FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Oct. 30, 2026
Opponents of Dangerous Carbon Capture Schemes to Voice Concerns at Wabash CO2 Pipeline Permit Public Meeting Dec. 9
Indiana Action Team members will deliver Hoosiers’ signatures on a new petition urging IN DNR to reject carbon pipeline permit
Terre Haute – Hoosiers across the state along with members of the Indiana Action Team plan to voice their opposition to risky “carbon capture & storage” (CCS) projects and pipelines at an upcoming Dec. 9 public meeting. The meeting, announced by the Indiana Dept. of Natural Resources (IDNR), marks the consideration of Wabash Carbon Services recent application for a pipeline certificate of authority.
Wabash Carbon Services, an affiliate of Wabash Valley Resources (WVR), intends to transport highly-pressurized carbon dioxide, a known asphyxiant, via a pipeline planned for Vigo and Vermillion counties – despite previously stating an intention to transport the CO2 by trucks.
Members of the Indiana Action Team will also deliver signatures from a new petition to the IDNR by citizens who oppose the project during the Dec. 9 meeting, urging the agency to deny Wabash Carbon’s permit application.
“Wabash Valley Resources has not even begun constructing their injection sites, nor have they acquired the necessary 60% voluntary easements from landowners above the “pore space” which is required by law before they can inject CO2. Since they don’t have their CO2 dumps established, this meeting is all about a pipeline to nowhere,” said Susan Strole-Kos of Concerned Citizens Against Wabash Valley Resources. “It is unfathomable that the DNR, who is supposed to protect our land, would allow a private company to use eminent domain for a pipeline when the company may never acquire the storage or pore space necessary to have their CO2 dumps. Where is the justice in that?”
“DNR is putting the cart before the horse by moving forward with a permit for a pipeline to nowhere. This company has never built or operated a pipeline before, let alone a hazardous carbon dioxide pipeline. The state should not be forcing residents to be Wabash Carbon's experimental guinea pigs,” said Emma Schmit, Bold Alliance's Pipeline Fighters Director.
In the leadup to the Dec. 9 pipeline meeting, the Indiana Action Team will host an informational online meeting for potentially impacted landowners and members of the public interested in learning more about carbon capture, CO2 pipelines, and landowners’ rights with regard to signing easements. The Nov. 8 online meeting will feature prominent property rights attorney Derrick Braaten as a guest speaker, who is representing some impacted landowners in Indiana via the Indiana Action Team. Braaten last year won a case representing landowners at the North Dakota Supreme Court, which sided with landowners and found the state’s pore space law to be unconstitutional. Over 200 concerned citizens turned out last year to hear Braaten speak at meetings hosted by the Indiana Action team in Wabash and New Goshen.
A July 2024 poll commissioned by Bold Alliance and conducted by Embold Research found that 97% of respondents called it a “serious” concern if “corporations are allowed to seize people’s private property to build carbon capture and storage projects” (85% called it a “very serious” and 12% a “somewhat serious” concern). Meanwhile, 92% called it a “serious” concern that “carbon capture and storage poses the risk of carbon dioxide leaks at potentially lethal levels” (77% called it a “very serious” and 15% a “somewhat serious” concern). Another poll question asked Indiana voters specifically whether they support or oppose Wabash Valley Resources’ proposed carbon injection wells, after learning that supporters say it will boost the state economy by creating more high-quality jobs and be completely safe because the carbon is stored so deep underground, while opponents argue that large-scale carbon injection can cause earthquakes and that potential leaks could contaminate water supplies and pose health risks to local communities. The 2024 poll found 71% of Indiana voters oppose the Wabash Valley Resources proposed injection wells, while 14% support.
About Bold’s Easement Action Teams:
The Easement Action Teams are a project of the Bold Education Fund. The EATs work with local communities to provide immediate legal representation to landowners facing pipelines and other fossil fuel infrastructure. Our first priority is to protect landowners’ property rights and water. We believe landowners should have the ultimate right of what does and does not happen on their land. We stand against the use of eminent domain for private gain. (https://easementteams.org) The Indiana Action Team is a grassroots organization established for the benefit of landowners and community members affected by Wabash Valley Resources’ plan to create an underground toxic CO2 waste dump in Indiana. (https://indianaactionteam.org)
About Bold Pipeline Fighters Hub:
The Bold Pipeline Fighters Hub, a project of the Bold Education Fund, provides technical, legal, story telling and organizing assistance to any community fighting pipelines and other fossil fuel infrastructure, with the goal of protecting the land and water. (https://pipelinefighters.org)
About Bold:
The Bold Alliance and Bold Education Fund are coordinating state-based groups with our Pipeline Fighters Hub and landowner legal groups called the Easement Action Teams to stop carbon pipelines from using eminent domain for private gain. We believe that carbon capture and storage (CCS) is unproven and overly expensive and wastefully incentivized approach to climate change, and that the carbon pipelines needed for CCS are poorly planned, under-regulated, and risky infrastructure. These huge and complex projects should not move forward until counties, states and the federal government prove first that they are a better climate solution than renewable energy, and second that safety, planning, and routing standards are in place to avoid inefficient chaotic development driven by wasteful federal spending. (https://boldalliance.org)
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