Summit buys land easements from defunct Navigator project

Summit Carbon Solutions bought land easements from a now-defunct competing carbon dioxide pipeline project that will help facilitate the planned expansion of its own route, Summit has confirmed.

Summit and the other developer, Navigator CO2, sought the easement agreements from landowners to build and operate sprawling pipeline systems on land they don't own.

Navigator abandoned its project in October 2023, and Summit since has added many of Navigator's former customers to its project and expanded its footprint by about 340 miles in Iowa. The Summit project would span about 2,500 miles in five states, predominantly in Iowa, and transport captured carbon dioxide from nearly 60 ethanol plants to North Dakota for underground storage.

It is expected to cost about $8 billion to build, and would benefit from federal incentives to sequester carbon dioxide and to produce low-carbon fuels.

The Iowa Utilities Commission has approved the backbone of its project in the state — which goes for about 690 miles — and granted Summit the power of eminent domain to compel easement agreements from unwilling landowners. But the company has yet to gain approval from state regulators in North and South Dakota.

"Summit has acquired right-of-way easement options previously held by Navigator CO2, including the option(s) you signed with Navigator CO2," wrote Lee Blank, Summit's chief executive, in a letter to landowners whose easement agreements have been purchased by Summit. "These options provide us with right-of-way access along expansion routes to the POET and Valero ethanol plants that have recently been added to our project."

A permit jump start

The transfer of Navigator's easements to Summit has the potential to accelerate its permit requests for the expansion in Iowa. The company is barred by law from engaging in easement agreements for the expansion until it hosts public meetings in the affected counties, which are scheduled to start Aug. 26 in Adams County.

There are 23 meetings for the Summit expansion scheduled in the northwest half of the state, including in Bremer, Butler and Floyd counties.

"Navigator canceled its project because of a lack of support from landowners along the route," said Jess Mazour, of the Sierra Club of Iowa, which has organized opposition to the projects. "Now Summit is trying to come in and bully and steal from the landowners that said 'no' to Navigator."

Navigator has said it canceled its project due to the "unpredictable nature of the regulatory and government processes." In Illinois, where Navigator planned to sequester carbon dioxide, state lawmakers recently imposed a two-year moratorium on the construction of carbon dioxide pipelines.

Summit obtained a portion of Navigator's voluntary easement agreements in Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota and South Dakota, said Sabrina Zenor, a spokesperson for the company. She could not immediately say how many are being purchased because the process has not concluded.

The companies had differed in their easement offerings: Summit paid the full amount of their agreements up front with no expectation to recoup the money if its project fails. Navigator paid a portion in advance, with the remainder to be paid if it secured a construction permit from the utilities commission.

Summit, which has not disclosed how much it is paying individual landowners for easements, would pay the remainder if it obtains permits for the expansion. It further told landowners in the letter that it would go beyond the terms of the Navigator agreements and indemnify landowners from liabilities associated with the pipeline system, repair underground drainage tiling and compensate farmers for crop yield losses tied to the pipeline installation as long as it operates the system.

"We believe these are practical and reasonable, landowner-friendly provisions that should be included in your easement, as they are in our existing easements with other landowners," Blank wrote.

Opposition continues

Despite the Iowa Utilities Commission's approval of Summit's initial proposal in June, there are pending legal challenges, and the Sierra Club is working with newly affected landowners to oppose the project.

There are five federal lawsuits Summit has filed against Iowa counties that enacted ordinances to restrict the placement of carbon dioxide pipelines.

A judge sided with Summit in December in two of those suits regarding Shelby and Story counties, and the counties have appealed. Three other lawsuits against Emmet, Kossuth and Palo Alto counties are paused while the appeals proceed.

Several groups have asked the commission to reconsider its approval of Summit's first permit, and the commission's response is due this week. Those who sought reconsiderations expect the commission will not reverse its decision and that it will be challenged in state court.

The Sierra Club has been holding meetings in each of the counties that are subject to Summit's expansion, and about 400 people have attended, Mazour said.

She said they are "absolutely ready to fight."

Comments: (319) 368-8541; jared.strong@thegazette.com