Nancy Dugan lives in Altoona, Iowa. Disclosure: Dugan has filed several objections into the Summit Carbon Iowa Utilities Board (since renamed Iowa Utilities Commission) dockets in opposition to the CO2 pipeline. She has neither sought nor received funding for her work. This is an opinion piece.

During a February 7 interview, North Dakota radio host Scott Hennen asked Bruce Rastetter to answer the following question posed by a listener: Can the carbon in CO2 be separated and just store the carbon?

A portion of Rastetter’s answer is transcribed below (emphasis added):

That is a really technical question, and I, I think the answer today is no. And that’s one I’ll have to check on. But … one of the things in fermentation of ethanol from corn, it’s the purest form of CO2 you can capture. So it’s at the top of the fermentation tanks. Today it’s being released into the atmosphere under the permits that the plants have. And so compression equipment is used to take it from a gas form to a liquid form to then pump it along the way and permanently put it underground in that state. I’m not aware of technology that exists today – just like there’s a lot of early stage technology that people believe some day may work where you can create other products from CO2, that obviously we’ll keep our eye on. And our agreements with the ethanol plants allow us, if that technology exists where you could, say, create some kind of fuel out of it or jet fuel or something, you know, we would, we would obviously have a large supply that would benefit, you know, that industrial side being built around that. But today, I’m not aware of that separation process.

North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum touted this potential during a December 20, 2023, BEK TV special report featuring a public information session in Bismarck on the Summit Carbon pipeline:

Sustainable aviation fuel, if you want to call it the Saudi Arabia of sustainable aviation fuel, it’s going to happen somewhere between North Dakota and Iowa and in between, the corn belt.

Rastetter’s comments indicate that Summit Carbon’s agreements with ethanol plants already contain provisions which appear to allow for the production of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) using captured CO2.

Burgum’s comments indicate that he is aware of preparations to produce massive amounts of SAF along the Summit Carbon route.

A May 30, 2024, Reuters article declared, “Little to no ethanol will qualify for US aviation fuel credit.” The article stated, “Under the pilot program finalized on April 30, ethanol producers seeking to claim that credit must verify their corn comes from farms using three climate-friendly farming practices in tandem: not tilling the soil, planting cover crops, and using higher efficiency fertilizers.” It later explained that “a Reuters review of data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) suggests almost no U.S. corn farmers use all three practices at the same time.”

POTENTIAL CONFLICTS

This story raises questions regarding Iowa Utilities Commission chair Erik Helland’s business, Capital Cover Crops, which Helland described as a “cover crop cleaning and seed sales business” in his 2023 Personal Financial Disclosure Statement. Does Helland have a conflict of interests?

A simpler question: Who doesn’t?

The Reuters article identified SAF as “a biofuel that can be made from oils, waste, or grains.” But that description does not include another key feedstock: captured CO2.

On May 31, 2024, the Treasury Department and the IRS issued guidance on the 45Z Clean Fuel Production Credit. On page 2 of Appendix A – Table of Feedstocks Used to Make Fuels that May Be Eligible for the § 45Z Credit (page 21 of the document), CO2 is listed several times under feedstock type, including “CO2 from ethanol fermentation.”

Some have predicted that SAF made from e-fuels will outpace SAF made from ethanol. This includes a recent report produced by the MSCI Sustainability Institute and Galvanize Climate Solutions. The report is titled Generating lift for low-carbon aviation.

E-fuels are not constrained by feedstock in a practical sense as the process involves using hydrogen produced either through electrolysis of water and CO2 from direct air capture; the capture of emissions from bio-conversion processes (e.g., ethanol production, combustion of biomass); or from fossil fueled processes, though this latter pathway might reduce the emissions benefits of e-fuels. E-fuel production also requires significant amounts of energy, which must come from clean energy sources which will necessarily also require a high level of capital investment. (emphasis added)

According to Business Wire, billionaire and former Democratic presidential candidate Tom Steyer and Katie Hall founded Galvanize Climate Solutions. Steyer was an avid opponent of the Keystone XL pipeline and worked with Nebraska-based Bold Alliance’s Jane Kleeb to stop it. This site lists NextGen Climate Action, which was founded by Steyer, as a supporter of Bold’s former Build Our Energy project. NextGen is now known as NextGen America.

