U.S. EPA Hears Indiana Landowners’ Appeal of Approval for Wabash Valley Resources CO2 Injection Well Waste Dumps
(Published: Oct. 24, 2024)
U.S. EPA Hears Indiana Landowners’ Appeal of Approval for Wabash Valley Resources CO2 Injection Well Waste Dumps
Washington – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Environmental Appeals Board on Wednesday heard oral arguments by Indiana landowners and attorneys in their appeal of the agency’s approval of two Class VI permits for underground CO2 injection well waste dumps.
Pursuant to 40 C.F.R. § 124.19(a), Andrew Lenderman, Ben Lenderman, Floyd Lenderman and Jessie Lenderman petitioned for review of two Class VI federal Underground Injection Control (“UIC”) Permits Nos. (IN-165-6A-0001 (Vermillion) and IN-167-6A-0001 (Vigo) issued to Wabash Carbon Services on January 19, 2024. Along with the Lendermans, citizens in Indiana have sounded the alarm about the risks and dangers associated with CO2 injection wells and pipelines, and organized in opposition to the project.
The EPA heard the appeal in the wake of two CO2 well failures at the flagship sequestration facility in the country operated by Decatur, Ill.-based ADM, and the EPA’s own finding that ADM violated federal law in its handling of the leak. The company failed to properly and timely disclose the existence of the leak to federal regulators at the EPA. The ADM leak saw 8,000 metric tons of liquid CO2 escape from the underground rock formation where it was supposed to be permanently stored. The EPA has notified public water systems to monitor water for taste and odor.
Susan Strole-Kos, a Vigo County landowner, said, “We believe our community is more important than Wabash Valley Resource’s private profits. The recent leaks at the ADM carbon capture and sequestration facility and the pipeline rupture in Mississippi serve to emphasize the inadequacies of the technology and infrastructure surrounding CCS projects. These failures truly highlight the validity of our concerns for the health and safety of our community and environment. Policymakers need to wake up and listen to their constituents. We’re encouraged that the Environmental Appeals Board is asking many of the same questions we’ve raised with Wabash Valley Resources for over a year. It is time to rethink the push for CO2 pipelines and injection sites. We will continue to fight against these dangerous, experimental projects. Public safety should always be the first priority. Stop putting profits before people.”
Emma Schmit, Bold Alliance’s Pipeline Fighters Director, stated, “What has taken place in Indiana is a disgrace. Lives, land, and fundamental rights were sold out for a corporation’s corrupt profit. We hope the Environmental Appeals Board will right this wrong and vacate the permits.”
View a recording of Wednesday’s oral arguments at the EPA here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73MM46c2VWQ
About Bold Alliance:
The Bold Alliance is a network of “small and mighty” groups in rural states working to protect land and water. We fight fossil fuel projects, protect landowners against eminent domain abuse, and work for clean energy solutions while building an engaged base of citizens who care about the land, water, and climate change. (https://boldalliance.org)
View the letter from 150+ organizations (including Bold Alliance) calling on EPA to halt injection well permits, and stop injections at current wells.