Compromise proposal is stalled to delay eminent domain for carbon pipelines

State lawmakers must act soon to protect landowners from the threat of eminent domain to build nearly 2,000 miles of liquid carbon pipelines across the state, pipeline opponents said at a press event.

Proposals that would curb private companies’ use of eminent domain to build the pipelines have surfaced intermittently throughout the legislative session and culminated with a House budget bill amendment that would delay final action by the Iowa Utilities Board on the pipeline proposals until February 2023.

The pipelines would transport captured carbon from ethanol plants and other agricultural facilities to other states, where it would be pumped into the ground. The projects are expected to reap billions of dollars in federal incentives that are meant to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Rep. Bobby Kaufmann, R-Wilton, has pitched that eminent domain moratorium as a compromise with his fellow lawmakers that would give some breathing room to landowners in their negotiations with the pipeline companies for property easements.

Of the three pipeline proposals, the one by Summit Carbon Solutions is the furthest along. The IUB is poised to set a schedule that will culminate with a hearing on the plan and the company’s requests for eminent domain. Eminent domain allows government to take private land for a public purpose with compensation to the landowner set by the government.

The company has said it has reached agreements or is close to reaching agreements with landowners for about a quarter of the pipeline’s 680-mile stretch in the northwestern half of the state. Summit must submit a list of eminent domain requests before the IUB can set the permit hearing.

“If these dangerous pipelines are allowed to use eminent domain, no landowner will be safe from its use by other private companies in the future,” Cynthia Hansen, a Shelby County landowner along the Summit pipeline path, said.

She urged lawmakers to act on the issue this session before the Summit proposal has an opportunity to be approved. She said the proposed moratorium isn’t enough, a common refrain among pipeline opponents.

The IUB is expected to take up the Summit proposal early next year, which might give lawmakers little time to act during the next legislative session.

“The Legislature’s inaction this session is shameful,” said Emma Schmit, a western Iowa resident and organizer for Food & Water Watch, which is among the environmental groups that oppose the pipelines.