We can’t let Summit Carbon take our water

It’s no secret that thousands of everyday Iowans like me are opposed to Summit Carbon Solutions’ plan to build a vast network of CO2 pipelines through our state. Our reasons for fighting tooth-and-nail against Summit are well known: the pipelines will tear up farm ground and destroy our soil; they want to misuse eminent domain for private gain; they use technology that’s consistently failed to reduce carbon emissions; they rely heavily on public money for financing; and they’re dangerous and potentially deadly.

But what has gotten less attention is the tremendous drain these pipelines will put on Iowa’s groundwater. It takes a lot of energy to capture and liquefy CO2 from industrial ethanol plants. It also takes a lot of energy to pump CO2 to the North Dakota shale fields, which is what Summit wants to do. Energy production and capturing emissions require massive amounts of water.

Summit recently signed a deal with POET — which claims to be the world’s largest producer of biofuels — to nearly double the number of in-state ethanol facilities connected to its project. Instead of capturing carbon from 13 Iowa ethanol plants, Summit now wants to do it from 25. That will take a lot of groundwater.

Summit affiliates have already been asking the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) for water withdrawal permits. Last year, DNR issued a 55.9 million gallons-per-year permit for an ethanol plant near Lawler. And DNR is currently considering another water use permit for an ethanol plant by Goldfield. If approved, that one would let Summit pump 27.6 million gallons of groundwater annually.

We can expect all 25 of Summit’s ethanol partners to ask DNR for water use permits. If they’re approved, Summit would be able to pump nearly 1 billion gallons of our groundwater every year to operate its CO2 pipelines, lining line the pockets of wealthy CEOs and industry executives, with little public benefit.

This is happening during a historic drought. According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, nearly 95% of Iowa is experiencing drought conditions — either extreme, severe, moderate or abnormally dry. And DNR says the current drought — which is over 3½ year old — is the longest in Iowa since the 1950s.

That’s why, in mid-February, Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement members took our concerns about Summit’s groundwater grab directly to the DNR’s Natural Resource Commission (NRC).

The NRC is a governor-appointed board that “provides policy oversight for Iowa's natural resource protection and enhancement efforts.” The NRC can weigh-in on Summit’s water usage. As a matter of policy, the NRC can say “no water use permits for CO2 pipelines.” And that’s what we’ve asked them to do.

But here’s a complicating factor: the NRC chair is Marcus Branstad, the son of former Gov. Terry Branstad who just happens to be a top executive at Summit Carbon Solutions and a close political ally of Summit CEO Bruce Rastetter and Gov. Kim Reynolds.

Marcus and his NRC colleagues need to do the right thing. We’re hoping they rise to the challenge. We can’t let Summit take our water.

Tom Mohan lives in Cedar Rapids and is a member of Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement.