Iowa House OKs 11-month moratorium on eminent domain for pipelines

DES MOINES — The Iowa House has approved an 11-month moratorium on the Iowa Utilities Board scheduling eminent domain hearings for pipeline construction.

If the state Senate agrees with the proposed moratorium, it would delay any hearings on the three carbon capture pipelines being proposed in Iowa until after Feb. 21, 2023 — when the Legislature is back in session.

The amendment to House File 2565 came from Rep. Bobby Kaufmann, R-Wilton, who said the moratorium would provide “eminent domain protection for landowners affected by proposed pipelines.”

It would not change the rules regarding the use of eminent domain or stop the construction of the carbon pipelines being proposed in Iowa, but it would provide 11 months of a level playing field for negotiations between landowners and companies hoping to build pipelines, he said.

Kaufmann wants to ensure that landowners have certainty that if pipeline companies ask the Iowa Utilities Board for the use of eminent domain the Legislature will be in session, watching and able to take action if it determines it is necessary.

Kaufmann’s amendment, which was adopted on a voice vote, is similar to the one he offered in the House State Government Committee, which he chairs, to Senate File 2022. That bill dealt with cosmetology and barbering until the committee approved an amendment.

Rep. Steve Hansen, D-Sioux City, said the amendment merely “kicks the can down the road” rather than deal with eminent domain and pipeline construction.

House Minority Leader Jennifer Konfrst, D-Windsor Heights, said the Legislature needs to address the issue “in a big way.”

“We need to have a broader and more difficult conversation than we’re having tonight,” she said. “We need to do more. Let this be the start of that conversation, not the end.”

Another amendment offered Thursday by Rep. Jeff Shipley, R-Birmingham, would have prohibited a company building a carbon capture pipeline from having the rights to eminent domain. He withdrew his amendment.

Kaufmann’s amendment came during discussion of the state’s Administration and Regulation budget, which funds a number of state departments.

House File 2565 would appropriate $50.2 million from the state general fund, a decrease of $99.4 million. It also appropriates $60 million from other funds, an increase of $322,000.

The bill was approved, 60-30.

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