Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Thursday signed into law rules for the deployment of carbon capture storage and pipelines — a rare kumbaya moment for a climate technology that remains divisive, especially on the left.
Enactment of the SAFE CCS Act passed by state lawmakers in late May makes Illinois just the second state after California to put a moratorium on approval of carbon dioxide pipelines while federal regulators overhaul regulations for such projects in the wake of a 2020 pipeline failure in Satartia, Mississippi.
The Illinois law also comes just weeks after regulators in neighboring Iowa approved that state’s portion of Summit Carbon Solutions’ $8 billion CO2 pipeline connecting dozens of ethanol and fertilizer plants across the Corn Belt with a site in North Dakota, where the carbon pollution would be injected deep underground.
Pritzker, a Democrat, was joined at the bill signing at the carbon capture education center at Richland Community College in Decatur, Illinois, by legislative leaders and representatives from agriculture giant ADM, as well as labor, manufacturing and environmental groups. The governor touted the economic potential of carbon capture technology for Illinois and said the regulations “set a national standard for safety and environmental protection.”
