Johnson County no longer on the Wolf CO2 pipeline route

A pipeline proposed to transport carbon dioxide from ADM plants in Cedar Rapids and Clinton no longer would go through Johnson County, developers reported.

Wolf Carbon Solutions, based in Denver, Colo., will hold a second round of informational meetings Dec. 5 and 6 in four Iowa counties about the proposed 280-mile pipeline, according to an order issued Wednesday by the Iowa Utilities Board. The company confirmed its first round of meetings did not include proper notification of all landowners to be affected by the route.

The new meetings are:

Cedar County: noon Dec. 5, Cedar County Fairgrounds, Matthews Building, Tipton
Linn County: 5:30 p.m. Dec. 5, Hawkeye Downs, South Hall, Cedar Rapids
Clinton County: noon Dec. 6, Wild Rose Convention Center, Clinton
Scott County, 5:30 p.m. Dec. 6, River Center (Adler Theater), Davenport

Absent from the list is Johnson County, which had been included in the first round of informational meetings. Wolf said in an Oct. 12 filing with the utilities board the pipeline no longer would go through the far northeast corner of Johnson County.

“The Board will note that Wolf has made some modifications to the Corridor and based on the modifications, it has determined that a meeting in Johnson County will not be necessary,” Wolf said.

When Wolf in early July released its first map of the proposed pipeline that showed the route barely entering Johnson County, County Supervisor Jon Green tweeted, “Like hell it will.”

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Green said he was pleased the Wolf project now will stop short of Johnson County.

“I’m glad Wolf has decided to take its dog and pony show elsewhere, but I’m just as concerned for the folks in Linn County and Cedar County,” Green said.

Green said CO2 sequestration is too costly with too little evidence of working to remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere.

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Two other companies, Summit Carbon Solutions and Navigator Heartland Greenway, have proposed CO2 pipelines through Iowa. Earlier this summer, Navigator changed its route so it would no longer pass through Linn County.

Redoing the meetings could set back Wolf’s proposal process. The company can’t start negotiations with landowners until after the informational meetings and can’t file a permit request with the state until 30 days after the completion of the meetings.

Wolf officials said they do not want to use eminent domain to force landowners to grant easements and the company hasn’t used condemnation on past projects.

The company’s proposal calls for collection of compressed CO2 at ADM plants and shipping it in a 16-inch underground pipeline to ADM’s sequestration site near Decatur, Ill. Wolf wants to find other industrial clients to tie into the project, which would be eligible for up to $1 billion a year in federal tax credits.

Comments: (319) 339-3157; erin.jordan@thegazette.com