The Greene County Supervisors are going to consider selecting an engineering firm as its inspector for a proposed pipeline project.

The Supervisors met with representatives from ISG this past October, as well as Snyder and Associates last week, and they will choose which company to be the county’s inspector for a carbon dioxide pipeline that is proposed by Summit Carbon Solutions. The 2,000 mile pipeline stretches across the Midwest and will capture carbon emissions from 31 ethanol plants, including Louis Dreyfus in Grand Junction. The carbon will travel via an underground pipeline to a storage facility in North Dakota. 

Supervisor Chair John Muir says the Board is to the point where they have enough knowledge about the project to push forward with an inspector. He points out the company would represent the county and the landowners that are impacted in the over ten miles that the pipeline reaches into the northeastern portion of the county. Muir explains where the payment for the services provided by the inspector would come from.

“As far as expense, their services are paid for by the pipeline (Summit Carbon Solutions), which I know sounds like a contradiction of the pipeline’s being watched by the company they are paying. But we’re overseeing (the county portion) and we’re who the company will be reporting to. We’re holding the purse strings and they’ll answer to us.”   

The company the Board chooses would also like to have them work with Bolton and Menk for the drainage districts that the county oversees. Summit Carbon Solutions has filed a hazardous liquid pipeline permit with the Iowa Utilities Board and the next step in the process would be a public hearing, which a date has not been announced.