Kleeb is the founder and director of Bold Alliance, whose Easement Action Teams in Iowa, South Dakota, North Dakota and Nebraska work with landowners “to provide immediate legal representation to landowners facing pipelines and other fossil fuel infrastructure.” She is also the chair of the Nebraska Democratic Party. Kleeb frequently posts on Twitter/X about her involvement in clean energy initiatives and her trips to Washington:

FUEL TECHNOLOGY USING CO2

Twelve appears to have been an early entry into the SAF market using CO2, water and electricity to produce “sustainable” aviation fuel. The first article I wrote for Bleeding Heartland mentioned this company. It is supported by the Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund, as is Dimensional Energy, which also produces SAF using CO2. The Dimensional Energy website proclaims: “Carbon dioxide is the most ubiquitous feedstock in the world.”

In a recent article produced by Twelve, the company is not shy about its fondness for CO2 captured at ethanol facilities.

While we have evaluated and continue to pursue a variety of sources, generally Twelve focuses on CO2 sources that are: 

1) High purity, reducing capture and purification input costs

2) Located in or near areas of low-cost renewable energy

3) Biogenic, or derived from biomass that pulled the carbon out of the air

One industrial process that checks all three of these boxes is ethanol production which offers unique partnership opportunities for carbon transformation companies like Twelve.

Twelve recently introduced its “Fuel for the Long Haul” campaign, designed to introduce the world to E-Jet® SAF, “a Power-to-Liquid e-SAF, which is fuel made from CO2, water, and renewable energy, resulting in up to 90% lower lifecycle emissions compared to conventional jet fuel derived from oil. E-Jet® SAF uses up to 1,000 times less water and 30 times less land than biofuels.”

The company already uses CO2 derived from ethanol production to manufacture SAF. I am not a scientist and cannot assess Twelve’s claims regarding emissions and land and water use, but I think it is safe to say that the company is not including water and land use associated with ethanol production and carbon capture in the above figures, despite the fact that these processes are necessary to obtain CO2 from ethanol production.

I appreciate the scientists who have discovered all of these technological innovations. But I think it’s a bad idea to make aviation fuel from CO2, because doing so directly incentivizes the production of CO2. Once these businesses are developed and the market is reliant on these fuels, it will be very hard to turn back. Investors will demand greater and still greater profits from the technology. That is how capitalism works.

THE PERILS OF INNOVATION

CNN ran a fascinating article on Thomas Midgley Jr. in May. Midgley was a celebrated scientist in his day. He invented leaded gas and Freon. The story documents Midgley’s death:

Midgley’s life ended under tragic circumstances. After contracting polio in 1940, he became severely disabled and devised yet another invention: a machine that would lift him out of bed and into a wheelchair autonomously, via strings and pulleys. But on November 2, 1944, he became entangled in the machine and died of strangulation.

Photograph of Thomas Midgley Jr. by unknown author; public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Burgum and others, including Kevin O’Leary, often recite a catchy phrase that goes something like this: Innovation, not regulation. They assure us that capitalism will fix all manner of problems in society. But all societies must be regulated to prevent exploitation and other harms. Iowa today is a product of deregulation. Environmentally, we are in disastrous condition as a result, and the origin of this destruction is unchecked greed.

Another company that has begun to produce SAF using CO2 and water is Infinium. It benefited from a $75 million equity investment by Breakthrough Energy Catalyst, which was announced in November 2023. Additionally, the Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund announced it had donated $100 million to Breakthrough Energy Catalyst in 2021. In April 2024, Business Insider ran a story titled Bill Gates never left. It documents Gates’ ongoing influence over Microsoft, where he continues to serve as an advisor.

