116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
Landowners share frustrations, fears at Summit pipeline hearing
Evidentiary hearing in Fort Dodge expected to last multiple weeks
Three Iowa landowners — all women — testified Tuesday about their fears and frustrations about a proposed carbon dioxide pipeline being built by their homes, crops and dairy cows.
“We’re challenged in understanding how a carbon pipeline — to nowhere now — has the ability to meet the common good,” said Jessica Marson, of Rockford in Floyd County.
The proposed Summit Carbon Solutions CO2 underground pipeline would cut through 80 acres of Marson’s land, which she said is prime ground yielding of up to 250 bushels of corn per acre. She’s concerned the pipeline would disrupt underground drainage tiles and put her family at risk if the pressurized pipeline ruptures.
Marson, who answered questions for an hour, was the first of dozens of landowners expected to testify during a multiweek evidentiary hearing over Summit’s permit application with the Iowa Utilities Board. The hearing at the Cardiff Event Center in Fort Dodge drew a full house, with some people turned away at the door.
Summit wants to build a 2,000-mile pipeline, with nearly 700 miles of it in Iowa, to transport carbon dioxide from ethanol plants to underground sequestration sites in North Dakota. Marson’s “nowhere” comment referred to North Dakota regulators denying Summit’s first permit attempt earlier this month. The company submitted a new application this week.
Summit has asked the Iowa Utilities Board to grant it eminent domain power so the company may force easements on 973 properties in the state where landowners have not voluntarily agreed to sell access. Summit is one of three companies proposing CO2 pipelines through Iowa and the first to apply for a permit.
Iowa Utilities Board members
All three members of the Iowa Utilities Board were appointed by Gov. Kim Reynolds, with confirmation by the Iowa Senate. The members are:
- Erik M. Helland, chair, started his six-year term May 1. He will be chair through April 30, 2025. Helland, a Des Moines Republican, served in the Iowa House from 2009 to 2013 and then worked at the Iowa Public Relations Board. He holds a BA in biochemistry and a law degree from Drake University.
- Joshua Byrnes, appointed to the board Nov. 30, 2020, has been on the board the longest of the three members. The Mitchell County Republican previously was general manager of Osage Municipal Utilities and served six years in the Iowa House, where he was transportation chair. He received a BA in biology from Luther College and master’s degree in educational leadership from Winona State University in Minnesota.
- Sarah Martz, of Ames, joined the board May 1 and will fill the remainder of a term that runs through April 30, 2027. Martz worked for Alliant Energy for 11 years in various roles, including optimizing power plants, researching solar performance in the Midwest and piloting new technologies such as energy storage in Iowa communities. In 2022, she became director of engineering for the power distribution system at Iowa State University. Martz holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from ISU and a master’s degree in mechanical and aerospace engineering from the University of California at Irvine.
Nelva Huitink, of Hospers in Sioux County, said her view on underground pipelines has been soured by their experiences signing an easement for the Dakota Access pipeline, which transports crude oil from North Dakota across Iowa to Illinois. Last month, Huitink was helping chop alfalfa when the tractor she was driving drove over a new sinkhole along the Dakota Access route on their farm, she said.
“Once you dig a hole in the ground, the soil is going to react differently,” she said. “Would we like to be consulted? Yes. But every time with Dakota Access we would have to talk with a different person. With Summit right now we’ve had four different land agents. We always have to start over from square one.”
“It sounds like deja vu this time around,” said Brian Jorde, an attorney representing another landowner opposed to the project.
“Yes it does,” Huitink said.
‘Lack of respect’
When asked what she would propose as an alternative location for the pipeline rather than her Clay County farm, Marcia Langner said she doesn’t want to push it off on neighbors. She said the pipeline wouldn’t be needed if ethanol plants pursued other ways to reduce CO2 emissions or combined CO2 with hydrogen to make green methanol.
Langner said she was frustrated Summit surveyors went onto their land without permission, spooking cattle. She also asked the company not to bother her 93-year-old mother who lives at a care center.
“He assured me she would not be contacted. Later, I found out she had been harassed by multiple Summit agents,” Langner said. “This process already has showed lack of respect for homeowner rights.”
All three women talked about how their options to expand operations with new buildings would be limited with a pipeline easement on their properties.
The first 80 minutes of Tuesday’s hearing dealt with procedures and a timeline for weeks of testimony by landowners and experts. There are about 50 parties in the docket, many of whom have the right to cross-examine witnesses. Board members also may ask questions. Aerial views of the landowners’ parcels were shown on screens that could be viewed by the board and audience.
Bret Dublinske, Summit’s attorney, expressed frustration when Jorde’s cross-examination seemed to cover new ground.
“This is not a clarification question,” he said. “If we go around and around and around we’re never going to conclude.”
The utilities board will provide a daily digest and a weekly digest every Thursday summarizing the coming week. Opponents complained this schedule didn’t allow enough time for witnesses to make plans to testify in person.
The hearing, scheduled to start at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, is available via livestream.
Comments: (319) 339-3157; erin.jordan@thegazette.com
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