A company that is seeking to build an underground pipeline across Iowa and four other Midwest states, was given its construction permit in Iowa.

On August 28th, the Iowa Utilities Commission issued the permit to Summit Carbon Solutions for its first phase to build 688.01 miles of underground pipeline across Iowa. Summit is proposing to capture carbon emissions from ethanol plants, pressurize it into a hazardous liquid that would be transported via an underground pipeline to an underground storage facility in North Dakota. On June 25th, the IUC granted the petition by Summit but stated several compliance requirements before the construction permit would be issued.

According to the IUC, Summit submitted those required compliance filings on August 5th. The IUC determined that Summit had substantially complied with its requirements and issued the permit. However, the IUC document states that Summit cannot begin construction until other conditions have been met in the original order from June 25th, one of the main conditions being approval from regulators in North and South Dakotas. 

Summit has also filed 14 dockets as part of its phase two, which includes just over 27 miles into Greene County. This past Monday’s Greene County Board of Supervisors meeting, the Board unanimously approved a resolution for an objection to the second phase project, with three key areas. Those concerns were not allowing Summit to use eminent domain, the health and safety of the residents of the county, and the amount of water potentially depleting the aquifers in the county. 

Board Chair John Muir said the main concern for the Board was the use of eminent domain, where a company can forcibly take a landowner’s property. 

“We don’t see really how the definition of what we thought the definition of eminent domain was fits this project’s scenario. So we objected. And I don’t know that our objection’s going to get much traction. But for the landowners it’s going to affect, I think they deserve maybe a better definition (eminent domain) of how it fits.”   

An informational meeting for the Greene County portion of the second phase of the pipeline project was recently held by Summit and representatives of the IUC on August 28th. The second phase will follow the same process with the IUC as the first phase, with informational meetings, followed by a hearing and then the final decision by the IUC. Click here to see the document from the IUC on August 28th.