Neighbors standing with neighbors against CO2 pipelines in Iowa

A March 8 article from Reuters shows that Summit Carbon Solutions — one of the companies seeking to build CO2 pipelines through the Midwest — has secured less than 2 percent of the voluntary easements that it needs to build its pipeline through Iowa. All across our state, neighbors are standing together with neighbors, protecting 689.4 miles of the 703 miles that Bruce Rastetter needs for his private industrial waste project.

Such is the strength of rural Iowans.

You see, this issue isn’t just about our land; it’s about the land — the land that feeds the world, the land that we all care for, the land we steward, the land — fertile and rich — that we want to pass to the next generation. The soil that we have here is irreplaceable. Mother Nature took a thousand years to make it, but a pipeline would undo all of that, in a matter of one year.

There is wealth in the land — everyone knows that.

But what do we mean by “wealth?” And what do we mean by “land?” Soil is a part of what “land” is about, no doubt, as is the CSR. But that isn’t all that is at stake. Land, for many of us, means something more than a number on a piece of paper. Land isn’t just a possession — isn’t just dirt. It’s about our heritage, and it’s about our hope. “Land,” for us, is about the abundance of life that is rooted in the earth, and that, fundamentally, is not of our own making.

One of my neighbors said to me: “It’s not like the land is a part of me, but like I am a part of the land.” He said it well. That’s the gift bestowed on us by the land — it places us face-to-face with something greater, something true.

And so, the wealth of the land isn’t about what we own — it’s about to whom our lives are responsible: to corporate executives, to private investors, to influential politicians … or, to the gift of life that we are called to steward?

Private corporations want to take the part of the wealth that is seen on a property deed, but they disregard what the land really means — they disregard the part that is the true gift. It’s because of this that we are not signing voluntarily easements with these pipeline companies.

It takes strength to stand up to powerful corporate and political forces. But the strength doesn’t have to come from you or from me, alone. Please, consider all of the strength that Mother Nature has shown you — and what you might show for her, in return. Know that your neighbors are considering the same thing. Will you join us?

Jessica Wiskus lives near Lisbon.