House Bill Would Establish New Rules for Carbon Pipelines, Landowners Rally

February 22, 2023

Print This Article Share it With Friends

by O. Kay Henderson (Radio Iowa) It’s a farmer versus farmer debate over proposed rules for developers planning to build three carbon pipelines through Iowa.

Under a bill that’s cleared a House subcommittee, landowners along 90% of a pipeline’s route would have to grant voluntary access before developers could get state officials’ permission to seize the rest of the land. The Iowa Farm Bureau backs the bill.

“We believe that infrastructure projects and property rights can coexist,” Iowa Farm Bureau lobbyist Kevin Kuhle said during a House subcommittee hearing.

The Iowa Renewable Fuels Association opposes the bill, arguing it would kill the pipeline projects intended to make ethanol carbon neutral. Devon Mogler represents Green Plains, which operates ethanol plants in Shenandoah and Superior.

“Our downstream customers that we reduce carbon intensity and now there are federal incentives in place that can not only benefit us, but farmers as well,” Mogler said.

Republican Representative Steven Holt of Denison is the bill’s lead sponsor. “I have no problem with the pipeline. I do have a problem with the blunt force of government being used to seize other people’s land for this project,” Holt said. “That is my concern. That is the reason we wrote this legislation.”

Jake Ketzner, a lobbyist for Summit Carbon Solutions, said it would be devastating for Iowa if the pipelines don’t get built. “In Iowa, over 60% of the corn produced in our state goes to ethanol production,” Ketzner said. “Can you imagine and rural Iowa or our state in general with reduced ethanol plants and 60% of the demand for corn gone?”

According to the Iowa Corn Growers Association, 57% of grown in Iowa is used to produce nearly 27% of U.S. ethanol.

A large group of landowners who oppose the pipelines rallied on the Iowa Capitol steps this morning. “We cover every corner of this state and we’re here to say it’s time that our elected officials work for us and stop these carbon pipelines,” said Kim Junker, who’s unwilling to voluntarily let the Navigator pipeline pass through the land she and her husband farm near New Hartford.

Senator Jeff Taylor, a Republican from Sioux Center, has proposed five different bills that would limit carbon pipeline development. “Even though my bills are stalled on the Senate side right now, the House bill would not have happened if not for you guys lighting a flame under we legislators here at the Capitol,” Taylor said, to cheers from rally goers. “I know that’s true.”

Three companies have proposed pipelines through the Midwest to capture carbon from ethanol plants and store the material underground in North Dakota. READ MORE

Iowa bill aims to implement new requirements for CO2 pipelines (Ethanol Producer Magazine)

Daily on Energy: Iowa ethanol lobby fights for CO2 pipelines as means of survival in age of electric vehicles (Washington Examiner)

CO2 PIPELINE BILL HAS ETHANOL GROUP UP IN ARMS (Brownfield Ag News)

Burleigh County will require permits for CO2 pipelines (Associated Press)

Excerpt from Ethanol Producer Magazine: The bill, in part, would prevent the Iowa Utilities Board from granting a permit to a pipeline company until the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration provides new rules updating the safety standards for liquified carbon dioxide pipelines, including requirements related to emergency preparedness and response. The bill also aims to prevent the board from granting a liquefied carbon dioxide pipeline company the right of eminent domain unless the company acquires at least 90 percent of the affected route miles through voluntary easements or through preexisting easements.

The IRFA is speaking out against the HF 368. “The difference between the rhetoric and reality on this bill is truly staggering,” said Monte Shaw, executive director of the IRFA. “We hear about property rights, but this bill wouldn’t impact the next Dakota Access oil pipeline or Rock Island Clean Line Transmission project. We hear about safety, but this bill doesn’t apply to pipelines that carry explosive or flammable liquids while CO2 is neither. Instead, this bill singles out for destruction the single most important technology we have to keep liquid fuels like ethanol competitive with electric vehicles in the rapidly growing low carbon transportation markets. It is no surprise that anti-agriculture groups like the Sierra Club support preventing carbon capture and sequestration from going forward.”

“The bill is a veritable cornucopia of unreasonable regulations narrowly targeted at CCS technology,” continued Shaw. “For example, section three of the bill would allow just two people to effectively veto an interstate CCS project even if that project had 100 percent voluntary easements. It would only take two county supervisors to enact an ordinance, like a setback requirement that is physically impossible to meet, and then the Iowa Utilities Board (IUB) would be prevented from issuing a final permit.”

“IRFA continues to urge all Iowans to unite to find a fair and equitable path forward for carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) projects – fair and equitable to landowners, CCS projects and communities,” Shaw added. “Further, any changes to the IUB permitting process should apply to all applicants, not just CO2 pipelines.”

A full copy of the bill is available on the Iowa Legislature website. READ MORE

Excerpt from Associated Press: North Dakota’s Burleigh County has approved an ordinance to require special permits for companies that want to build pipelines for hazardous liquids such as carbon dioxide.

County commissioners voted 4-0 Monday night with one member absent to approve the proposal. Commissioners, however, acknowledged the ordinance is likely to draw a lawsuit from carbon-capture pipeline developer Summit Carbon Solutions, the Bismarck Tribune reported.

“Anything we can do to improve the safety to the citizens, I’m willing to take a shot at it,” Commissioner Brian Bitner said.

The proposal emerged amid pushback from landowners to Iowa-based Summit’s planned $4.5 billion Midwest Carbon Express pipeline, which would cross the county to the north of Bismarck. The pipeline would transport carbon dioxide from dozens of ethanol plants in five Midwestern states to North Dakota’s Oliver County for permanent storage underground so that the emissions don’t contribute to climate change.

Some landowners worry about their safety should the pipeline rupture. The ordinance requires a computer modeling report showing the blast zone, which Flanagan said is more specific than the company’s modeling for a plume that could be affected by factors such as wind and topography.

Summit touts the overall safety record of pipelines and notes that a CO2 pipeline has existed in western North Dakota for more than 20 years. It transports carbon dioxide from the Great Plains Synfuels Plant in Beulah to oil fields in Canada. Summit officials told commissioners earlier this month that CO2 pipelines are safe, and that federal regulation makes local ordinances unnecessary.

The ordinance also establishes numerous setback distances, including at least 10 miles from certain electrical, drinking water and wastewater treatment infrastructure, and at least 4 miles from a church, school, nursing home, long-term care facility or hospital. A pipeline company would have to provide proof of liability insurance and put up a bond to cover construction costs.

The county does not have any authority to stop the Summit Carbon Solutions pipeline altogether. The state will issue the two key permits. The North Dakota Public Service Commission held the first of four hearings on the project last week.

The federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration is updating safety regulations for CO2 pipelines, including requirements related to emergency preparedness and response. The effort comes in the wake of a CO2 pipeline rupture in Satartia, Mississippi, in 2020 that prompted the evacuation of hundreds of people and sent dozens of people to the hospital. READ MORE