Bonnie Ewoldt is a writer with two parcels of land targeted for eminent domain by Summit Carbon Solutions on its original pipeline route in Crawford County, Iowa. 

Last month, Summit Carbon Solutions received a conditional permit from the Iowa Utilities Commission to construct a 680-mile CO2 pipeline across Iowa. The proposed pipeline, named the Midwest Carbon Express, will carry pressurized CO2 from ethanol plants across five Midwestern states to North Dakota, where Summit has said it will be permanently sequestered underground. The investment company will then earn billions of dollars annually in 45Q carbon tax credits.

Summit Carbon recently filed additional applications with the Iowa Utilities Commission to bring sixteen ethanol plants from the now-defunct Navigator CO2 pipeline onto the Summit trunkline with lateral routes.

This past week, Summit Carbon informed Iowa landowners on the lateral lines that their property is on the route of a proposed CO2 pipeline. The third paragraph of the letter (enclosed in full below) uses the term “eminent domain” six times and the word “condemnation” twice, which could suggest these actions are imminent. They are not.

That language, which some landowners found frightening, is disingenuous on Summit’s part. It could intimidate landowners and rush them into signing voluntary easements to avoid going to court.

But Summit Carbon Solutions currently has no authority to use eminent domain for the lateral lines. The company merely started the process by filing sixteen new applications with the Iowa Utilities Commission. That state body has held no hearings, approved no new permits, and given no authority to use eminent domain on the lateral lines.

As a matter of fact, Summit’s application for the original CO2 pipeline in Iowa has not yet been fully approved. It is conditional until several regulatory requirements have been met, such as road and river crossing permits and the approval to use five-billion gallons of water annually in the Carbon Capture and Sequestration process.

More importantly, the Iowa Utilities Commission ruled that Summit cannot begin construction in Iowa until it has obtained permits in North Dakota and South Dakota. It has neither a permit for the route nor the underground sequestration site in North Dakota. In South Dakota, the Public Utilities Commission denied Summit’s first application, and the company has yet to refile. Even with a new application, the permitting process in the Mount Rushmore State will likely take a year or longer. 

Iowa landowners on Summit Carbon’s lateral lines should not feel rushed or forced into signing easements. Summit has several regulatory hoops to jump through just to finalize its original CO2 pipeline permit. It will take even longer to add permits for the sixteen lateral lines. (Construction of trunk or lateral lines to ethanol plants in Minnesota or Nebraska can’t begin until those states’ regulators approve the pipeline applications.)

Impacted landowners do not need to sign easements, they do not need to negotiate with Summit Carbon’s land agents, and they do not need to feel intimidated by the company’s recent letter.

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Editor’s note from Laura Belin: Here is an example of the letters Summit Carbon recently sent to landowners (redacted to remove the recipient’s name and address). Bleeding Heartland does not provide legal advice; affected individuals should consult with an attorney.