SPRINGFIELD – Wolf Carbon Solutions plans to refile its application to construct and run a carbon dioxide transportation pipeline after withdrawing its initial plan on Monday.
Wolf Carbon Solutions is a private company backed by Canada Pension Plan Investment Board based in Calgary, Alberta. Wolf is a U.S.-based affiliate of Wolf Midstream, which owns and operates the Alberta Carbon Trunk Line.
In October, two staff members of the Illinois Commerce Commission recommended that Wolf Carbon Solutions’ application be denied. Testimony by a gas engineer in the agency’s safety and reliability division said the company had met just three of the eight requirements needed for certification.
In addition, an analyst in the financial analysis division said she could not say if the pipeline company possessed the financial means to complete the $600 million project without a binding agreement with its partner, Aarcher Daniels Midland Co.
In its most recent filing, Wolf Carbon said it believes its first application was “sufficient” and it had objected to motions by other parties to dismiss the application.
Wolf Carbon added, however, that with a new application, “It can address and moot many, if not all, of the concerns expressed.”
For those such as Joyce Harant, who is the president of Citizens Against Predatory Pipelines (CAPP), it’s an “exciting” day but more needs to be done.
“We’ve got the giant down on their knee. I don’t know if we’ve got them down on both knees, but we at least have them down on one knee,” she said.
Wolf Carbon is seeking a certificate of authority to construct and operate the Illinois portions of the Mount Simon Hub pipeline system. It also needs an order authorizing it to take and acquire easements and interests in private property according to the eminent domain provision of the Carbon Dioxide Transportation and Sequestration Act.
The entire multistate project could cost $1 billion; the Illinois portion is estimated to cost $600 million. The proposed pipeline corridor would enter Illinois near Rock Island and cut a diagonal across the state to Decatur, passing through many central Illinois counties including Peoria and Tazewell.
