Terre Haute Commissioners dispatched with the business on their agenda fairly quickly on Tuesday morning, giving the bulk of the meeting over to public comments about a controversial upcoming project involving two deep underground injection wells for carbon dioxide in West Terre Haute and Vermillion County.
Wabash Valley Resources LLC, the parent company of Wabash Carbon Services LLC, is seeking permits to operate two deep underground injection wells for carbon dioxide produced at facilities in West Terre Haute and Vermillion County.
That project was the topic of animated discussion during a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency meeting last week, as well as a meeting at Universal Town Hall on Monday.
Some residents say the wells present the potential for groundwater contamination, pipeline rupture and leaks, habitat disruption and even possible seismic activity.
Among the issues discussed Tuesday morning was Indiana Senate Bill 451, which approved a carbon sequestration pilot project, that “will maintain operations only in Vigo and Vermillion counties.”
Residents and commissioners were unhappy that the state wrested control from the local community to allow a project that critics say could create a number of potential environmental hazards.
After the meeting, Commissioner Mark Clinkenbeard said, “Obviously, I’m for local government being involved. It sounds like we are not involved with this, so we have a lot of work to do — a lot of investigating and we’ll get with our state legislators and see what we can do to address the situation.”
In June, Keyrock Energy withdrew a request for rezoning land in West Terre Haute for two methane drilling wells, which would have invited similar environmental concerns.
Susan Strole-Kos, a New Goshen resident whose family has owned a small farm there for nearly 200 years, led those raising their voices Tuesday in concern over the project and urging residents and commissioners alike to fight and convince legislators to vote to rescind the bill.
“If this leaks, it could ruin our water systems [throughout] Terre Haute and [parts of] Illinois,” she said, citing research that suggested the effects of a project of this size could extend over hundreds of miles.
Wabash Carbon Services has promised that the injection wells would be responsible for creating about 200 new jobs. Strole-Kos said she was in favor of generating new employment opportunities, but asked, “When does risk outweigh benefit?”
After the meeting, Strole-Kos said as soon as she heard about the EPA meeting a few weeks ago, she began looking into the perils of underground injection wells for carbon dioxide.
“I researched for hours and hours and hours — literally sometimes 12 hours a day,” she said, adding that she’s pored over the state and federal government’s energy pages, as well as scientific studies from the U.S. and Norway, which has studied the issue for longer than the U.S.
She added that the EPA admitted to working only from data provided by Wabash Valley Resources. If the plan proceeds as planned, the injection wells are projected to be up and running by 2026.
Senate Bill 451 states that if the operator of the carbon sequestration pilot project is not issued a Class VI permit by the EPA, it will expire on July 1, 2028.
The next meeting on the subject is scheduled for 6 p.m. Tuesday at Fayette Elementary School at 9400 N. Beech Place, West Terre Haute.
Other county business
In other business, commissioners voted on a resolution accepting state public health funding.
Vigo County Health Department Administrator Joni Wise told the commissioners that the state had doubled Vigo County’s previous funding amount to about $2 million.
Commissioners also voted to accept the workman’s compensation insurance contract, which rose $96,000 over 2022, as well as the liability insurance contract, which rose by a more modest 10%.
Also Tuesday, commissioners appointed George Heubel to a four-year term on the Vigo County Public Library board.
David Kronke can be reached at 812-231-4232 or at [email protected].