Don’t rush CO2 pipeline process

After only eight weeks on the job, Erik Helland, Gov. Kim Reynold’s newly appointed chairman of the Iowa Utilities Board, is flipping a “well-established procedure” for eminent domain hearings on its head. Helland stated that this drastic change is being implemented to “promote procedural efficiency.” Coincidently the change came shortly after a formal request by Summit Pipeline to expedite the proceedings. This rush to start the Iowa Utilities Board hearing four to six months earlier than originally scheduled on the official calendar adds insult to the injury for landowners. Not only are they taking our land but they are rushing the matter through at breakneck speed.

A recent filing on behalf of an affected landowner, accurately states — “Due process for private property rights, especially concerning agricultural property in Iowa, should never be sacrificed for the sake of ‘administrative efficiency.’” There are just some things that should not be rushed and one of them is the taking a person’s land and therefore their livelihood. All Iowa landowners, city or farm, should see danger in this rush to condemn private property for use by another private company that is not a utility. An Iowa Utilities Board document dated June 28 flatly denied a request to slow this procedural rush, from multiple parties including the boards of supervisors of seven affected Iowa counties. This administrative board seems to have run amok.

Dorothy Sloma

Arnolds Park