Apropos of nothing, I’ve included a link to Burgum’s Executive Branch Personnel Public Financial Disclosure Report, filed with the U.S. Office of Government Ethics on October 6, 2023, after he had declared his candidacy for the presidency. It is incredibly complex, as is Burgum. I admire his performance in his appearances for Trump. He is a master of deflection, as are many other politicians these days—Democrats and Republicans alike—in their attempts to diffuse blame and gaslight the American public. Maybe it’s his McKinsey training.

Also earlier this year, Infinium began to produce SAF from water and captured CO2 at its pilot plant in Texas according to Bloomberg News (A Gates-Backed Startup Is Making Fuel From Water and Carbon Dioxide). A June 27 Washington Post article describes Infinium’s process in detail.

The Breakthrough Energy website defines Breakthrough Energy Catalyst as follows:

Breakthrough Energy Catalyst is a novel platform that funds and invests in project companies utilizing emerging climate technologies that reduce emissions. By investing in these opportunities, Catalyst seeks to accelerate the adoption of these technologies worldwide and reduce their Green Premiums.

FUNDING SOURCES EXPLORED

According to Wikipedia, Bill Gates formed Breakthrough Energy in 2015. This site indicates that initial investors included Michael Bloomberg, Jeff Bezos, Jack Ma, and Steyer, among others. According to NASA, CO2 emissions reached record levels last year. The Guardian reported in November 2023 that twelve billionaires—including Gates—“produce more greenhouse gas emissions from their yachts, private jets, mansions and financial investments than the annual energy emissions of 2m homes.” The story was based on an analysis conducted by Oxfam and U.S. researchers.

Gates responded to the Guardian article as follows:

A spokesperson for Gates told the Guardian that he had taken many steps to reduce his personal emissions impact by buying sustainable aviation fuel to reduce his air travel pollution, switching to electric cars, using solar panels and buying offsets delivered through carbon removal technologies.

Breakthrough Energy Ventures’ website lists Bloomberg, Bezos, and Ma as investors. The status of Steyer’s investment in Breakthrough Energy remains unclear to me, as does the complex structure of this Gates-formed entity.

According to a March 27, 2024, Bloomberg Philanthropies article, Bloomberg is also a major funder of the Sierra Club, having donated hundreds of millions of dollars through Bloomberg Philanthropies. This Sierra Club brochure indicates that both the Gates Foundation and Microsoft provide funding to the Sierra Club through its matching gifts program. Boeing, which has invested in SAF, is also listed.

Additionally, Sierra Club has worked with Breakthrough Energy, funding a January 2024 luncheon on “clean, competitive U.S. manufacturing” in partnership with Breakthrough and other entities.

Steyer is an investor in Lydian (through Galvanize), which plans to make “the world’s lowest cost e-fuels” using captured CO2 and renewable electricity. He appears to have contributed to the Sierra Club in the past. The Influence Watch website lists the Sierra Club as a recipient of the TomKat Charitable Trust, which was “formed and funded” by Steyer and his wife, Kathryn Taylor, although no amounts are specified. According to Influence Watch, the TomKat Charitable Trust was succeeded by the TomKat Foundation.

Microsoft’s Climate Innovation Fund is also invested in BlocPower, as is Kapor Capital. Ben Jealous, executive director of the Sierra Club, is listed as a partner at Kapor Capital according to the Sanders Institute website. I sent the Sierra Club an email on June 24 asking the following:

I would like to know if Ben Jealous is still a partner at Kapor Capital. I would also like to know if Mr. Jealous remains invested in BlocPower and other clean energy/environmental/carbon reduction initiatives through Kapor Capital.

To date, I have not heard back.

