Free Public Meeting to Be Held Exposing Hazards of CO2 Pipeline
April 3, 2024

 

Wesley Community Center, 105 2nd St. S., Wesley, Iowa 50483

A FREE public informational meeting geared at protecting private property rights and exposing the hazards from a potential CO2 pipeline will be held this Friday, April 5th from 6 to 8pm at the Wesley Community Center in Wesley, Iowa.

Special guest speakers at public informational meeting will be:

  • Trent Loos (National Radio Host of “Loos Tales”)

    Trent Loos
  • Jessica Mazour (Iowa Sierra Club Executive)

    Jessica Mazour
  • Kevin Virgil (Iowa 4th Congressional District Candidate)

    Kevin Virgil

Summit Carbon Solutions’ proposed pipeline faces tough opposition from a broad coalition of Indigenous groups, farmers, and environmentalists, who oppose a hazardous CO2 pipeline that threatens their lives, land, and water sources.  Alan Bush, a member of a group of concerned citizens protecting private property and farmland rights, tells the primary purpose of this meeting.

(Click below for Alan Bush #1 audio)

Summit Carbon Solutions is awaiting the decision from the Iowa Utilities Board on whether or not its permit is approved and it will be able to take people’s lands through use of eminent domain.  Having failed to persuade enough landowners to cede their land, Summit has resorted to threatening eminent domain and legal action against many Iowa landowners and counties seeking to impose conditions and safeguards around the pipeline.

(Click below for Alan Bush #2 audio)

According to the U.S. and state constitutions, eminent domain is the government’s power to take private property for public benefit. However, Summit Carbon Solutions is a private for profit business.  Led by agribusiness baron Bruce Rastetter, the 2,000-mile pipeline would capture carbon from ethanol biorefineries across Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, and South Dakota, before injecting and storing it underground in North Dakota.

A recent poll showed 78 percent of Iowans reject the use of eminent domain for carbon pipelines. Despite this widespread opposition, the Iowa Senate has refused to consider bills to prevent the use of eminent domain.  Bush also explains the #1 reason so many Iowans are against the proposed CO2 pipeline.

(Click below for Alan Bush #3 audio)

This photo shows the spot where a carbon dioxide pipeline ruptured in Satartia, Miss., in February 2020 leading to the evacuation of 200 residents and the hospitalization of 45 others. Media reports show it took over 2 hours for the pipeline company to confirm with the EPA a rupture had taken place.  Yazoo County Emergency Management Agency / Submitted

So, if dangerous, why propose a CO2 pipeline in the first place?

Is it really about reducing the carbon score of ethanol and expanding ethanol access to existing and emerging markets?

According to Summit Carbon Solutions, “the project will have the capacity to capture and permanently store up to 18 million tons of CO2 every year, which is the equivalent of removing 3.9 million vehicles from our roads annually.”

However, Bush thinks it’s more about a land grab and abuse of taxpayers.

(Click below for Alan Bush #4 audio)