Save the Mahomet Aquifer - Recap of April 2025 Program
by Laurie Bergner | Published on 4/13/2025
"Our Water at Stake: Saving the Mahomet Aquifer" was our community information program this month. One of the biggest environmental issue facing downstate Illinois is the Mahomet Aquifer. Our three presenters made an excellent case for saving the Mahomet Aquifer.
The Aquifer provides fresh water to nearly 1 million downstate residents, 100 communities and the Town of Normal. This critical water source, which is our only water source, is threatened by proposed deep injection of carbon dioxide (CO2).
A number of energy corporations have applied to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to drill and store toxic CO2 below and adjacent to the aquifer. Corporations have identified the geology below the aquifer to dump 215 million metric tons of CO2 which must remain contained for thousands of years. Recent press of Decatur ADM, with the first-in-the-nation CO2 carbon capture and storage (CCS) project, has leaded twice, resulting in an US-EPA order to stop the process.
The three presenters were Susan Adams, a family farmer whose property is across the road from one of the proposed CO2 deep injection sites in McLean County. She has testified before the McLean County board and the House Energy Committee on the need to protect the aquifer from CO2 drilling. She is also chair of the Mahomet Aquifer Consortium, Illinois Water Authority Association Board and serves on the Mahomet Aquifer Council. Kayla McGhee is an llinois People's Action (IPA) community organizer based in Peoria focusing on CO2 pulpiness and sequestration campaign and environmental justice. Don Carlson of Illinois People's Action is its executive Director and founding staff.
Don Carlson urged us to call our state representatives and senators to ask them to vote yes on upcoming bipartisan legislation to save the aquifer. The morning after our program, the Illinois Senate passed that legislation 0-50! It will likely come up for a vote some time in May. Should Senate Bill 1723 pass both chambers, it would then go to the desk of Governor J.B. Pritzker.
If you are concerned about this issue, there is still time to contact your state representative and Governor Pritzker.
Photo: Program presenters from left: Kayla McGhee, Susan Adams, and Don Carlson.