Summit faces skeptics at Waverly carbon pipeline meeting

WAVERLY — It was a tough audience for the four representatives of Summit Carbon Solutions.

The company held an informational meeting Tuesday night at an events center in Waverly to discuss the 29.4 miles of 8-inch pipe it wants to lay across Bremer County so that it can begin to negotiate for land easements. The pipe would carry pressurized carbon dioxide away from two ethanol plants in the area, with an ultimate destination underground in North Dakota.

It would be a boon for farmers and local economies with very low safety risks, the Summit reps said. And the company is operating with strict attention to the rules.

"There's no pockets being lined or anything like that," said Jake Ketzner, the company's vice president for government affairs.

The crowd of more than 150 was incredulous. Some booed. Person after person stood to ask questions or pontificate about their qualms with the project.

"Before you do any signing, just remember: They're for themselves. … They don't care about Iowa," said Brenda Muth, of Dougherty.

Expansion requests

The meeting was one of 23 scheduled for the counties that are affected by Summit's expansion of its initial, 690-mile pipeline network.

Those expansions — 14 offshoots that total about 340 miles — are a result of another pipeline company's abandonment of a similar proposal last year. Summit's project might now connect to 30 of Iowa's 42 ethanol plants.

"This is our first time in this county, and we're asking folks to take a fresh look at our project," Ketzner said.

All told, the entire project would span about 2,500 miles in five states and connect to nearly 60 ethanol producers.

Ketzner said the system is essential to buoy the ethanol industry and, by extension, corn farmers. More than half of the corn produced in Iowa is used to make the fuel.

Ethanol producers that connect to Summit's pipeline system might be enabled to sell their fuels into low-carbon markets in other states or abroad. They would be eligible for federal tax incentives for producing low-carbon fuels. There also is potential for it to be used to make sustainable aviation fuel. Summit would get an unspecified cut of the profits.

"We're here to help make sure that the ethanol industry can be competitive and grow," Ketzner said.

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But much of the crowd was unconvinced. They heckled and shouted — "Answer the question. Just answer the question!" — and had to be heeled occasionally by a representative from the Iowa Utilities Commission, whom himself was then heckled.

There were no members of the three-person regulatory commission, who are appointed by the governor, in attendance. Pat Grassley, the Republican speaker of the Iowa House, said the commissioners' absence was unacceptable.

"There is a level of distrust when you do not have the people making the decisions at the table," he said to rapturous applause.

Other speakers worried about residents' safety in case of a pipeline breach, the amount of groundwater that would be needed to cool the carbon dioxide and land rights. They objected to Summit using eminent domain to forcibly acquire land easements from unwilling owners to build and operate its system on land it doesn't own.

Land rights concern

The Iowa Utility Commission last month issued a permit for Summit's initial proposal, although the project is contingent on approval in North and South Dakota. Both states rejected Summit’s first applications. North Dakota is reconsidering a modified route.

Summit has not yet filed a new permit application in South Dakota, where a recent court decision questioned whether the project qualifies for eminent domain.

In Iowa, the commission decided the project benefits the public and granted eminent domain powers to the company. Summit had requested that for about a quarter of its initial route in Iowa.

The commission's decision is poised for court challenges. A group of Republican state lawmakers filed lawsuits Tuesday in state and federal court to overturn the decision. Landowners and conservation groups that have opposed the project have also indicated they will sue.

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"It's a private company making the money — I can't fathom how the board allowed eminent domain to be in the picture," said Angie Ellerbroek, of Waverly. "It just blows my mind."

Summit has said it acquired an unspecified number of land easements from Navigator CO2 that the company bought from landowners before ceasing its own pipeline project. Those acquisitions are being challenged by Bremer County and the Sierra Club of Iowa.

State law bars pipeline companies from negotiating and obtaining easements before they hold informational meetings about their projects. The commission has never considered the issue of early acquisitions of easements from other companies, said Don Tormey, a spokesperson for the commission. It's unclear when the commission will decide whether Summit's acquisitions are allowable.

Land agents for Summit were available at the Waverly meeting to discuss easements with property owners, but Ketzner reminded attendees that they couldn't have those discussions until after the meeting concluded.

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