‘Carbon-capture’ pipeline plans across central Illinois worry land owners

Kathleen Campbell, 71, on her property in downstate Glenarm, where a company threatened to seize portions of the land through eminent domain. Campbell is now an outspoken critic of carbon dioxide pipelines crossing through central Illinois. (Provided)

It was weeks before Christmas in 2021 and bitterly cold when Kathleen Campbell opened a package from an unknown company.  

“The company was called Navigator, who said they were building a pipeline, and they were asking us for an easement, but that, if we refused, they would condemn our property and ask for eminent domain,” says Campbell, 71, a central Illinois resident who lives in Glenarm. “I suddenly felt sick to my stomach and started panicking. I didn’t even know they could do that.”