Feb. 26, 2023
Photos by: Shanna Madison/The Chicago Tribune
Story by: Nara Schoenberg/The Chicago Tribune
John Feltham, a farmer in Knox County, drives near the area for a proposed 1,300-mile carbon dioxide pipeline that would be placed under land his family has owned for more than 100 years.
On a subfreezing day in January, John Feltham drove his two-seat Kawasaki utility vehicle over neatly furrowed fields glistening with snow. There were deer and coyote tracks, black crows flapping against a powder blue sky, and signs everywhere of Feltham’s deep roots in this fertile land.
The white farmhouse near the road? That was where Feltham’s mother grew up. The little cemetery just beyond the cornfield? That was where Feltham’s parents, great-grandfather and great-great-grandfather were buried.
Feltham, a farmer in Knox County, 160 miles southwest of Chicago, paused to point out another local sight: His custom sign that reads, “No Trespassing by Navigator CO2 Surveyors”, directed at the Omaha company that wants to send part of a proposed 1,300-mile carbon dioxide pipeline under land his family has owned for more than 100 years.
“If you post your ground and you catch these people trespassing, you can have them arrested,” Feltham said.
The fight over carbon dioxide — what to do with it and where to store it — is ramping up in Illinois.
John Feltham uses a map to show where a proposed carbon capture pipeline would run through his farm near Williamsfield, Illiinois, on Jan 31, 2023.
John Feltham's homemade signs warn trespassers to stay off his property near Williamsfield, Illinois, on Jan 31, 2023.
John Feltham looks at historical photos of the family farm in his home on Feb. 24, 2023, near Williamsfield.
An early 1900s photo of John Feltham's family farm near Williamsfield.
John Feltham walks through the cemetery at the edge of his family farm on Feb. 24, 2023, near Williamsfield. Most of his immediate family are buried here.
John Feltham makes coffee at home on his farm near Williamsfield on Feb. 24, 2023.
Feltham's cat looks out over the farm on Feb, 24, 2023.