News Track: Where does the Summit CO2 pipeline stand?

Background

It has been nearly four years since Summit Carbon Solutions, of Ames, announced its plan to build a carbon dioxide pipeline system to enable ethanol plants in five Midwestern states to capture and sequester part of their greenhouse gas emissions.

The company initially had expected to be operational last year and predicted the project would be "the most impactful development for the biofuels industry and Midwestern agriculture in decades," Bruce Rastetter, a co-founder of the company, said in the February 2021 announcement.

"This is a giant leap forward," he said.

The scope of the system has since expanded to include 2,500 miles of pipe, more than 50 ethanol producers and a price tag of $8 billion.

But the project has met pushback on several fronts in several states. It now might be online next year — at the earliest — if it is built.

That depends on several lingering factors with unclear timelines.

What’s happened since

South Dakota is the last state for which Summit needs approval before it starts construction in Iowa — a condition of the pipeline permit the Iowa Utilities Commission granted the company last year.

Summit reapplied for a permit in South Dakota in November after being denied one in 2023, and the company recently indicated it might challenge in court a state commissioner's decision not to recuse herself from the new permit process.

That commissioner, Kristie Fiegen, withdrew herself from Summit's first attempt to get a permit in the state because her spouse's family owns property that is affected by the pipeline route.

Fiegen, the chair of the three-member South Dakota Public Utilities Commission, indicated in a letter early this month that she does not have "a legal conflict" in the case but did not clarify why her views about her participation in the process have changed.

Summit has paid her relatives for an easement to build and operate its pipeline system on their property. But Summit, in its objection, says that is not necessarily a bias in favor of the project.

"They may hope that the permit is denied because then they would have been paid for easement rights that will not be used," wrote Jess Vilsack, a Summit attorney.

The company insists that Fiegen's decision to remain on the case has the potential to delay the company's permit process and suggested it might lead to legal challenges, regardless of the outcome of that process.

The first permit process in South Dakota went on for more than a year and a half.

Other litigation

The company has faced an array of legal challenges in the three primary states that might host its project — Iowa and North and South Dakota.

Summit has prevailed in most of those cases so far, although the South Dakota Supreme Court has questioned whether the project is eligible for eminent domain in that state, without deciding the issue.

In Iowa, the state Supreme Court recently upheld a state law that allows companies like Summit to survey land on its proposed route without the permission of property owners.

A federal judge also sided with Summit in its challenge of two county ordinances in Iowa that would restrict the placement of its pipeline system. The company's lawsuits against other counties with the ordinances — including Bremer County — are pending until appeals of the judge's decisions conclude.

And there are pending challenges in state and federal court of the Iowa Utilities Commission's decision to issue Summit a permit. They question the constitutionality of the use of eminent domain to force unwilling landowners to host the project, among other issues.

Six separate lawsuits filed in state district court by landowners, environmentalists, land rights groups and others have been consolidated into one case that is likely to be decided — at least initially by a district court judge — this year.

Summit has sought to dismiss the federal lawsuit, which was filed by some of the same people who sued in state court, claiming federal court is not the right venue. That request is pending.

The company also sent letters to several people who have spoken against its project that indicated they might be financially liable for defaming Summit. That included former U.S. Rep. Steve King, a Republican who lives in Northwest Iowa. Summit has not yet sued them, according to court records.

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