Jealous was recently enmeshed in controversy and faced allegations of union busting and financial mismanagement from the Progressive Workers Union. Sierra Club workers in the union had planned to strike on July 2 but instead reached an agreement that morning.

Breakthrough Energy and John Deere are also jointly invested in ClearFlame. According to an October 2021 ClearFlame press release, “The company’s unique engine technology enables low-carbon, renewable fuels such as ethanol to be easily integrated into existing diesel engine platforms, offering a lower-emission, lower-cost solution than diesel fuel.” Summit Carbon Solutions’ website lists John Deere as an investor. Stockcircle indicates that Gates owns shares in Deere & Co. worth $1.34 billion.

CLIMATE BREAKTHROUGH

In late 2023, Kleeb received $3 million in funding from an entity known as Climate Breakthrough. The excerpt below is from a November 2023 article posted on the Packard Foundation website:

Candidates are scouted (no unsolicited applications) globally, vetted rigorously and exhaustively, and then invited to in-depth interviews on their leadership skills and breakthrough ideas. In addition to the $3 million grant, awardees receive separate funding for capacity-building services such as executive coaching, fundraising and communications support, legal support, and third-party impact and learning evaluations. (emphasis added)

Climate Breakthrough identifies some of its investors on its website, including the Packard Foundation, the JPB Foundation, the IKEA Foundation, the Lemelson Foundation, Quadrature Climate Foundation and Vere Initiatives. Climate Breakthrough’s founding board member, Dr. Walt Reid, is identified as a board member of Energy Foundation China on its website, which also identifies Reid as a Climate and Sustainable Development Advisor.

Energy Foundation China’s website lists the Packard Foundation and Quadrature Climate Foundation as funders. The Packard Foundation website identifies a $7.6 million grant to Energy Foundation China in 2023 for “environment and science, climate innovation.” The site also identifies two grants totaling just over $26 million to Climate Breakthrough in 2023, also for “environment and science, climate innovation.”

On January 26, 2024, three Republican members of the U.S. House sent a letter to Energy Foundation China. The letter begins: “We write to you seeking more information about Energy Foundation China’s (EFC) efforts to influence United States energy policy.” I do not know the outcome of this inquiry. Energy Foundation China was mentioned in a 2015 scandal that prompted Oregon’s Democratic Governor John Kitzhaber to resign, according to a February 2015 E&E News by Politico article. Additionally, Quadrature Capital was found to have invested millions in fossil fuel companies according to a June 2023 Guardian article.

TALLGRASS ENERGY

Kleeb signed a community benefits agreement with Trailblazer CO2 Pipeline, LLC, a subsidiary of Tallgrass Energy, dated March 27, 2024. (Bold Alliance posted about the agreement here.) Bold and Tallgrass have highly praised the deal when speaking to the press. The agreement essentially greenlights plans to convert a nearly 400-mile-long existing natural gas pipeline that is more than 40 years old for use to transport CO2. According to the Pipeline Safety Trust:

The U.S. Department’s pipeline safety agency PHMSA (Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration) regulations have terrifyingly large gaps on carbon dioxide pipelines including having no regulations if the CO2 is transported as a liquid or a gas, only as a supercritical fluid.

That is my understanding of the existing Trailblazer route. It must transport the CO2 on the existing gas pipeline that is being converted as a liquid or gas because it’s not built to withstand the pressure required for supercritical CO2.

According to its website, Tallgrass has extensive water rights in the Bakken.

A map of the existing pipeline route can be found on Bold Alliance’s Pipeline Fighters Hub. The map is preliminary; Bold Alliance signed the agreement with Tallgrass/Trailblazer before the pipeline company had declared open season. This means that portions of the pipeline route were not known to the public before the agreement was signed. Lateral pipelines will be constructed to connect plants that sign on to the route.

