Meeting times disenfranchise landowners

As a property owner in the path of the Wolf Carbon Solutions’ proposed hazardous liquid pipeline, I am concerned about the schedule of meetings requested by Wolf and approved by the Iowa Utilities Board.

The meetings for the most populated counties in the pipeline route, Johnson, Linn and Scott Counties, are scheduled Aug. 29, Aug 30 and Aug. 31 at noon in the middle of a work day. Does the Iowa Utilities Board expect these meetings to be well-attended? In Linn County alone there are hundreds of property owners who may be affected.

It is obvious that the majority of these landowners are employed during the day. Possibly both spouses in that household are working and thus won’t be able to attend a noon meeting. The purpose of these meetings is to inform the involved property owners of the Wolf hazardous liquid pipeline intentions. Why not schedule the meetings when they can be well-attended? The convenience of the property owner should be considered not just the opportune schedule of the pipeline company and the Iowa Utilities Board.

The importance of quality negotiations depends on good communication and the knowledge of details. The Iowa Utilities Board should at least try to ensure that both negotiating parties have an equal opportunity for discussion and a question/answer session. I have filed a formal objection to the Iowa Utilities Board on Wolf’s hazardous liquid pipeline docket, HPL 2022-0002, and I encourage all other involved property owners to do the same.

Michael Daly

Lisbon