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Iowa Senate majority leader unveils legislation on eminent domain, carbon pipelines
Proposal would let companies amend routes to avoid unwilling landowners
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DES MOINES — Hazardous liquid pipeline companies would be allowed to amend their planned and approved routes to enter into voluntary easements with landowners and avoid using eminent domain under legislation proposed by Iowa Senate Majority Leader Mike Klimesh.
During a press conference Tuesday morning, Klimesh, R-Spillville, said the legislation would balance the rights of landowners while creating new ethanol markets for struggling Iowa farmers as corn prices drop.
“These proposals will help lower the cost of energy, increase markets for Iowa's agricultural products, raise incomes for farmers, create more manufacturing jobs for Iowans, provide millions of hours of work for skilled trades and accelerate Iowa's path to zero income tax,” Klimesh told reporters. “All those results are possible with voluntary agreements between investors and landowners.”
The proposal would require carbon pipeline companies to “diligently exhaust” all alternatives and present “clear and convincing” evidence that they did so before requesting authorization by the Iowa Utilities Commission to use eminent domain. This includes if a route of voluntary easements is made unavailable due to technical or engineering infeasibility of construction, adverse effects on safety or the inability to comply with federal safety requirements in specific locations.
Klimesh, who initially floated his proposal in December, said he wants to address the issue as soon as possible and strike a deal with House lawmakers so that it doesn’t “linger” for the next few months. A House bill on the topic has already passed out of committee.
“I want us to come to a consensus with the House, find a path forward, open up access to additional markets for Iowa farmers who are desperately looking for that relief right now, and put this behind us in a meaningful way that benefits all landowners,” Klimesh said.
He also proposed a second bill that would place a severance tax on the carbon dioxide flows in carbon pipelines, or a flat fee per metric ton. Revenue from the tax would go into the Iowa Taxpayer Relief Fund to be used to “continue Iowa's path to zero income tax,” Klimesh said,
In addition, the Senate legislation would:
- Allow hazardous liquid pipeline companies, at any time after a mandatory county information meeting for proposed pipeline projects, to contact landowners within a voluntary easement corridor of land anywhere in the county the project runs through or within five miles of the initially proposed route.
- Require companies to provide landowners with all the information presented at the mandatory county meeting.
- Allow landowners to opt out of any further contact from the company, except for mail.
- Establish a one-year timeframe for easement acquisition efforts.
Last week, House Republicans advanced House Study Bill 507 out of committee, which would prohibit the use of eminent domain by carbon capture pipeline companies to acquire land for their projects. It is eligible for House debate starting Wednesday.
The bill’s sponsor, Republican Rep. Steve Holt, of Denison, said while he welcomes the Senate's engagement on the issue, he believes the Senate proposal does not protect landowners from eminent domain.
Holt argues that while he supports economic development, the Iowa Constitution only allows the use of eminent domain for public use, and pipeline projects do not fit that definition.
"Economic development is fantastic, and that's wonderful, but it is not an excuse under the Iowa Constitution to seize someone's land and force them to take something they don't want," Holt told the Gazette-Lee Des Moines Bureau.
Last year, the Iowa House and Senate passed legislation that would have defined in state law what constitutes public good for the use of eminent domain; required pipeline companies to carry a certain amount of insurance; prohibited pipeline renewal after 25 years; and constrained when and how pipeline companies can sue landowners, among other provisions.
The legislation was vetoed by Gov. Kim Reynolds on June 12.
The project at the center of the debate is a 2,500-mile-long carbon sequestration pipeline planned by Summit Carbon Solutions to carry carbon dioxide from ethanol plants through Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska and South Dakota to North Dakota, where it will be stored permanently underground.
Citing the importance of markets for Iowa corn farmers as crop prices dropped, Klimesh said carbon pipelines are essential to support emerging ethanol markets, including sustainable aviation fuel and enhanced oil recovery. He pointed to oil recovery projects in Texas, Wyoming and Oklahoma that would use Iowa carbon dioxide and align the state with President Donald Trump’s recently unveiled energy dominance policy.
Klimesh also stressed that Iowa Senate Republicans don’t want eminent domain to be used.
Kelly Nieuwenhuis, a farmer from O’Brien County who spoke to reporters at the Iowa Capitol during media availability arranged by Summit Carbon Solutions, signed onto the first Summit easement agreement in 2022 and currently has three miles of the pipeline running through his property. He said carbon pipelines help bolster Iowa’s ethanol industry, which benefits farmers, adding that he supports widening the corridor for these companies and providing more options to find landowners agreeing to easements.
“I farmed through the ethanol boom that made me profitable and gave me markets. And I hope the next generation gets the same opportunity, and I think this project will allow that to happen,” Nieuwenhuis said.
The Iowa Renewable Fuels Association and the Iowa Corn Growers Association, which are opposed to the House’s eminent domain bill, are scheduled to hold a joint virtual press conference Wednesday to discuss the importance of corn in Iowa’s economy.
Landowners want bill prohibiting eminent domain
Landowners who have been advocating for bans on eminent domain for carbon capture pipelines over the last few years are backing the House bill and say anything short of it is not enough, including widening the pipeline corridor.
Jess Mazour, an activist with the Sierra Club and a leader among those opposed to using eminent domain for carbon sequestration pipelines, said Klimesh’s proposal is a “distraction” that fails to protect landowners.
“No one is complaining about the corridor. What we're talking about is property rights. We want the ability to say no, just like some people have the ability to say yes,” Mazour told The Gazette. “There's lots of ways to provide new markets. We don't have to pick the ones that involve property theft.”
Gazette Deputy Des Moines Bureau reporter Tom Barton contributed to this report.
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