Kleeb spoke at a November 2023 York County, Nebraska planning commission meeting. The county posted a summary of the meeting on its website. An excerpt appears below:

Jane Kleeb, representing Bold Alliance, said she felt the county should consider regulations for other energy projects as well, including for carbon capture pipelines. Regarding the solar regulations being proposed, she said she hoped the county would reconsider the “restrictive” setbacks.

This is potentially relevant, in my view, because of the previously referenced study produced by MSCI and Galvanize:

E-fuel production also requires significant amounts of energy, which must come from clean energy sources which will necessarily also require a high level of capital investment.

The proposed Tallgrass/Trailblazer CO2 pipeline is slated to run through the city of York. During a recent York City Council meeting, the council approved an easement allowing the pipeline to cross a section of city land according to the York News-Times. On June 18, Green Plains Inc. announced plans to capture carbon at three facilities in Nebraska. Green Plains is also a Summit Carbon partner. The June 18 press release reads in part:

The carbon capture equipment will be installed at the company’s Central City, Wood River and York, Nebraska locations and has been sized to accommodate the potential for post-combustion carbon capture and increased production, with overall carbon capture capacity up to 1.2 million tons.

Central City is in Merrick County. Wood River is in Hall County. York is in York County.

Tallgrass has also signed on ADM’s behemoth ethanol plant in Columbus, Nebraska (Platte County). Additionally, an April 13 article in Kearney Hub reported that KAAPA Ethanol plans to add its plants in Ravenna, Minden, and Aurora to the pipeline route:

[Steven] Davidson said Tallgrass intends to connect a number of Nebraska’s 24 ethanol plants using lateral pipelines. Other than naming KAAPA plants in Ravenna, Minden and Aurora, [Paul] Kenney declined to identify other plants that will connect to the pipeline.

Ravenna is in Buffalo County. Minden is in Kearney County. Aurora is in Hamilton County.

I could not find any additional public information on other ethanol plants that may have signed on to the Trailblazer pipeline route. Nor could I find any environmental groups speaking out against this pipeline, which appears to run through the Ogallala aquifer and a portion of the Sandhills.

Bold announced a public meeting to discuss the Trailblazer CO2 pipeline, which was held in Beatrice on May 18. Since then, I have not found any additional information about public meetings planned to explain the project to Nebraskans.

One of the most troubling aspects of the Tallgrass/Trailblazer agreement is the language pertaining to plume modeling. The document indicates that within 12 months of the effective date of the agreement, which was signed March 27, Tallgrass will create a website for the public to provide, among other things, “detailed CO2 safety information including the basics of plume modeling…” I asked Tallgrass the following on July 6: “Does Tallgrass/Trailblazer plan to release specific plume/dispersion modeling to the public?” To date, I have not heard back.

GREEN PLAINS, SUMMIT CARBON SOLUTIONS

A December 2022 Summit Carbon press release stated the following:

Summit Carbon Solutions is partnering with 32 ethanol plants across the Midwest, including Husker Ag in Plainview, Louis Dreyfus in Norfolk, and the Green Plains plants in Atkinson, York, Central City, and Wood River. (emphasis added)

Green Plains states on its website that it is a “founding partner in a Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS) project in collaboration with Summit Carbon Solutions (SCS), a subsidiary of Summit Agricultural Group.” Apparently, however, three of its four planned carbon sequestration sites are now part of the Tallgrass/Trailblazer pipeline. Green Plains’ Atkinson plant was apparently sold in the fall of 2023 to Husker Ag, LLC, which now appears to go by the name Sandhills Renewable Energy.

In January 2023, Green Plains, Tallgrass, and United Airlines Ventures formed a $50 million joint venture—Blue Blade Energy—to develop sustainable aviation fuel from ethanol. According to GreenAir News, “If the technology is commercialised, Green Plains will supply the low-carbon ethanol feedstock for Blue Blade Energy from its Midwest ethanol production facilities.”

