Vervain

The Vervain Project was a proposed Class VI geologic carbon sequestration development in McLean County Illinois led by Navigator CO2 Ventures through its subsidiary Heartland Greenway Carbon Storage LLC. Vervain was designed as a core storage site for Navigator’s planned Heartland Greenway carbon capture and pipeline system, which intended to transport captured CO2 from ethanol and industrial facilities across the Midwest and permanently store it in central Illinois. The project targeted the Cambrian Mount Simon Sandstone as the injection and storage formation, with the Eau Claire Formation serving as the primary regional confining unit, consistent with other large scale Illinois Basin storage developments. The Class VI permit application proposed two dedicated CO2 injection wells, supported by a deep observation well, above confining zone monitoring wells, and shallow groundwater monitoring wells. The project was designed to sequester approximately 2.5 million metric tons of CO2 per year, with injection operations planned to begin following permit approval and completion of well construction. Extensive geologic characterization, seismic interpretation, reservoir modeling, and area of review analysis were completed to support long term storage capacity and containment, leveraging data and operational experience from the nearby ADM Decatur CCS project approximately 35 miles to the southeast Despite advanced permitting progress and submission of a full Class VI application to the US Environmental Protection Agency, the Vervain Project was ultimately abandoned following the cancellation of Navigator’s Heartland Greenway pipeline system in 2023. With the pipeline network no longer proceeding, Navigator discontinued development of its Illinois sequestration sites, including Vervain, and the Class VI permit applications were withdrawn before approval."