A Local Struggle over Carbon Pipelines in Iowa Is Becoming a 2024 Presidential Flashpoint

September 20, 2023

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by Jillian Frankel and Alex Tabet (NBC News) GOP presidential candidates are trying to strike a balance between supporting Iowa’s ethanol industry and maintaining landowners’ rights. -- ... The questions stem from efforts by three companies — Summit Carbon Solutions, Navigator CO₂ Ventures and Wolf Carbon Solutions — that propose a series of underground pipelines to move carbon dioxide emitted from ethanol and other industrial plants in Iowa to either North Dakota or Illinois. But many landowners are not interested in the idea, which has led Navigator to seek permission in Iowa to use eminent domain, which allows the government to seize private land for public projects, The Gazette newspaper of Cedar Rapids reported in March.

It has residents in small Iowa towns like Nevada and Glenwood in an uproar — and it has become the latest local political issue in one of the influential early-voting states to turn into a venue for presidential politics.

Ahead of 2024, the pipeline issue is forcing GOP candidates to strike a delicate balance among protecting landowners’ rights, supporting the ethanol industry and demonstrating an understanding of the critical role agriculture plays statewide.

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Chris Boshart, the CEO of Corn LP, one of more than 30 ethanol plants partnering with Summit, said he sees the pipelines as a way to make the ethanol industry, which many Iowa farmers rely on, cleaner and more sustainable.

“We would view this as a pathway for greener energy that we’ve been on for a long time. And really, that’s where ethanol has always found a placeholder, in, in liquid fuels, because we are a renewable source of energy,” Boshart said. “We feel like for the next 20 years, carbon capture is a way to really put ethanol on a permanent placeholder in the renewable energy future.”

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Apart from using private land to build the pipelines, some environmental experts take issue with ethanol, which is often used in gasoline, and say using carbon capture and sequestration to reduce its environmental impact may not have as many long-term advantages as switching entirely to renewable energy, instead.

“Carbon capture is just a scheme that’s been developed by the fossil fuel industry to keep themselves going,” said Mark Jacobson, the director of Stanford University’s Atmosphere/Energy Program. Jacobson published a study in the journal Energy and Environmental Science that suggests carbon capture harms the environment. “It has no benefit to anybody. It just raises prices for all consumers,” he said.

“When you’re trying to address climate and air pollution and energy security, there’s always a trade-off,” Jacobson said. “Even in the best case, where you use renewable electricity to power carbon capture equipment … using wind to power carbon capture increases carbon dioxide compared to using the same wind to just replace the coal plant that the carbon capture was designed for.” READ MORE

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GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy talks about Libertarian past, eminent domain (Iowa Capital Dispatch)
GOP presidential field generally opposes eminent domain for carbon pipelines (Iowa Capital Dispatch)

Excerpt from Iowa Capital Dispatch: “Mr. Ramaswamy’s recent stance on the issue of eminent domain echoes the ideals held by many Iowans,” continued Cutler, “The Libertarian Party of Iowa has proudly collaborated with thousands across the state, from all parts of the political spectrum, united in the fight to protect property rights against the abuse of state power.”

Ramaswamy opposes government using eminent domain for private construction in cases such as Summit Carbon Solutions’ and Navigator CO2 Ventures’ pipeline proposals in Iowa. Navigator withdrew its pipeline permit application in October, while Summit is awaiting a permit decision from the Iowa Utilities Board.

At an Iowa event in late November, he called for Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds to publicly voice her stance on the use of eminent domain in these cases.

In Primghar, Ramaswamy criticized other Republican presidential candidates for not talking about issues like the use of eminent domain in building carbon-capture pipelines, which he said was unconstitutional. READ MORE

Excerpt from Iowa Capital Dispatch: In a July appearance in Council Bluffs, former President Donald Trump appeared unprepared to field a question about the pipeline situation.

“Well, you know, we’re working on that,” Trump said. “And you know, we had a plan to totally — it’s such a ridiculous situation isn’t it? But we had a plan, and we would have instituted that plan. It was all ready, but we will get it right away. If we win, that’s going to be taken care of. That will be one of the easy things we do.”

His campaign did not respond to a request to comment further about the issue.

Trump has a commanding lead among Iowa’s likely Republican caucusgoers, according to a recent Iowa Poll. About 51% say he is their top pick.

His closest contenders — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley, who are the top picks of 19% and 16% of likely voters — have said the use of eminent domain should be avoided for the projects.

“There is a narrow role for eminent domain for things that are of really significant public use,” DeSantis said in Garner in August, according to Radio Iowa. “I mean, it has been used for highways. I would use it for the border wall down south if need be, but that would be kind of last resort.”

In September, Haley told Radio Iowa she supports the pipeline concepts for their potential to help the ethanol industry but that eminent domain should not be used to build them.

“I want us to be energy dominant, and I think we do that by having an all-of-the-above energy approach, but we have to always be respectful of the rights and freedoms of hardworking Americans,” Haley said.

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Presidential candidate Ryan Binkley, a Texas pastor and businessman, announced his opposition to the pipeline projects in September. He called Summit’s project “a controversial approach to fight climate change with technology that has produced inconsistent results.”

“I’ve met with hundreds of people on this issue,” Binkley said. “Only one person I met with has been in favor of it, and they work for an ethanol company. A few companies stand to make a lot of money from this pipeline.”

His opposition to the projects appears to have had little effect on his support among caucusgoers. About 0% of Des Moines Register/NBC News/Mediacom Iowa Poll respondents listed Binkley as their top pick.

Vivek Ramaswamy, a biotech entrepreneur, is polling at 5% and recently took up the pipeline issue in opposition of eminent domain. He insinuated that the candidates he trails in the polls are reluctant to speak strongly against the projects — which he said serve no legitimate purpose — because of donations they have received from pro-pipeline groups. Similar accusations have been leveled against some of the state’s elected officials.

“Every politician dances to the tune of their biggest donor,” Ramaswamy said at an event early this month with the Free Soil Coalition.

He called for the Iowa Utilities Board to deny eminent domain for Summit’s $5.5 billion project and said the board’s ruling should be challenged in court if it doesn’t. Ramaswamy further said that, as president, he would bar the federal tax credits for companies that use eminent domain.

“These projects are illegal and unconstitutional under settled law,” he said.

The Iowa Renewable Fuels Association — which advocates for the ethanol industry and supports the pipeline projects — released a lengthy rebuttal to Ramaswamy’s position on the pipeline projects, which it said is “driven by politics” and is “just an attempt at clickbait for his campaign.”

The association said Ramaswamy’s disdain for carbon dioxide pipelines is at odds with his support for the Keystone XL oil pipeline, which was blocked by President Joe Biden.

“Keystone is a private, foreign-owned, for-profit entity that is using eminent domain to secure its route,” said Monte Shaw, the association’s executive director. “Any politician who touts support for the Keystone XL pipeline while attacking carbon pipelines in Iowa on the basis of protecting property rights is nothing more than a hypocrite.”

Candidate Asa Hutchinson, the former governor of Arkansas, also said eminent domain isn’t appropriate for the projects.

“Instead, a fair negotiation process should be employed, and if landowners do not agree, pipeline builders should seek alternative routes,” Hutchinson told Iowa Capital Dispatch. READ MORE