Carbon dioxide pipeline foes seek procedural halt in Iowa

Alex Lange,Summit Carbon Solutions engineering supervisor, explained on Tuesday that a carbon capture pipeline coming to Hall County has begun the land acquisition project in Iowa and will soon start in Nebraska.

State regulators should postpone a final hearing for a proposed carbon dioxide pipeline in Iowa because North Dakota rejected the project route, opponents of the pipeline say.

The Sierra Club of Iowa and landowners have asked the Iowa Utilities Board to pause the permit proceedings for Summit Carbon Solutions. Its evidentiary hearing is poised to start next week in Fort Dodge.

Summit’s project spans five states and would transport captured carbon dioxide from more than 30 ethanol plants to North Dakota for underground sequestration. However, North Dakota regulators rejected the company’s proposed route in that state this month because it didn’t minimize its negative effects on residents and the environment.

North Dakota Public Service Commissioner Sheri Haugen-Hoffart, left, Commissioner Randy Christmann, center, and Administrative Law Judge Tim Dawson on Friday detail their reasoning for rejecting a route permit for Summit Carbon Solutions' Midwest Carbon Express carbon dioxide pipeline.

“Without a North Dakota permit, Summit has no project,” wrote Wally Taylor, an attorney for the Sierra Club, in a Friday motion to suspend the permit proceedings in Iowa.

The company expects to ask North Dakota’s Public Service Commission to reconsider its permit application this week, said Sabrina Zenor, a Summit spokesperson.

Zenor

“Summit Carbon Solutions hears the concerns from the Public Service Commission, and we are addressing those concerns in our application,” she said.

Summit will seek eminent domain for about a quarter of its route in Iowa, which totals more than 680 miles. Zenor said the company has voluntary easement agreements for about 75% of the route.

“This overwhelming level of support is a clear reflection that they believe like we do that our project will ensure the long-term viability of the ethanol industry, strengthen the agricultural marketplace for farmers, and generate tens of millions of dollars in new revenue for local communities across the Midwest,” Zenor said.

It’s unclear when the IUB will rule on the request to suspend the permit process. The board also has yet to decide whether Summit must reveal specific details of its financial agreements with ethanol plants in Iowa to verify its claims of economic benefits of the project. An administrative law judge said two weeks ago that the company should provide unredacted copies of its contracts to attorneys who represent the Sierra Club and the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation.

Pipeline opponents have sought to delay Summit’s evidentiary hearing until next year. The company requested a more expeditious timeline and a decision on its permit by the end of the year. The IUB settled on a start date for this month for the hearing despite earlier indications it would begin in October, which some state lawmakers have said indicates the permit process is being “fast-tracked.”

Summit rejects that claim and has noted that the permit process has been ongoing for two years. When Summit announced the project in 2021, it predicted the pipeline would be operational in 2024. It’s unclear how the company’s setback in North Dakota will affect that timeline.

“Given the recent denial of Summit Carbon Solutions pipeline permit in North Dakota, it doesn’t make sense to hold hearings now on the issue of eminent domain,” Mary Powell, a Shelby County landowner, wrote recently to the IUB. “It would not be fair to take our land away from us when the pipeline that is proposed to run through our land has nowhere to go.”

A recent IUB decision that denied a motion to dismiss Summit’s permit petition is also being challenged in state court. On Friday, landowner George Cummins and his attorney Brian Jorde sought judicial review of the July decision and a suspension of the company’s permit process while that review is pending, according to court records.

Cummins argues that Summit’s project is not regulated by the IUB because it won’t transport “liquefied carbon dioxide,” which state law considers a hazardous liquid. The carbon dioxide that will flow through the pipeline system will be in a “supercritical” state that has characteristics of gases and liquids.

A district court judge in Hardin County already rejected the argument in a land survey lawsuit, but the new petition is filed in Polk County. A judge has not yet taken action on the new petition.

This photo provided by County of Maui shows fire and smoke filling the sky from wildfires on the intersection at Hokiokio Place and Lahaina Bypass in Maui, Hawaii on Tuesday, Aug. 8, 2023. (Zeke Kalua/County of Maui via AP)

People watch as smoke and flames fill the air from raging wildfires on Front Street in downtown Lahaina, Maui on Tuesday, Aug. 8, 2023. (Alan Dickar via AP)

The hall of historic Waiola Church in Lahaina and nearby Lahaina Hongwanji Mission are engulfed in flames along Wainee Street on Tuesday, Aug. 8, 2023, in Lahaina, Hawaii. (Matthew Thayer/The Maui News via AP)

Wildfire wreckage is seen Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023, in Lahaina, Hawaii. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

Wildfire wreckage is seen Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023, in Lahaina, Hawaii. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

A wasteland of burned out homes and obliterated communities is left on Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023, in Lahaina, Hawaii, following a stubborn blaze. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

