The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is accepting public comments on a plan to inject carbon dioxide beneath Morgan County.

FutureGen Industrial Alliance wants to capture carbon dioxide from a coal-burning power plant in Meredosia, then inject it into underground wells near Jacksonville.

FutureGen wants permits to inject 1.1 million metric tons a year for 20 years in a practice known as carbon sequestration. The permits would be the first in the nation for injecting and storing the gas underground.

The comment period ends May 7, when the EPA will hold a public hearing at MacMurray College in Jacksonville.