Iowa Senate panel spikes CO2 pipeline bill

DES MOINES — One of the proposals to restrict eminent domain powers of utilities --- including proposed carbon dioxide capture pipelines — failed Monday its first legislative hurdle in the Iowa Senate, facing opposition both from pipelines developers and landowners.

The bill was unanimously voted down by a three-member Senate subcommittee. In voting down the bill, Sen. Jason Schultz, a Republican from Schleswig, cast doubt on the likelihood of any bill restricting eminent domain powers for pipelines making it out of the Iowa Legislature this session.

“I don’t believe there’s a legislative answer to this,” he said in the subcommittee hearing on the bill.

Senate File 346 would have blocked CO2 pipelines, electric transmission lines and other pipelines from being granted eminent domain authority by regulators unless they first receive at least two thirds of the path of their route through voluntary easements.

Companies also would have been barred from contacting landowners for easement acquisitions without first getting consent of the landowner. It would have heightened land restoration standards in instances where eminent domain is exercised.

The restrictions on pipelines would not have applied to companies that have already held their first informational hearing for a permit — exempting all three companies that have filed for permits to build carbon capture pipelines in Iowa. Of the three, only Wolf Carbon Solutions, whose route includes Linn County, said in it application last week that it does not want eminent domain powers.

The bill was universally opposed by utilities, pipeline companies and opponents of CO2 pipelines. Pipeline companies and other utilities said the rules were too burdensome, while opponents said the restrictions do not go far enough and opposed exempting the pipeline companies that have filed for a permit already.

Schultz and Sen. Mike Klimesh, R-Spillville, the Republican senators on the subcommittee, said they had intended to move the bill with the intent to amend it, but after facing opposition from all camps they decided to vote it down. Sen. Tony Bisignano, a Democrat from Des Moines, also voted against advancing the bill.

Schultz said in an interview he isn’t sure of the likelihood of another pipeline-related bill making it out of a subcommittee in the Senate, but he does not think there are enough votes in the chamber to pass any restrictions. He said he was expecting the bill to not move past the committee stage anyway.

“We don’t have the votes for a bill that would address the current pipelines that started under Iowa code and that would reverse the rules of the game now, at this point,” he said.

Sen. Waylon Brown, a Republican from Osage who chairs the Senate Commerce Committee where other Senate pipeline bills are filed, declined to comment on pending pipeline legislation.

Absent a change in law, Schultz said landowners opposed to the pipelines should persuade others not to sign easements and file objections with the Iowa Utilities Board.

Summit Carbon Solutions, Navigator CO2 Ventures and Wolf have all requested a permit to build carbon capture pipelines in the state that would sequester carbon dioxide from ethanol plants underground in other states, taking advantage of federal tax credits and low-carbon fuel markets. Summit and Navigator have indicated an intent to use eminent domain if granted by the utilities board.

Ethanol industry leaders contend the projects are key to the survival of Iowa’s renewable fuel plants.

Elizabeth Burns-Thompson, a spokesperson for Navigator CO2 Ventures, said the eminent domain process in Iowa law currently looks at the quality of a company’s easement process, rather than a “line in the sand” by numbers.

“Arguably, right now, the process that we have ensures that every landowner is given the same level of threshold of consideration,” she said.

Landowners along the routes of pipelines scoffed at the two-thirds threshold, which they said does not go far enough to protect their rights. They told lawmakers eminent domain should be banned for CO2 pipelines, and the bill should apply to pipelines that have already filed permits.

“I don’t know if I should be laughing or crying about this bill,” said Kim Junker, who owns land in Butler and Grundy counties. “...I think It is an insult to every property owner in this state.”

In the other legislative chamber, the House Judiciary Committee is set to consider a leadership-backed bill this week that would stop the Iowa Utilities Board from granting a permit to a company until it has 90 percent of the route secured through voluntary easements, among other provisions. Republican House Speaker Pat Grassley of New Hartford said last week he expects that bill to make it out of the committee.

Schultz said he doesn’t know whether the House bill will get a hearing in the Senate. A spokesperson for Republican Senate Majority Leader Jack Whitver of Grimes referred to a previous statement, where Whitver did not say whether the chamber would consider pipeline legislation.

Iowa Senate Minority Leader Zach Wahls, D-Coralville, told reporters Monday he was skeptical.

“What happens when that bill makes it over to the Senate? I do not know,” he said. “I don’t think Sen. Whitver is going to bring forward any legislation, but it will be interesting to see if that bill even gets a subcommittee.”