A company that is looking to cross five Midwest states for an underground pipeline project, recently received approval in Iowa.

The Iowa Utilities Board (IUB) on Tuesday approved Summit Carbon Solution’s permit to construct 688 miles of underground pipeline to take liquid carbon dioxide from ethanol plants to an underground storage facility in North Dakota. 

According to the IUB, after considering viewpoints and data both for and against the project, the three-person board “found that the service to be provided by Summit Carbon will promote the public convenience and necessity.” The board goes on to say that Summit is given the right to use eminent domain on the remaining 25 percent of parcels that were submitted by the company to possibly use the authority to forcibly take the land that they need from the landowners. 

Additionally, the IUB did put certain conditions before issuing the permit to Summit. The IUB is requiring the company to submit numerous revised exhibits as compliance filings for the board’s review, along with Summit obtaining and maintaining at least $100 million insurance policy, and ensuring landowners and tenants are compensated for the damages that could result from the construction of the pipeline, among others. 

The pipeline stretches a total of over 2,000 miles in Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, and North and South Dakota. Click here to read the order by the IUB.