justice argues in the letter that EPA has not allowed the public adequate time to evaluate how these three highly technical permits would affect Gibson City’s water supply or the Mahomet Aquifer. These permits would authorize the injection of 90 million metric tons of carbon dioxide into a recharge area of the Mahomet Aquifer, a federally designated sole-source aquifer serving more than 100 communities across 14 counties.
On Tuesday, September 22, EPA will hold an availability session from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. and a public hearing from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. at the Countryside Event Center in Gibson City. There will be no presentation of the project. Questions will end when the hearing begins. Members of the public are expected to deliver formal comments on the spot, and the written record closes the following day, September 23, at 11:59 p.m. ET. Residents who attend the availability session and learn something material — as many will — have less than twenty-four hours to reduce that understanding to written comments.
“One Earth had years to prepare these applications. The public is being given ninety minutes to evaluate them. That is not a meaningful opportunity to comment, and we do not believe it is the process EPA intends to defend,” the letter states.
The letter notes that EPA has previously granted comment period extensions in similar circumstances, with Region 5 granting a 10-day extension on Wabash Valley Resources’ Class VI well permit application in Indiana.
EPA Notice of Comment Period Extension:
Eco-Justice Collaborative Letter to U.S. EPA:
