Navigator Files to Withdraw Permit Application in Illinois for CO2 “Pipeline to Nowhere”

Captured on ICC website (10/10/23)

Navigator CO2 Ventures filed a motion on Oct. 10 to withdraw its CO2 pipeline permit application before the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC), in the state where Navigator had planned to sequester underground the CO2 it sought to collect from ethanol plants, casting serious doubt on the proposal. The company also encouraged the ICC to cancel the looming evidentiary hearings for the pipeline that were scheduled to take place Oct. 17-20. While the ICC has not yet posted a ruling on the motion, the agency’s website now lists the upcoming evidentiary hearings as “Cancelled.”

Navigator filed the motion at the ICC “without prejudice,” meaning it reserves the right to re-file (for a 3rd time — after withdrawing its first permit application filed July 2022 in January 2023, which was then re-filed in February 2023 and withdrawn today) at some later date. Meanwhile, the local Coalition to Stop CO2 Pipelines and Citizens Against the Heartland Greenway Pipeline groups that represent impacted landowners facing eminent domain renewed their call for a statewide moratorium on CO2 pipelines until PHMSA’s new regulations on CO2 pipelines are released.

“Consistent with recent filings in other jurisdictions, NHG has elected to reassess the route and other aspects of the Heartland Greenway Pipeline System, and the Application. Being cognizant of the ICC and intervenor resources, NHG seeks to withdraw its Application with the intent to reinitiate Illinois permitting, if appropriate, when NHG’s full evaluation is complete. Accordingly, Applicant will cease to prosecute its Application,” the company’s attorneys wrote in the motion.

The “recent filings in other jurisdictions” refer to Navigator’s recent filing to “pause” its permit application before the Iowa Utilities Board, where it was seeking eminent domain. Navigator’s permit was outright denied in September by the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission, after evidentiary hearings were held in that state. Despite this flurry of major setbacks, the company stated as recently as Sept. 15 that it still intends to re-file its application in South Dakota: “Navigator remains committed to project development in a collaborative fashion, and is continuing to work towards that goal,” the company told the Argus Leader.

However, after the company has pulled back on work in other states, faced significant opposition to its efforts to obtain easements and sequestration rights from landowners, and now withdrawn its application in the state where it intended to sequester CO2, Navigator is more than ever pursuing a “pipeline to nowhere.”

Press release: Coalition to Stop CO2 Pipelines: After Navigator Temporarily Withdraws CO2 Pipeline Proposal in Illinois, Landowners, Community Members, and Advocates Call for a Moratorium on CO2 Pipelines

Illinois — Today, Navigator Heartland Greenway LLC filed a motion with the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) to withdraw its Application for a Certificate of Authority to construct a dangerous CO2 pipeline through 14 Illinois counties. While Navigator scrambles to review the project, landowners, community members, and advocates are calling for a temporary moratorium on CO2 pipelines in Illinois.

“Over the past two years, Navigator has been unable to obtain easements necessary for the project and has been met with fierce opposition from farmers, landowners, and concerned citizens every step of the way. As a result of this widespread opposition, Navigator has now withdrawn their application twice in under ten months, this time indicating they plan to reassess the route and other aspects of its pipeline,” said Steve Hess, McDonough County farmer and Board Member of Citizens Against Heartland Greenway Pipeline (CAHGP). “Make no mistake—Navigator is reassessing their project, but they’re not going away, and we will not go down without a fight. While we await federal regulations from the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) and state regulations on CCS projects from the Illinois General Assembly, a temporary moratorium on CO2 pipelines is critical in order to protect Illinoisans, our land, and our water.”

PHMSA initiated a rule-making process to update federal regulations on CO2 pipelines after investigating a 2020 CO2 pipeline explosion near Satartia, Mississippi. The pipeline rupture sent a plume of CO2 that traveled 1.25 miles, required the evacuation of 200 people, and put 45 people, including first responders, in the hospital. PHMSA expects to complete its rule-making process in October 2024. Navigator and a second corporation, Wolf Carbon Solutions, have pushed CO2 pipeline proposals forward in Illinois despite this lack of federal regulations.

“Since day one, CAHGP and countless farmers, landowners, and community members across the state have urged the Illinois Commerce Commission to dismiss Navigator’s petition until PHMSA updates its CO2 regulations, Navigator acquires property rights for its carbon sequestration area, and Navigator provides sufficient information regarding the route and its impact on human lives. None of those asks have yet come to fruition,” said Kathy Campbell, Vice-President of CAHGP. “Meanwhile, Navigator has circumvented the Illinois Commerce Commission’s regulatory process, which should take a maximum of eleven months, by withdrawing and re-submitting their application multiple times. They’re not only giving themselves more time to flesh out the critical details of their project, they’re also dragging out the stress and financial strain on landowners who have to keep fighting this project. Enough is enough.”

Amidst growing concerns that Navigator and Wolf Carbon Solutions’ hazardous projects would move forward without adequate protections, the Coalition to Stop CO2 Pipelines has spent nearly two years organizing and educating the public, townships, community leaders, and the Illinois General Assembly about the dangers of CO2 pipelines. Illinois lawmakers introduced legislation this spring to regulate CCS projects, but it did not move forward in the spring legislative session.

“While stakeholders work toward state regulations and while PHMSA completes its rule-making process, Illinois must pass a temporary moratorium on CO2 pipelines so that protections are in place before Navigator can move forward with their project,” said Pam Richart, Co-Director of Eco-Justice Collaborative and co-founder of the Coalition to Stop CO2 Pipelines. “Illinois is a primary target for polluting companies to dump their carbon dioxide waste underground, and we are unprepared to face the dangers associated with transporting and burying this pollution underneath our farms and aquifers. Navigator’s motion to withdraw its petition delays the regulatory process, but doesn’t diminish the urgency for Illinois lawmakers and Governor Pritzker to enact state legislation at every step of the CCS industrial cycle—at the capture facility, through pipelines, and at the sequestration site.”

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Coalition to Stop CO2 Pipelines

The Coalition to Stop CO2 Pipelines is a growing coalition of Illinois environmental groups, landowners, and residents concerned about the environmental, economic, and the unprecedented safety hazards associated with building a network of CO2 pipelines across the state. The coalition believes the mad rush to build these pipelines as part of the technology called carbon capture and sequestration is dangerous and a false solution that will keep Illinois reliant on fossil fuels.

Citizens Against Heartland Greenway Pipeline (CAHGP)

CAHGP formed as an intervening group in August 2022. CAHGP represents landowners, townships, and other local governments along Navigator Heartland Greenway’s proposed CO2 pipeline route who are concerned about the pipeline’s impact on public safety, infrastructure, the economy, and property values.

“When you organize the families most at-risk of eminent domain you can stop a pipeline. This is a core lesson we have learned over the years as pipeline corporations try to bully hard working Americans into giving up their land for corporate greed. If Navigator decides to try again, we will be here ready to organize with families and allied groups to protect the land and water,” said Jane Kleeb, Bold Alliance Director.