Fate unclear for CO2 pipeline slated for Eastern Iowa

Wolf Carbon Solutions has not filed new information with state regulators for more than 10 months about its proposed carbon dioxide pipeline that includes Cedar Rapids, according to state records.

In that time, more than 100 objections to the project have been submitted to the Iowa Utilities Commission, with which the company's pipeline permit is pending.

Wolf wants to construct about 95 miles of underground pipe in Eastern Iowa to transport captured carbon dioxide from ethanol plants in Cedar Rapids and Clinton to Illinois for underground sequestration or for other commercial purposes.

The company also has not reapplied for a permit in Illinois as it said it would.

The lack of apparent progress on the project and the company's continued silence prompted the commission's staff Tuesday to seek a status update, along with periodic updates in the future.

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Wolf has not responded to or declined several requests in recent weeks from The Gazette to comment about its project.

The company announced the project more than two years ago. It was the third company to propose a carbon dioxide pipeline system in Iowa to transport the gas from ethanol producers for underground storage or other commercial purposes.

Wolf's proposal was much smaller than the other proposed routes.

Summit Carbon Solutions has made the most progress in Iowa and has obtained a permit to build and operate about 690 miles of pipe, although it cannot start construction until it has approval for the system in the Dakotas, where it plans to transport the greenhouse gas. It also has pending permit requests to expand its Iowa footprint by about 50 percent.

Regulatory uncertainty

That expansion was the result of another company, Navigator CO2, abandoning its proposal last year. Like Navigator, Wolf wants to pipe the carbon dioxide to Illinois, where the technology's future is unclear.

Navigator cited the uncertainty that surrounds carbon pipeline regulation in different states as a primary reason it dropped its project. In Illinois, lawmakers this summer imposed up to a two-year moratorium on the projects.

And in recent weeks, ethanol producer Archer Daniels Midland said it had detected leaks at its sequestration site in Illinois. Wolf has planned to connect to two of the company's ethanol plants in Iowa in Cedar Rapids and Clinton.

ADM did not immediately respond to a request to comment.

Wolf's pipeline system would traverse parts of Linn, Cedar, Clinton and Scott counties. The company indicated on its Iowa permit application it wouldn't use eminent domain to forcefully obtain land easements, but instead would solely negotiate with landowners for them. However, it could modify that approach by amending its application.

Landowners along the pipeline route haven't heard from the company in months, said Jess Mazour, of the Sierra Club of Iowa, which has been a leading organizer of opposition to the pipeline projects.

"They're sitting back and just waiting to see what happens," Mazour said of Wolf. Summit's permit in Iowa is the subject of several lawsuits.

Stumbles in Illinois

Wolf announced its project in 2022 and began its permit process in Iowa that June. More than a year later — in November 2023 — it withdrew its permit application in Illinois.

That was after an engineer for the Illinois Commerce Commission recommended Wolf's application be denied for several procedural deficiencies and because the "proposed pipeline does not match the legislative purpose of the CO2 Act, which sought to promote and use Illinois coal," according to commission documents.

Wolf had said it would reapply for an Illinois permit early this year, but didn't.

It's unclear when the company might respond to the Iowa commission staff's request. It took Wolf more than a month to respond to the last such request in 2023.

Comments: (319) 368-8541; jared.strong@thegazette.com