Biofuels giant POET sued the Wabash County Commissioners in federal court late last week over a moratorium on carbon capture and sequestration, or CCS, projects.
CCS involves grabbing carbon dioxide emissions from power plants and other industrial processes and then injecting the gas thousands of feet below the surface of the earth into underground geological formations.
The carbon dioxide stays underground indefinitely, causing fewer greenhouse gases to be emitted into the atmosphere.
The Wabash County attorney declined to comment on pending litigation.
For more than a decade, federal and state governments, including Indiana, have promoted the development of CCS projects–complete with tax incentives and regulatory structures.
In 2019, the Indiana legislature passed a bill declaring CCS projects to be a "benefit to the welfare and people of Indiana." The statehouse gave regulatory authority to the Indiana Department of Natural Resources.
POET has an ethanol plant in North Manchester and has been working on a CCS project in Wabash County for years, contracting with Vault, a CCS development company.
And POET has been busy gobbling up pore space—where the carbon dioxide would be stored— in the properties around its North Manchester ethanol plant.
Beginning in 2023, the county held a number of public meetings about the project, according to court documents.
After the hearings, Vault pursued federal permits for the project.
But in June, the Wabash County Commissioners passed an indefinite moratorium on the projects. County officials have refused to process applications for special exceptions, according to court documents.
POET officials say that the indefinite ban on the project is costing the company millions of dollars.
"The moratorium ordinance imposes a complete standstill of all work on the CCS project, and constitutes a complete taking of POET's ownership of pore space and other property interests," POET's attorneys argued in their complaint.
POET alleges the moratorium ordinance constitutes an "unconstitutional taking" of POET's property and money, and violates the Indiana Home Rule Act. The Home Rule Act prohibits local governments from exercising power that is granted to another entity.
