Iowa Attorney General reviewing if foreign investors bought farmland for Coggon solar project

The Iowa Attorney General’s Office is reviewing whether the purchase of more than 75 acres of Linn County farmland slated to be part of a large solar project near Coggon violates state law prohibiting foreign ownership of agricultural land.

Foreign farmland ownership — especially by China — has been a concern nationwide and the Linn County review comes as several Iowa lawmakers have said they’d like to see changes that make farmland sales more transparent.

“We should know who our neighbor is,” J.D. Scholten, D-Sioux City, said in November. “The way the system is now, whether it’s intentional or not, it’s really hard to try to find out who bought the land down the road. Is it a Wall Street firm? Or is it Uncle Bob down the road? Or was it Bill Gates?”

The Linn County Board of Supervisors in January 2022 approved rezoning to allow a 640-acre solar farm west of Coggon. Clenera, an Idaho-based company, would develop the utility-scale project and then sell the electricity to the Central Iowa Power Cooperative, or CIPCO.

Neighbors Marty Robinson, Paula Robinson, Tom Robinson and Laura Robinson opposed the project and filed a lawsuit that still is wending its way through appeals after the 6th Judicial District dismissed the suit in February.

Clenera has leased most of the land for the project with plans to remove the panels after 35 years. But the company, through Coggon Asset Co. LLC, purchased two agricultural parcels totaling 76 acres for $1.45 million in May from Joel and Kerry Peyton. The company also bought two small residential parcels adjoining the ag land for $280,000 from other Peyton family members, Linn County Assessor records show.

“I do think this is in the footprint of the Clenera project,” Charlie Nichols, planning and development director for Linn County, said of the purchased land. “There are panels planned to be on that parcel.”

It’s unclear why the company purchased rather than leased this land. Joel Peyton declined to comment on that, but said he and his wife also have leased some land for the project.

While Clenera's offices are in Boise, the company was purchased in 2021 by Enlight Renewable Energy LTD, based in Tel Aviv, Israel. Founded in 2008, “Enlight develops, designs, constructs, finances, owns and operates power plants that generate clean energy across the U.S., Europe, and Israel,“ according to Clenera’s website. Enlight’s website says its largest investors are in Israel.

Which is where Iowa’s law prohibiting foreign ownership of agricultural land may kick in.

Iowa’s primary foreign land ownership law, Chapter 9I.3, says a “non-resident alien, foreign business or foreign government … shall not purchase or otherwise acquire agricultural land in this state.” Foreign people or firms who owned Iowa farmland before Jan. 1, 1980, were allowed to keep it, but were prohibited from buying more.

There are some exceptions to Iowa’s law, including farmland used for “testing, developing or producing seeds or plants for sale or resale to farmers” and land used for research or experimentation, not profits.

Iowa has nearly 514,000 acres of foreign-owned or leased land, according to the most recent data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Linn County has 1,783 acres of foreign-owned farmland, with most of it purchased before 1980, a Gazette investigation showed.

Through the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act, foreign people and firms must report to the U.S. Department of Agriculture farmland ownership or leases of at least 10 acres or land that produces at least $1,000 in gross receipts a year. This includes multinational firms with major ownership in other countries.

The Robinsons asked the Iowa Attorney General last fall to look at Clenera’s purchase of the farmland to see if violates Chapter 9I. The family heard back Dec. 21.

“Thank you for your September 13, 2023, email and the information that you provided to our office concerning the purchase of farmland and the potential Iowa Code violations,” Assistant Attorney General Jacob L. Larson wrote. “Our office is reviewing the information and takes these violations seriously.”

Larson went on to say he could not comment on “pending investigations or enforcement actions.”

Clenera provided a statement Friday:

“The Coggon Solar project currently in development will power an estimated 20,000 Iowa homes with low-cost, clean, renewable energy for several decades. We are excited to do business and be a neighbor in the Linn County community. Although Clenera, LLC is participating in the development of the project, the land parcels in question are fully owned by Coggon Asset Co, LLC, which is U.S. owned/controlled.”

Spokesman Jake Melder did not immediately respond to a question asking him to clarify how Coggon Asset Co. was separate from Clenera.

The warranty deed for the sale states it should be sent to Coggon Asset Co. in care of Clenera LLC in Boise. The Iowa Secretary of State’s Office does not have a listing for Coggon Asset Co. LLC, but does have a business registered as Coggon Solar LLC with the same Boise address as Clenera that describes itself as a “foreign limited liability company.”

Nichols said a change in who owns the land near Coggon doesn’t affect the zoning change that allowed a solar development. The Iowa Utilities Board issued Clenera a certificate of public convenience, use and necessity on Nov. 9, 2022. That permission is not related to land ownership.

Peyton 80 a Warranty Deed to Coggon Assetco (1) by The Gazette on Scribd

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