Iowa governor rejects GOP bill to increase regulations of Summit’s carbon dioxide pipeline

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds on Wednesday rejected a bill that could have introduced more complications for a massive carbon-capture pipeline project routed across several Midwestern states, issuing a rare veto in the Republican-controlled statehouse.

The legislation was designed by Iowa House Republicans to increase regulations of Summit Carbon Solutions’ estimated $8.9 billion, 2,500-mile (4,023-kilometer) project that cuts across Iowa and already has an approved permit in the state.

But in the Senate, it exposed a rift within the party over how to protect property rights. It also provoked loud opposition from members of Iowa’s powerful ethanol industry, which argued the project is essential for Iowa’s agricultural dominance, for farmers and for construction jobs.

Even with the relief from Reynolds’ veto, Summit will likely have to readjust plans after South Dakota’s governor signed a ban on the use of eminent domain — the government seizure of private property with compensation — to acquire land for carbon dioxide pipelines. Summit’s permit application was also rejected in South Dakota.

The project has permit approvals in Iowa, Minnesota and North Dakota but faces various court challenges.

The Iowa bill would have prohibited the renewal of permits for a carbon dioxide pipeline, limited the use of such a pipeline to 25 years and significantly increased the insurance coverage requirements for the pipeline company.

Those provisions would likely have made it less financially feasible for a company to build a carbon dioxide pipeline.

As the legislative session wound down, a dozen Republican senators insisted their leaders bring the House-approved bill to the floor for a vote after several years of inaction. The stalemate ended in a long and divisive debate among the Iowa Senate’s Republican supermajority, with senators openly criticizing one another and exposing the closed-door discussions that got them there.

The pipeline’s many critics have for years begged lawmakers for action. They accuse Summit of stepping on their property rights and downplaying the safety risks of building the pipeline alongside family homes, near schools and across ranches.

Lee Enterprises and The Associated Press reviewed hundreds of cases that reveal the great legal lengths the company went to to get the project built. In South Dakota, in particular, a slew of eminent domain legal actions to obtain land sparked a groundswell of opposition that was closely watched by lawmakers in Iowa as well.

But as debate in the state Senate seemed inevitable, dozens of Summit employees and leaders and members of the Iowa Corn Growers Association, the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association and labor unions made a big showing as well.

The pipeline was proposed to carry carbon emissions from ethanol plants in Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota to be stored underground permanently in North Dakota. By lowering carbon emissions from the plants, the pipeline would lower their carbon intensity scores and make them more competitive in the renewable fuels market.

The project would also allow ethanol producers and Summit to tap into federal tax credits.

Iowa Renewable Fuels Association Executive Director Monte Shaw said in a May 12 statement after the vote that a majority of the Iowa Senate “turned their back on Iowa agriculture.”