HOLSTEIN, Iowa (KMTV) — The Summit Carbon Solutions pipeline and its proposed expansion would run through western Iowa. Neighbors met in Holstein for one of the final meetings Summit is required to hold before it can talk to landowners about the second phase of its carbon capture pipeline project.
- Carbon capture takes carbon dioxide, a byproduct from ethanol production, cools it, pipes it to a spot where it's buried underground. The idea: reduce the carbon footprint of corn ethanol allowing it to be sold for products such as sustainable aviation fuel.
- Jolene Riessen is the Chair of Iowa Corn Growers Association. The pipeline would go through her farm. "When our customers are asking for low carbon fuel, we kinda like, have to deliver," she said.
- State Rep. Steve Holt wants Summit to get voluntary participation from landowners, not use eminent domain, which he believes would violate the state constitution. "This is not a public use project. It's a private economic development project," he said.
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BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
"Build your pipeline using voluntary easements and not the heavy hand of government to seize the private property of others," said Iowa State Rep. Steve Holt, from Denison.
Eminent domain, safety, new markets for corn producers: all topics on the table as Iowa neighbors discuss carbon capture pipelines for the ethanol industry.
I'm Southwest Iowa neighborhood reporter, Katrina Markel.
On Thursday night I attended a public information meeting in Holstein about a proposed expansion of CO2 pipelines through Iowa. I was there because the proposed pipeline is at the center of a conversation about private property rights, economic opportunities and climate change.
It was one of the last public information meetings Summit Carbon Solutions is required to hold before talking to landowners in the path of the expansion.
Carbon capture takes carbon dioxide, a byproduct from ethanol production, cools it, pipes it to a spot where it's buried underground. The idea: reduce the carbon footprint of corn ethanol allowing it to be sold for products such as sustainable aviation fuel.
Jolene Riessen is the Chair of Iowa Corn Growers Association. The pipeline would go through her farm.
"When our customers are asking for low carbon fuel, we kinda like, have to deliver," she said.
Iowa producers, she says, need new markets to remain financially viable.
State Rep. Steve Holt wants Summit to get voluntary participation from landowners, not use eminent domain, which he believes would violate the state constitution.
"This is not a public use project. It's a private economic development project," he said.
Representatives from Summit emphasized that they have not yet used eminent domain and they're seeking voluntary easements.
"That's a little bit of a word game because while they haven't actually used it yet, they've definitely applied for it," said Holt.
Riessen says this is about competing with countries like Brazil for corn sales and, when farmers do well, they lift the local economy.
"I want my boys to be able to farm, too. But they can't farm unless it's profitable," she said.
Summit has a permit to build the first phase of the pipeline. But it still needs to meet additional criteria before construction begins.
