Uniting across party lines to fight corporate greed and duplicity

Vicki Hulse and her husband Bill have been married for over 45 years. But they also grew up together on adjoining family farms. “We rode the school bus together and so after Bill came home from Vietnam, we started dating.” Now Bill has Parkinsons and dementia. He is unaware of his wife’s fight for his farm. A farm that has been in the ailing Vietnam vet’s family for 96 years.

“My husband actually was the activist in our family,” Hulse tells me. “I was the one that was kind of shy and never wanted to talk in front of people. I never wanted to stand up and say a word, even in church.”

Hulse has come out of her shell and has been raising her voice at town meetings, at the Capitol, and even at the Iowa Supreme Court. But she is thankful. “I've been in this fight for three years. I'm feeling grateful because the pipeline that was going through my farm pulled out. They only had 30% of easements signed and they just said that there was too much opposition. We put up a really good fight and they said there were too many obstacles.” But although she won her own personal battle, she hasn’t given up the larger fight against eminent domain rights for private companies.

Even in a divisive and vitriolic election year, Republicans and Democratic neighbors across Iowa have managed to find common ground. They have come together in rural communities like Hulse’s. And this in part has resulted in two pipelines on opposite sides of the state having been stalled. “I feel very sorry for the people that are on the summit pipeline,” Hulse says of the fight still being waged on the Western border of Iowa.

On the other side of the state, Wolf withdrew its Certificate of Authority application just under a year ago. “Wolf has been extremely quiet,” explains Wally Taylor, attorney for the Iowa Chapter of the Sierra Club. “They have said repeatedly that they will not use eminent domain. And all the landowners along the route are organized.” As far as the Summit pipeline is concerned, “The (Iowa Utilities) commission said that summit could not start construction until they get permits from North and South Dakota. This is because the pipeline would go from Iowa up to the Dakotas and allegedly bury the CO2 in North Dakota. And at this point, neither of the Dakotas have granted a permit. They both actually have denied permits.”

The arguments and motivations of involved Iowans have been different, but the goal has been shared: to stop construction of the pipelines.

In Moville, Hulse is concerned people will be duped into losing their land. “These landowners that are fighting Summit, I'm still supporting them. I'm still paying the attorney who helped me because I just feel like whatever I can do, I want to contribute.”

Jessica Wiskus from Lisbon is worried about her land, but she is also apprehensive about other potential consequences of the pipeline. “At first, I had heard that it was green technology. And I thought, oh wow, this is really interesting. And it was only when I started to read more and started looking for the peer reviewed articles.” She ran for office in 2022 on the issue of eminent domain, but she is concerned that the pipeline will bring other problems to Iowa. “Erosion is a huge issue in Iowa. We've lost so much of our topsoil over the last few decades.” She also cited concern about ruptures in neighboring Illinois, and potential harmful health effects of the pipeline. “I was able to see what this really was bringing and I thought, there is a story here. People need to know what this truly is.”

Over four years ago, a similar CO2 pipeline ruptured in Sartartia, Mississippi, a tiny rural town with a population of 41. For four hours, CO2 flowed from the pipeline while dozens were rushed to the hospital. Carbon dioxide poisoning can lead to long term effects, and high levels of exposure can lead to asphyxiation and death. Accidents are currently rare, but with the current 5,000 miles of pipeline expected to expand to 65,000 miles in the future, the potential for accidents cannot be ignored.

A concerned Wiskus started knocking on doors. “Pretty soon everybody wanted to know more and what was really extraordinary about it is that this is not an issue that divides people. It's an issue that really brings people together across all sorts of lines that you would otherwise think people would be pulled apart.”

Taylor agrees, “Rural Republicans who never thought they would be on the same side as the Sierra Club. But we've been able to really respect each other and come together. Also, Republican state legislators have been allies of ours and we've been able to find common ground.”

Wiskus described “It's like a potluck sort of celebration, even though we're all under the duress. There is pressure from these land agents who come out and are knocking on your door. When you don't answer, they come the next day and knock on your door. We've had people tell us they sit at the bottom of their driveway. They really put pressure on individuals. Yet our coming together has been an opportunity for community building and just enjoying each other, respecting each other and learning from each other. And yeah, the cookies really stand out in my mind.”

Cookies and community building make me hopeful that as Iowans we can seek out civil discourse to solve problems that will impact our children and grandchildren. We are 17 days out from a presidential election that pundits predict will see unprecedented violence. While political civility is declining, I know we as Iowans can find ways to come together and have real conversations.

Wiskus is also hopeful “We're going to win. We just have to make sure that we sustain ourselves in spirit because it is a monumental fight.”

Chris Espersen is a Gazette editorial fellow. chris.espersen@thegazette.com