Miller-Meeks: CO2 pipelines will boost Iowa ethanol industry

NEWTON — U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks spoke this week in favor of carbon dioxide pipelines as a way to aid Iowa’s ethanol production industry with an environmentally conscious impact.

Miller-Meeks, the Republican representative for Iowa’s 1st Congressional District who is up for re-election this fall, spoke Thursday about pipelines and other renewable fuel efforts supported by the Conservative Climate Caucus. She, alongside Republican Reps. Randy Weber of Texas, Doug Lamborn of Colorado and Brett Guthrie of Kentucky — fellow caucus members — visited the Chevron Renewable Energy Group in Newton as part of a trip to Iowa focused on increasing affordable, low-emission energy options.

Following a tour of the biodiesel production facility, the Iowa Republican said Iowa is a “forerunner and a leader” in enacting a conservative vision for climate-conscious energy production through the use of renewable fuels, wind and solar energy.

The caucus wants to explore ways to encourage the adoption of new climate-conscious technology and techniques, but Republicans encourage “market-based solutions” rather than government requirements, Miller-Meeks said. She criticized President Joe Biden’s administration for its approach to climate change solutions, citing the Environmental Protection Agency’s rules on issues like coal and natural gas-fired power plants and tailpipe emissions.

“We’re interested in innovation, how we can do things better,” Miller-Meeks said. “But importantly, no one wants brownouts, and no one wants sky-high electricity prices. And so there is a price to pay for what the Biden-Harris administration is doing, and we want to bring practical, innovative solutions and affordability and accessibility into the marketplace.”

As the Republican lawmakers seek to bolster alternative energy sources and production in the United States, Miller-Meeks said carbon dioxide pipelines are one way to lower the carbon intensity score of ethanol, which she said in turn makes the industry competitive globally as American ethanol producers compete with countries like Brazil.

“I would say from the climate standpoint, if we’re not growing ethanol here in the U.S., and that increases the share from Brazil, they will cut down rainforests, and that is not environmentally friendly to do,” Miller-Meeks said. “So it makes sense in Iowa.”

The Summit Carbon Solutions pipeline project has been a major point of contention for Iowans in both parties as the company seeks to build a network in five states, including Iowa. Much of the pushback over the project has come from the use of eminent domain that would force landowners to allow the pipeline to be built through their land even if they do not grant the company voluntarily easements.

A group of state Republican lawmakers, as well as conservation groups, counties and property owners, had filed requests for reconsideration with the Iowa Utilities Commission on the three-person panel’s decision to issue a permit to Summit in Iowa. But the commission took no action by the deadline, meaning it effectively had denied the requests to reconsider.

Miller-Meeks said the use of eminent domain is a “state issue, not a federal issue,” but said the ideal is for a “limited amount of involuntary easements” to be used in pipeline projects. She also said it was important to remember that pipeline companies will not be taking or owning the land.

“I would say that farmers and property owners need to look at the why, the rationale, and then determine if it’s in their best interest,” she said. “Companies that are acquiring easements are looking at, ‘how do you make the land whole? How do you ensure farmers that you can grow crops in the near future, the timing, restructure so that land is put back in the position it was before they put in the pipeline?'”

This article first appeared in the Iowa Capital Dispatch.