Kleeb posted on Twitter/X on June 19 that Bold Alliance is now working in Indiana:

A May 21 WTHI-TV 10 article stated the following:

The ‘Concerned Citizens Against Wabash Valley Resources’ Facebook page has almost two thousand followers. The group also recently joined “Bold Alliance.” Bold Alliance is a nationwide group that aims to educate people about the dangers of carbon pipelines. The CCAWVR say that they have received “significant” funding from this alliance.

In Vigo County Commissioners’ meetings held June 25 and July 2, CCAWVR members complained bitterly about being cut out of discussions surrounding the proposed community benefits agreement. The same thing happened at a July 2 Vermillion County Commissioners’ meeting. Vermillion County is also a part of Wabash Valley Resources’ plan to capture and store CO2 produced at its planned fertilizer plant.

Solar projects are also apparently in the works in Vermillion County, although I found no public information to indicate these projects are related to Wabash Valley Resources’ plans.

In a July 2 Omaha World-Herald article, Kleeb stated that Bold would focus its new clean energy initiative in four states.

It will deploy the full model in four states – Nebraska, North Dakota, Illinois and Arizona – and help with smaller projects in others.

Sierra Club’s Jealous recently posted an article about the Summit Carbon pipeline. Jealous’ article states that Bruce Rastetter owns Summit Carbon. My research leads me to believe that we don’t know who owns Summit Carbon. The latest Summit Carbon SEC filing, which dates back to May 2022, lists 464 investors. And while it is true that Republicans stalled a bill in the Senate this year that would have strengthened landowners’ rights, many Iowa Democrats did nothing to stop this pipeline or aid landowners.

This may have something to do with the fact that carbon capture has become a major initiative of the Biden administration. Jean Chemnick highlighted that inconvenient truth in an August 2023 article for Politico’s E&E News.

The Biden administration has gone all-in on carbon capture and removal, known collectively as industrial carbon management. […]

But some environmentalists and advocates for fence-line communities fear that both technologies — direct air capture and carbon capture — could prop up a fossil fuel industry that has burdened marginalized areas for decades.

While I disagree with some of Jealous’ assertions, it is important to note that I support the main premise of his story: Follow the money.

One of the most stunning aspects of the Iowa Utilities Commission’s decision in my opinion is the fact that, as best I can tell, we don’t know who owns the Summit Carbon pipeline. And I believe that is largely because Rastetter and other key players were not timely subpoenaed to appear at last year’s evidentiary hearing in Fort Dodge.

In December 2022, an entity named Belltown Farms purchased several thousand acres of land in Adams County, Nebraska, where Kleeb resides. The purchase appears to include a commercial site with rail access. Adams County is slated for additional natural gas lateral pipelines along the Tallgrass/Trailblazer route according to the Pipeline Fighters’ map, although I don’t know what they will be used for.

Belltown Farms appears to be affiliated with the Belltown Group, a UK-based energy conglomerate with holdings in the UK and the U.S. The address listed on its website is a Kismet Cowork space. An excerpt from the Belltown Power U.S. website appears below:

Belltown Power is a greenfield developer and long-term partner in utility-scale solar PV, energy storage, and wind projects across the US. Our development process starts with site identification and continues navigating interconnection, real estate, permitting, environmental, tax, and all other development items to bring these projects to fruition.

If you visit this website and input Belltown under last name, you’ll find that Belltown Farms owns a wealth of water resources in Nebraska. Below is a screenshot of the owners listed on the Adams County warranty deed.

I’ve previously written about ownership questions regarding land and water in states along the Summit Carbon route. You can see those articles here, here, and here.

My take? We don’t know who owns our land, and we don’t know who owns our water. And it is a national crisis. Setting aside all of the rhetoric surrounding this issue from leading politicians—Republicans and Democrats alike—it is also by design.

The Washington Post’s official slogan is “Democracy Dies in Darkness.” And that, in my view, is where we are today.

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Top image is by J.K2507, available via Shutterstock.