Summer Gerlingpicks up her piggy bank found in the rubble of her home following the wildfire Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023, in Lahaina, Hawaii. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

Wildfire wreckage is shown Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023, in Lahaina, Hawaii. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

A burnt coconut tree is seen, Saturday, Aug. 12, 2023, in Lahaina, Hawaii. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

Myrna Ah Hee reacts as she waits in front of an evacuation center at the War Memorial Gymnasium, Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023, in Wailuku, Hawaii. The Ah Hees were there because they were looking for her husband's brother. Their own home in Lahaina was spared, but the homes of many of their relatives were destroyed by wildfires. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

People gather at the Kahului Airport while waiting for flights Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023, in Kahului, Hawaii. Several thousand Hawaii residents raced to escape homes on Maui as the Lahaina fire swept across the island, killing multiple people and burning parts of a centuries-old town. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

An owl sits in a burnt tree, Saturday, Aug. 12, 2023, in Lahaina, Hawaii. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

Wildfire wreckage is shown Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023, in Lahaina, Hawaii. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

Members of a search-and-rescue team walk along a street, Saturday, Aug. 12, 2023, in Lahaina, Hawaii, following heavy damage caused by wildfire. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

A man reacts as he sits on the Lahaina historic banyan tree damaged by a wildfire on Friday, Aug. 11, 2023, in Lahaina, Hawaii. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

In this photo released by the County of Maui, Mayor Richard Bissen and other officials view the fire damaged Banyan Court in Lahaina, Hawaii, Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023. (County of Maui via AP)

Burnt boats sit in waters off of Lahaina, Hawaii, on Friday, Aug. 11, 2023. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

Wildfire devastation is seen outside the city Lahaina, Hawaii, Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

A banyan tree rises among the Wildfire wreckage, Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023, in Lahaina, Hawaii. For 150 years, the colossal tree shaded community events, including art fairs. It shaded townsfolk and tourists alike from the Hawaiian sun, befitting for a place once called "Lele," the Hawaiian word for "relentless sun." Like the town itself, its very survival is now in question, its limbs scorched by a devastating fire that has wiped away generations of history. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

Women hug after digging through rubble of a home destroyed by a wildfire on Friday, Aug. 11, 2023, in Lahaina, Hawaii. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

A member of the search and rescue team walks with her cadaver dog near Front Street on Saturday, Aug. 12, 2023, in Lahaina, Hawaii, following heavy damage caused by wildfires. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

A man walks through wildfire wreckage Friday, Aug. 11, 2023, in Lahaina, Hawaii. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

People walk along Main Street past wildfire damage on Friday, Aug. 11, 2023, in Lahaina, Hawaii. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

A boy rides along Main Street past wildfire damage on Friday, Aug. 11, 2023, in Lahaina, Hawaii. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

Wildfire wreckage is shown Friday, Aug. 11, 2023, in Lahaina, Hawaii. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

A burnt statue sits amid the rubble of a home, Saturday, Aug. 12, 2023, in Lahaina, Hawaii. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

A man and dog ride along Main Street past wildfire damage, Friday, Aug. 11, 2023, in Lahaina, Hawaii. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

A woman digs through rubble of a home destroyed by a wildfire on Friday, Aug. 11, 2023, in Lahaina, Hawaii. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

Melted beer bottles are shown in the back of a burnt out truck following the wildfires Friday, Aug. 11, 2023, in Lahaina, Hawaii. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

A group of volunteers who sailed from Maalaea Bay, Maui, form an assembly line on Kaanapali Beach on Saturday Aug. 12, 2023, to unload donations from a boat. Maui residents have come together to donate water, food and other essential supplies to people on the western side of the island after a deadly fire destroyed hundreds of homes and left scores of people homeless. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

Thomas Leonard lies on an air mattress at an evacuation center at the War Memorial Gymnasium after his Lahaina apartment burned down, Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023, in Wailuku, Hawaii. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

JP Mayoga, right, a chef at the Westin Maui, Kaanapali, and his wife, Makalea Ahhee, hug on their balcony at the hotel and resort, Sunday, Aug. 13, 2023, near Lahaina, Hawaii. About 200 employees are living there with their families. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

Sydney Carney walks through her home, which was destroyed by a wildfire, Friday, Aug. 11, 2023, in Lahaina, Hawaii. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

Wildfire wreckage is seen Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023, in Lahaina, Hawaii. The search of the wildfire wreckage on the Hawaiian island of Maui on Thursday revealed a wasteland of burned out homes and obliterated communities as firefighters battled the deadliest blaze in the U.S. in recent years. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

Destroyed homes and cars are shown, Sunday, Aug. 13, 2023, in Lahaina, Hawaii. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

Wildfire wreckage is shown Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023, in Lahaina, Hawaii. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

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