In a major project milestone, the Iowa Utility Board (IUB) last week approved a proposal by Summit Carbon Solutions to build the world’s largest carbon capture pipeline.
The total project spans five states: Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Nebraska. It will slice through 2,500 miles of land, connect with 57 ethanol plants, and affect thousands of private landowners, many of whom have fought against the project. The portion approved in Iowa is 680 miles, a Summit spokeswoman told The Epoch Times.
In public hearings and official protest letters submitted to the IUB, many landowners have said that they object to allowing the company to have a right-of-way on their land.
With this decision, 859 land parcels can be taken by the company through eminent domain.
Conditions of Approval
The IUB did put some conditions on the approval.Summit will be required to submit certain revised exhibits as compliance filings for IUB review before the board issues the construction permit. The company also must obtain and maintain at least a $100 million insurance policy, comply with certain construction methods, and ensure that landowners and tenants are compensated for damages that may result during construction.
In addition, Summit needs approval in all the other states.
“The momentum will continue as we prepare to file our South Dakota permit application in early July,” Summit CEO Lee Blank said in a statement. “We look forward to engaging with the state throughout this process and are confident in a successful outcome.”
Landowners Protested Project
Landowners have argued that the project is not for the public good, but instead, is an untested science that will profit only the company making use of the private lands.
Among those in opposition is Austin Hayek, a Fort Dodge, Iowa, farmer whose land will be affected if the project goes ahead.
“There is a deep-rooted passion for our farm ground in many farmers, and to have something like this rip it apart for something so unnecessary is unimaginable,” Mr. Hayek said. “Many have wanted to be able to allow their families to continue their legacy of farming as they want, and if this is allowed, it takes options off the table for them.”
The project is encouraged with federal tax credits as an answer to climate change. It will capture carbon dioxide from ethanol plants, compress the captured CO2, and send it by pipeline to North Dakota, where it will be permanently stored underground in deep geologic storage locations.
“Doing so will drastically reduce the carbon footprint of ethanol production and enhance the long-term economic viability of the ethanol and agriculture industries,” Summit’s website states.
Large-scale carbon sequestration projects receive federal tax incentives such as the federal Carbon Capture and Sequestration tax credit, also called the 45Q, which is worth up to $85 per ton of CO2 captured.
Summit expects to store 16.7 million tons of CO2 per year. That amounts to $1.4 billion in tax incentives from taxpayers.
Tax credits can be converted into cash. Companies that have more tax credits than they can use sell them at a discount to other companies. This way, the seller makes a profit, and the company buying the credits gets a break on its taxes, paying less than face value for the credits.
The decision came after the IUB reviewed nearly 4,200 written comments, 7,500 pages of hearing transcripts, and testimony at hearings from more than 200 witnesses and landowners. The IUB reported receiving some 50,000 pages of prefiled testimony and exhibits from hundreds of witnesses and landowners, accepting more than 150 intervenors into the docket, and conducting 33 public information meetings over 34 months. The IUB heard a range of viewpoints in these materials.
The Sierra Club Iowa Chapter is one group that has partnered with landowners in opposition of the project.
“This is far from over,” Sierra Club Iowa Chapter Conservation Coordinator Jess Mazour said in a statement. “We will appeal this decision and make our arguments in front of a fair decision maker.”
