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Ledger 1 : 33 — For each dollar financing nature-based solutions in 2023, about $33 financed activities harmful to nature. (UNEP)
Cases / Water use · United States · 2023–2024

ADM Decatur carbon storage site leaks about 8,000 tons, EPA finds

Short record: the main facts, with sources. A full case file has not been prepared.

Nature's voice · report
No measurement of the harm done to me here is on record.
Did nature suffer? Not measured.
Not on record
  • The record does not name which of my species, waters, soils or forests were harmed.
What the record lacks: 3 none on record · 1 insufficient · 1 not measured See the gaps

About 8,000 tons of liquid carbon dioxide and underground fluid leaked from ADM's storage site at Decatur, Illinois, beyond its permitted zone. The site sits above an aquifer that supplies drinking water to about one million people, and the EPA said the leak violated the Safe Drinking Water Act.

What?
About 8,000 tons of liquid CO2 and underground fluid leaked from ADM's Decatur storage site beyond its permitted zone, and the EPA said the leak violated the Safe Drinking Water Act. Capitol News Illinois
Where?
Decatur, Illinois, above the Mahomet aquifer. Capitol News Illinois
When?
Corrosion known from October 2023; leak noticed in March 2024; reported to the EPA in August 2024. Capitol News Illinois
Who?
Gained
None on record
Lost
None on record
Harmed
None on record
Why?
The monitoring well corroded; the sources do not say why it corroded. Capitol News Illinois
How?
Liquid CO2 and underground fluid escaped through a corroded monitoring well at the storage site. Capitol News Illinois
5 of 6 questions answered from the record · open: who

What happened

The record, in order.

Capitol News Illinois reported on 13 September 2024 that the EPA considered a leak at ADM's Decatur carbon storage site a violation of the Safe Drinking Water Act.

About 8,000 tons of liquid carbon dioxide and underground fluid escaped beyond the permitted zone through a corroded monitoring well, according to the same report.

ADM knew of the corrosion from October 2023, the leak was noticed in March 2024, and it was reported to the EPA in August 2024.

The site sits above the Mahomet aquifer, which supplies drinking water to about one million people.

    In court and with insurers

    Every proceeding and every insurer decision on record.

    Lawsuits and rulings

    No court case on record. No court has ruled on this case.

    Insurers

    No insurer decision on record.

    What we don't know

    Undisclosed, unproven, untried: recorded as data.

    Nature

    • Not measured Harm to nature: The record holds no measurement of harm to nature.

    Record

    • Insufficient Reported but not verified: Illinois banned carbon storage under the Mahomet aquifer, with the law signed on 1 August 2025 and in force from 1 January 2026.
    • None on record Not stated: whether the leak reached drinking water.
    • None on record Not stated: the outcome of the sanction the EPA proposed against ADM; none is reported in the sources reviewed.
    • None on record Not stated: how the monitoring well came to corrode.

    Did the harm stop?

    Not stated in the sources reviewed.

    Who paid?

    Not stated in the sources reviewed.

    Sources

    Voices on record: — Company or project— Government and regulators— Courts✓ Press and investigations— Communities and civil society— Researchers

    Press and investigations

    Connected cases

    Related matters, and cases linked to this one through the same organisations, with the role each played in both.
    Terms used on this page

    Institutions

    EPA
    The US Environmental Protection Agency.

    Science and environment

    Groundwater
    Water held underground in soil and rock, drawn through wells.
    PFOA (C8) and PFAS
    PFAS are a large family of human-made chemicals that persist in the environment and the body; PFOA, also called C8, is one of them and was used to make Teflon.
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