Iowa Utilities Commission issues pipeline permit for Summit Carbon Solutions

By Clark Kauffman, Iowa Capital Dispatch

The Iowa Utilities Commission has issued a construction permit for Summit Carbon Solutions’ proposed hazardous liquid pipeline across Iowa, but conditions still have not been met that would allow construction to begin.

The commission’s decision on Wednesday, Aug. 28, was not unexpected given a June 25 order in which the panel issued a final decision approving the project while requiring Summit Carbon to submit numerous filings demonstrating compliance with regulatory requirements before a construction permit would be issued.

The commission also required the company to secure and maintain a $100 million insurance policy, and agree to compensate landowners for any damages that result from the pipeline’s construction.

On August 5, Summit Carbon submitted the required compliance filings, clearing the way for the permit to be issued.

The commission issued the permit without modifying the previously imposed conditions Summit Carbon must meet in order to begin construction – the most significant of which is that the project must be approved by regulators in North Dakota and South Dakota.

The Iowa Chapter of the Sierra Club, a leader in the opposition against the project, said that the chapter and landowners are “outraged” at the decision.

“This is unbelievable,” said Jess Mazour, conservation coordinator for the chapter. “It is a permit to nowhere. IUC is doing a disservice to Iowa by permitting a pipeline with no safety rules, overwhelming opposition, a record number of unsigned parcels, pending litigation, denial in all other impacted states, and a recent unanimous South Dakota Supreme Court Decision stating that Summit has not proven its common carrier status.”

Wally Taylor, attorney for the Sierra Club Iowa Chapter, said, “The conditions that IUC asked for were cosmetic and did not really remedy any of the impacts from the project. We anticipate that in court we will finally get a fair hearing.”

Summit hopes to begin construction next year with the goal of making the pipeline operational in 2026. The pipeline, which would be the largest of its kind anywhere in the world, would carry liquefied carbon dioxide from ethanol plants in Iowa and surrounding states to a site in North Dakota, where the company still hopes for approval of a previously denied permit.

The pipeline would cross more than 2,000 miles across five states, including nearly 700 miles in Iowa. It would cross through Floyd County east to west and north to south on a main pipeline and two connecting routes.

In planning the pipeline, Summit has partnered with 57 ethanol plants and the company says it has signed voluntary easement agreements with 75% of the Iowa route’s landowners.

In giving its approval to the project, the Iowa Utilities Commission has stated that Summit will be able to use eminent domain in Iowa to force the sale of easements to land from property owners who are opposed to the use of the property for the project.

The Iowa House approved legislation the past two sessions that would have given landowners more leverage over pipeline negotiations.

In 2023, the House passed a bill requiring pipeline companies to obtain voluntary easements for 90% of their routes before they could use eminent domain for the rest.

This year, the House voted to allow landowners who are subject to eminent domain requests by carbon dioxide pipeline companies to challenge the legitimacy of those requests in court earlier in the permit proceedings. Neither bill advanced in the Senate.

The proposed pipeline has been the focus of intense public debate over the past 30 months, with farmers, environmentalists and pipeline safety advocates voicing their opposition. In August 2023, Summit was denied permits in North Dakota, and one month later it was denied permits in South Dakota.

In the two and half years since the Iowa Utilities Commission first began weighing Summit’s permit application, the panel has filed tens of thousands of pages of testimony and exhibits, heard testimony from more than 200 witnesses, and considered 4,180 comments, objections, and letters of support for the project.

— Iowa Capital Dispatch is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Iowa Capital Dispatch maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Kathie Obradovich for questions: info@iowacapitaldispatch.com. Follow Iowa Capital Dispatch on Facebook and X.