Proposed CO2 pipeline would go through Linn, Johnson, Cedar, Clinton and Scott counties

Wolf Carbon Solutions has a deal with ADM to transport CO2 from plants in Cedar Rapids and Clinton

Jul. 5, 2022 4:35 pm, Updated: Jul. 6, 2022 8:23 am

Wolf Carbon Solutions is seeking public hearings in September for a proposed CO2 pipeline from ADM ethanol plants through Linn, Johnson, Cedar, Clinton and Scott counties to a storage site in southern Illinois. This is the proposed map filed last week with the Iowa Utilities Board.

Residents of Linn, Johnson, Cedar, Clinton and Scott counties will have a chance in September to share their thoughts about another proposed CO2 pipeline — this one connecting ADM ethanol plants.

ADM and Wolf Carbon Solutions announced in January the signing of a letter of intent to build a 350-mile pipeline to transport liquefied CO2 from ADM’s ethanol and cogeneration facilities in Cedar Rapids and Clinton to ADM’s already operational sequestration site in Decatur, Ill.

Wolf filed its first documents with the Iowa Utilities Board on June 27, submitting a letter asking for six information meetings and providing a map of the proposed route, which starts in Cedar Rapids and goes southeast through Cedar and Scott counties.

A north-south branch extends from Clinton to the main line, according to the map. The primary proposed route would just barely enter Johnson County on the north.

This is the third CO2 pipeline proposed for Iowa.

Navigator, a Texas company, wants to build a 1,300-mile pipeline that would pass through 35 Iowa counties, including Bremer, Fayette, Buchanan and Delaware, capturing carbon dioxide at ethanol and fertilizer plants. The gas would be put under pressure, turned into liquid and piped to a site in south-central Illinois — near the ADM site.

Navigator initially planned for its pipeline to go through Linn County, but once ADM decided to go with Wolf, Navigator dropped this part of the route.

Summit Carbon Solutions is planning a 2,000-mile C02 pipeline through Iowa to North Dakota. The company announced in December it has started drilling test wells in three places in the Williston Basin in North Dakota.

Wolf, based in Alberta, Canada, said in January its project would be capable of transporting 12 million tons of CO2 per year, which includes CO2 from the ADM plants as well as “spare capacity to serve other third-party customers looking to decarbonize across the Midwest and Ohio River Valley.”

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At ADM’s Decatur site, the company has stored more than 3.5 million metric tons of CO2 a mile and half under the surface, the company reported.

Carbon sequestration is a relatively new idea that involves injecting liquid CO2 into rock formations underground. The technology is intended to reduce greenhouse gases that can cause climate change.

The Iowa Utilities Board would have to approve any pipeline projects, including the potential step of using eminent domain to force the sale of easements to the companies.

Once informational meetings are held, Wolf may begin reaching out to landowners along the proposed route and attempting to negotiate easements.

Hundreds of Iowa landowners, county boards of supervisors and environmental groups have opposed use of eminent domain. The Linn County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously in January against forced easements for CO2 pipelines.

Critics are concerned about the safety of the pipelines and do not think private companies should get federal tax credits for what they consider unproven technology.