REGIONAL—Scores of people for and against the proposed Summit Carbon Solutions pipeline are making their final preparations before the CO2 project’s hearing with the Iowa Utilities Board set for Tuesday, Aug. 22.
Proceedings are set to start at 10 a.m., although protesters expect to show up at least an hour early at the Cardiff Event Center in Fort Dodge. The IUB will meet for at least a month, with every weekday adding to testimony.
The Iowa Farmers Union, one of several statewide groups organizing against Summit and similar pipelines, held a virtual meeting Thursday, Aug. 17, to discuss the hearing.
“It’s super important for people to take action,” said IFU president Aaron Lehman.
The hearing will start with Exhibit H landowners. These are people who are on Summit’s proposed route who have not signed a voluntary easement with the Ames-based company.
There are about 1,000 parcels still unsigned in Iowa, about a third of the route. The landowner total is likely smaller since one person can own multiple parcels.
While the critics are vocal, having a majority signed onto the project shows ample approval in the view of Summit spokesperson Jesse Harris.
“There is overwhelming support among Iowa landowners for this project and importantly more easement agreements are being signed every day and that will continue throughout the upcoming hearing,” Harris said
Hs could eventually be subject to eminent domain. After the hearing concludes, the three-member board will decide the scope of land seizures, if any, if it decides to grant Summit construction permission in the first place.
This anti-pipeline sign north of Sheldon is a larger than most in N’West Iowa. After more than two years of prelude, the Iowa Utilities Board will start its hearing on the Summit Carbon Solutions pipeline Tuesday, Aug. 22. Elijah Helton ehelton@iowainformation.com
“Ultimately, the IUB decides whether the applicant will be allowed to exercise eminent domain and, if so, exactly what rights can be condemned,” said IUB communications director Don Tormey.
After Exhibit Hs testify, it will be Summit’s turn to make its case in the hearing’s second phase.
The main argument is economic. The proposed five-state pipeline system would sequester carbon dioxide from 32 ethanol plants, including 13 in Iowa such as Siouxland Energy Cooperative near Sioux Center, and pump it underground to be stored indefinitely in North Dakota.
Keeping CO2 out of the atmosphere earns those plants a more climate-friendly rating, making the biofuels more profitable in green-conscious markets such as California.
Without CO2 pipelines, the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association said the state could lose up to 75 percent of its ethanol production within a decade, more than $10 billion.
Summit missed out on a permit Aug. 4 in North Dakota with a similar process to the IUB’s. That led some Iowa anti-pipeliners to argue the Hawkeye State should postpone its Aug. 22 hearing. They call Summit’s project “a pipeline to nowhere.”
“Rushing this only benefits Summit. It does not benefit any of the landowners who never asked to be a part of this process in the first place,” Jess Mazour said.
Mazour spoke to the IFU and its virtual audience Aug. 17. She is one of the leading public faces of the anti-pipeline movement in Iowa, working for the Sierra Club.
But postponement isn’t happening. Tormey said the IUB’s process is separate and unaffected by North Dakota.
“Any action taken by the IUB regarding this matter would be filed in the Summit Carbon docket that is pending before the IUB,” Tormey said.
Harris said everyone has had plenty of time.
“Our project was announced two and a half years ago. We completed county informational meetings nearly two years ago. We submitted our permit application more than a year and a half ago,” Harris said. “Having met those important regulatory milestones, scheduling a start date for the hearing in August is well within the typical timeline for projects such as this and clearly provides substantial time for participation by all stakeholders.”
The third phase of the IUB hearing features interveners. These are Exhibit Hs as well as outside actors, such as the IFU and Sierra Club, to argue for or against the project.
“Some of these Exhibit H landowners have intervened to participate at a higher level in the process and some haven’t. That’s fine. They’re all going to get their ‘day in court’ to testify in front of the IUB,” Mazour said.
IUB approval would not green light the entire project, although it would be the biggest state-level step forward for Summit. The company plans 720 miles of its 2,000-mile route to be in the Hawkeye State.
Summit has reapplied in North Dakota. Harris said the company is still on schedule to break ground in the first or second quarter of 2024.
“We look forward to starting the hearing next week and continuing to move the project through the regulatory process,” Harris said.
Besides North Dakota, the company faces a variety of processes in Minnesota, Nebraska and South Dakota, all with different CO2 pipeline approval rules.
But for right now, Lehman said, the fight is converging on Fort Dodge.
“We know that we are strongest when we have the best voice, when we all work together,” he said.