Summit Carbon proposes informational meeting schedule for pipeline extension projects

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

Summit Carbon Solutions, which recently won approval from the Iowa Utilities Board for a carbon dioxide capture and sequestration pipeline across Iowa, wants to hold public informational meetings in August and September for additional pipeline branches off the main line in 23 Iowa counties.

One of the proposed additional branches would add more than 14 miles north and south through Floyd County. The informational meeting for that branch is proposed for Wednesday, Sept. 11, at the Floyd County Fairgrounds, although the board – now called the Iowa Utilities Commission – has not yet approved the meetings schedule.

Summit had submitted the new branch pipeline proposals to the IUB in March, and had asked the board to allow it to schedule informational meeting in those 23 counties in April and May. But the board had denied those meeting requests in a 2-1 decision without giving a reason.

Companies are required to hold public informational meetings for proposals for hazardous materials pipelines – which is how the CO2 transport pipelines are classified – before their agents can begin negotiating with property owners for easements along the route.

The branch lines off of the main Summit pipeline would serve ethanol plants and other facilities that had been part of the Navigator CO2 Ventures project that was canceled last October, including adding Valero Renewables and POET facilities in Iowa.

One of the proposed new extensions would go from the main pipeline crossing Floyd County a little west of Rampart Avenue/County Road T47, north to the Valero Renewables Charles City ethanol plant.

That line would also branch south from the main pipeline at that same location, into Butler County to the POET Bioprocessing facility at Shell Rock, then all the way through Bremer County north of Waverly into Fayette County, where it would link with the POET Bioprocessing facility near Fairbank.

Another Floyd County lateral had been proposed by Summit more than a year ago, in June 2023, from the Summit pipeline near Rockford, north to the Absolute Energy ethanol facility almost at the Minnesota border.

Summit already held informational meetings for that lateral route, in Floyd County on Aug. 8, 2023, and in Mitchell County that same day.

The recently approved Summit pipeline includes about 690 miles in Iowa. The 18 additional trunks and laterals proposed in March would increase that by another 340 miles, to a total of about 1,030 miles, almost half again as long.

Summit’s filing in March had divided the proposed additional routes into 14 separate dockets, filed under the company name of SCS Carbon Transport LLC. Pipeline opponents had argued that the additional routes should be joined with the original main pipeline docket filed by Summit Carbon Solutions, but the Iowa Utilities Board turned down that petition.

The counties covered in the additional pipeline extension requests are Adams, Bremer, Buchanan, Buena Vista, Butler, Clay, Fayette, Floyd, Greene, Guthrie, Hamilton, Hancock, Hardin, Ida, Kossuth, Mitchell, Montgomery, O’Brien, Osceola, Palo Alto, Sioux, Webster and Worth.

Although the Iowa Utilities Board approved Summit’s permit application for its initial main pipeline through Iowa, the board said it will not issue a construction permit until Summit meets several requirements, including securing the necessary permits in South Dakota and North Dakota.

Both those states initially turned down Summit’s request, but North Dakota is deciding if it will reconsider the permit request, and a Summit spokesperson said it is in the process of seeking reconsideration in South Dakota as well. The sequestration site to inject carbon dioxide deep underground for permanent storage is proposed for a site in North Dakota.

The Iowa Utilities Board is now officially called the Iowa Utilities Commission. The commission announced its new name on Monday, July 1, saying the change “is the result of legislation in Senate File 2385 and follows state government reorganization in 2023 that removed the IUB from under the umbrella of the Department of Commerce.”

“In conjunction with the agency name change, board members will now be known as commissioners,” it said. “The Iowa Utilities Commission regulates utilities, as established by law, to ensure that reasonably priced, reliable, environmentally responsible, and safe utility services are available to Iowans.”