PEORIA (25News Now) – Advocates and survivors of a pipeline rupture say no to the CO2 pipeline installment plan.

Saturday afternoon, the Southside Peoria Nourish Group and Central Illinois Healthy Community Alliance hosted a Citizens Against Predatory Pipelines presentation and panel at the Peoria Public Library.

Two companies, Wolf Carbon Solutions, and Navigator CO2 Ventures, are trying to push multiple pipeline projects through Illinois…which includes Peoria County.

But those speaking for the panel, and many of the residents in attendance, are questioning the health and safety of their communities.

Debra’e Burns suffered CO2 poisoning in 2020 after he was exposed to large amounts of CO2 after the pipeline in his hometown of Satartia, Mississippi, burst.

“I don’t want y’all to be afraid. We didn’t know what was going to happen, but you guys do,” said Burns.

He says he was coming home from a fishing trip with his family when he saw an explosion just a quarter of a mile from the car they were driving in. He described it as a mushroom cloud.

“I had 17 seconds to call my mom and tell her we were on our way to pick her up because a pipeline blew up,” said Burns. “But by the time we turned on our road, our car just shut off and went dead. After the car shut off, we went out. I woke up at the hospital about 3 hours later.”

Burns was rescued by a first responder from the next County over, Jerry Briggs. He described Satartia that day as a ghost town.

“The world just stopped, and everybody was gone,” Burns said. “Headlights were still on in cars sitting in the middle of the highway.”

Briggs said when he found Burns and his family, he thought they were dead.

“They were foaming at the mouth, and one of them had a drink in their hand, resting on their knee, and it was still there,” described Briggs. “It was like they were frozen in place.”

Daurice Coaster, the founder of Nourish Group and a Peoria County resident, says her home is less than a mile from the proposed route.

After hearing Burns’s story and doing her own research, she doesn’t want to risk her safety.

“I’m standing for myself, my neighbors, my community, and I’m saying no. I cannot think of one good idea to entertain a pipeline,” said Coaster.

The senior vice president of Wolf Carbon Solutions, Nick Noppinger, previously told 25 News that they stand by their safety record and plan to communicate with local first responders on what to do in the event of a rupture.

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