The University’s Prairie Research Institute lost over $23 million in federal funding this month, terminating several climate-related research projects. The Department of Energy terminated the funding amid the ongoing government shutdown, during which the Trump administration has vowed to withhold funding from Democratic-favored programs.
Angie Coy, assistant director for external relations at the PRI, confirmed estimates of the funding loss have changed to reflect new information and shared details of the impacted projects in an email statement to The Daily Illini.
Illinois Basin West CarbonSAFE
The Illinois Basin West CarbonSAFE project, led by Principal Investigator Kendall Taft, lost over $15.2 million in federal funding. The DOE initially allocated $17.7 million to the Illinois State Geological Survey at the PRI in 2023.
Researchers were working to geologically characterize the Cambrian Mt. Simon/Eau Claire Formation storage complex near the Dallman Power Plant in Springfield, Illinois. Their assessment of the site would allow for the safe and permanent storage of more than 50 million metric tons of carbon dioxide over 30 years.
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Prior to losing their grant, the team had established a working group and funded a post-doctoral researcher to study the Eau Claire Formation. They also completed a pre-drill assessment report and acquired 114 miles of 2D seismic profiles during the summer, which were central to characterizing subsurface geological structure.
The project was supporting the Dallman Power Plant’s goal of achieving carbon-free operations by 2045. Under the Illinois Climate and Equitable Jobs Act, this objective is necessary for the plant to remain in service.
“This project would have enabled long-term CO₂ storage, offering a compliance pathway to keep the plant operating as a reliable power source,” Coy’s statement read. “If commercialized, the project could have reduced greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 2 million tons of CO₂ per year.”
Direct Air Capture Hubs
Another project, led by Principal Investigator Kevin O’Brien and the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center at the PRI, lost over $6.8 million for their work with Direct Air Capture Hubs. In 2023, the DOE selected the PRI to lead the project.
There are three DAC Hubs involved with the project, located in Illinois, Colorado and Florida. Each uses DAC to capture CO2 from the air, which can then be sequestered underground or repurposed into products.
“We were told that the project Hubs managed by the U of I were significantly more well developed and stronger than any of the other Hubs that were being run by other entities,” O’Brien wrote in the statement. “We had an established business structure for the Hubs and pathways to financially viable entities that would own and operate the Hubs.”
The team also designed a master plan for the hubs, designating the exact locations where the DAC facilities would be placed.
Each hub would create between 500 and 3,000 construction jobs and 400-1,000 indirect and induced jobs over a ten-year period. O’Brien wrote that the funding loss has “eliminated” this job creation, as well as the opportunity for the project to engage with low-income communities near the hubs.
Advanced Characterization of Wastewater with Focus on Environment and Economics
Principal Investigator John Scott and the ISTC lost $1.3 million for their Advanced Characterization of Wastewater project.
Researchers were studying Coal Combustion Residuals in ash ponds — ponds that store waste from burning coal in power plants. The project would study ash ponds in Illinois and Ohio and eventually expand to states like Kentucky, North Dakota, Texas and more.
The resulting research would allow scientists to better manage the ponds and create jobs for those involved with extracting critical minerals and materials from the bodies of water. Scott wrote that each location would create an estimated 50-100 new construction jobs, and 30-60 indirect and induced jobs.
Beyond job creation, Scott explained that the project’s findings would decrease the risk of drinking water contamination in the communities surrounding the ash ponds. Purified water could potentially be used to meet water demands of data centers.
“Termination of this award eliminates the ability to create this new market opportunity, build new businesses in this space, and create union jobs for construction and operation of the resulting facilities,” Scott wrote.
National Pollinator-Solar Energy Research Network
The Illinois Natural History Survey was a subcontractor for a project with Cornell University that lost $180,073 in federal funds.
The researchers were using trace amounts of DNA left on the surfaces of flowers to study pollinator communities to assess the impacts of solar installations on pollinator populations.
At the time their grant was terminated, the team had just completed their first season of sampling. They were in the process of analyzing over 400 DNA samples from several states across the country.
Davis explained that conventional methods of monitoring biodiversity are costly and time consuming. Newer fields of study, like environmental DNA, offer more affordable and accessible ways of conducting this research.
“Our agricultural economy is reliant upon pollinators, and the loss of pollinators in our Illinois agricultural ecosystem will have profound economic impacts,” wrote Mark Davis, the project’s principal investigator. “If native pollinators continue to be lost, producers will increasingly be required to import honeybees to fill the gap, at a cost to their operations.”
It is unclear how long the government shutdown will last, but White House economic advisor Kevin Hassett has said it could end this week. In the meantime, leaders of federally funded projects across the nation will be left to grapple with widespread funding loss.
