DECATUR - An $84.3 million project to test carbon dioxide storage capacity deep below the Archer Daniels Midland Co. campus in Decatur is nearing the end of its regulatory phase.

Once the regulatory phase is completed, work on drilling more than 6,500 feet below the surface would begin. But first, the public is being asked for comments on the proposed injection permit.

A public comment meeting is being held Tuesday in Decatur Public Library. Comments also can be submitted to the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency for 30 days following the permit hearing.

If issued, the permit would allow construction and operation of the wells that would be used in the project, including a single deep injection well, two optional deep injection zone monitoring wells and four groundwater monitoring wells.

"This is an exciting phase, as we begin to engage people from the community," said Sallie Greenberg, sequestration communications coordinator for the Illinois State Geological Survey. "The community will be able to comment on the permit, and we welcome them to participate in that process."

The Geological Survey is part of the Midwest Geological Sequestration Consortium, which is partnering with ADM on the project. It is one of seven similar projects being funded by the U.S. Department of Energy.

The projects are intended to demonstrate carbon dioxide, or CO2, storage capacity in underground formations throughout the country. Researchers are looking for uses of carbon dioxide other than emitting it into the atmosphere.

The consortium is receiving $66.7 million to test a part of the Mount Simon Sandstone, a saline-water-bearing rock formation. The formation runs below most of Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana and part of Ohio.

Preparation for drilling has begun on the northwest side of ADM's campus between its facilities and Richland Community College, said Mark Burau, manager of ADM's corn plant in Decatur.

Drilling would take about two months to complete and be the most visual phase of the project, Greenberg said.

"The rig is likely to be visible from the highway and will perhaps draw a fair amount of attention," she said Thursday while providing an update on the project.

Drilling originally was scheduled to begin in the spring, but the regulatory process has been thorough, she said.

If the project stays on schedule, injection is slated to begin in December 2009, Greenberg said. The project will inject 1,000 tons per day of carbon dioxide from ADM's ethanol plant into the ground, and the CO2 would remain contained below ADM's property.

About 1 million tons of carbon dioxide will be injected over the course of the experiment.

Injection is scheduled to be completed in 2012. For two years after the injections are complete, officials will monitor, take samples and make sure nothing is leaking from the formation.

Monitoring of the site began in the spring.

clusvardi@herald-review.com|421-7972