Duvall Calls Property Rights “Recurring Concern” for Farm Bureau

(Brownfield Ag News) Zippy Duvall (president of the American Farm Bureau Federation) tells Brownfield eminent domain concerns have been driven by the green energy movement. For a state like Missouri, that means energy transmission lines and for other states, its carbon pipelines, “We’re trying to make sure that our farmers understand the value of the carbon pipeline and I’m not saying we for or against, I’m just saying there is a value to the ethanol industry, and what do we do to take care of that carbon if we’re not doing that. End of the day, our organization is very protective of private property rights.”

Missouri Farm Bureau delegates have been considering eminent domain policy at their annual meeting attended by Duvall Monday.

Duvall spoke with Brownfield’s Carah Hart at the Missouri Farm Bureau annual meeting at the Lake of the Ozarks. READ MORE

Excerpt from Brownfield Ag News: The president of the National Farmers Union says Iowa and South Dakota Farmers Unions have been discussing eminent domain and carbon pipelines at their annual meetings.

Rob Larew tells Brownfield it’s not a matter of supporting biofuels and climate capture.

“Our members across the Midwest are big biofuel supporters, including ethanol,” he says. “It’s really an issue centered around private property rights and companies who have mis-stepped and misjudged landowner concerns.”

Larew says there are other ways to capture carbon that aren’t being discussed.

He says the Oklahoma, Kansas, South Dakota and Iowa Farmers Unions have met in the last week. READ MORE

Excerpt from Iowa Capital Dispatch: Members of the Illinois Farm Bureau adopted policies this week that support a temporary moratorium on new carbon dioxide pipelines and a prohibition of eminent domain to construct them.

“The actions taken show that our organization’s process continues to work and reflects the opinions of a majority of IFB members,” said Bill Bodine, the group’s director of business and regulatory affairs. “Our members added to our existing policy supporting pipeline transportation of carbon dioxide captured from ethanol and fertilizer plants by including additional requirements for how the projects should be regulated.”

The policies were approved Monday by member delegates at the IFB’s annual meeting. About 330 delegates represented about three-quarters of the state’s farmers.

But the proposals have caused rifts in the agricultural community between those who prioritize higher corn prices and those who worry about the pipelines’ safety, damage to land, and the threat of eminent domain to construct and operate the pipelines against the wishes of landowners.

The Iowa Farm Bureau Federation supported legislation this year that would have limited eminent domain for the projects, sought more-detailed information about the safety risks associated with one of the pipeline projects, and urged state regulators to consider those risks when determining pipeline routes.

The Iowa group did not adopt any new policies this year regarding the pipelines, according to spokesperson Andrew Wheeler. In September 2022, it approved a policy that said companies should be required to gain voluntary land easements for 90% of their project areas before they qualify for eminent domain for the rest.

There is, however, a significant difference in ethanol production between the two states. Iowa has 41 ethanol plants with a total annual production capacity of more than 4.8 billion gallons. That is more than three times the number of plants in Illinois and more than double the total production.

— A temporary moratorium on carbon dioxide pipeline approvals until federal regulators finalize new safety rules for them, which is expected to happen late next year. Engineers for the Illinois Commerce Commission, which has the authority to approve the pipeline projects, have also recommended that new pipeline permits should wait for those rules.

— Safety requirements that include automatic notifications to emergency responders if a pipeline leak occurs, training and equipment donations to those responders, and the addition of a “distinctive odor” to the carbon dioxide.

— State legislation that prohibits the use of eminent domain to construct and operate the pipelines.

There have been two interstate pipeline proposals that involve a route connecting Iowa and Illinois, and both were recommended for rejection by engineers of the Illinois Commerce Commission due to safety concerns and other reasons. READ MORE

Excerpt from Politico Pro: The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is about to unveil a major rule that aims to solve a problem that has stymied the building of badly-needed power lines across the United States: Who should pay?

The rule is expected to overhaul how grid operators, utilities and transmission owners plan for and build out new power lines — changes needed to account for the increasing presence of scattered wind and solar resources on the grid. But the regulators would be deciding an issue that has divided lawmakers on Capitol Hill: determining who shells out the billions of dollars needed for new transmission projects.

Republicans have been unwavering in their belief that states should not have to share the costs of power lines that cross their borders nor should they have to pay the cost of achieving blue state climate goals they do not share. But these transmission projects are critical to the success of President Joe Biden’s signature climate law, and Democrats argue that a regional approach, with those costs shared between states, would save consumers money in the long run. READ MORE