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Latest batch of anti-pipeline, eminent domain bills introduced by Iowa House Republicans
The new bills deal with the state permitting process, the Iowa Utilities Commission, the use of eminent domain, insurance requirements for pipeline projects and more
Feb. 6, 2025 6:42 pm, Updated: Feb. 7, 2025 8:17 am
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DES MOINES — The prospects for proposed carbon capture pipelines in Iowa remains unknown; more certain is the will of advocates and Republican lawmakers in the Iowa House to prevent those pipelines from using eminent domain to secure Iowa land.
Six legislative proposals were introduced Thursday by Iowa House Republicans at a news conference in the Iowa Capitol where they were flanked by advocates for landowner rights and opponents of the pipeline projects.
The bills deal with the state permitting process and the Iowa Utilities Commission, the commission’s duties, the use of eminent domain, insurance requirements for pipeline projects, and more.
The news conference was organized by Sierra Club, an environmental advocacy organization that has opposed the proposed pipelines in Iowa.
“We don’t need a bunch of unnecessary CO2 pipelines crisscrossing our state, utilizing eminent domain, tearing up our farms, destroying their productivity and drainage tile, monopolizing the CO2 and ethanol plants, draining our aquifers and power grids,” Kim Junker, a Butler County landowner, said at the press conference. “All for a hypothetical economic development project.”
Summit Carbon Solutions has proposed a carbon dioxide pipeline system that would span roughly 2,500 miles in five states — including 690 miles through 29 counties in Iowa — to transport the greenhouse gas from ethanol plants to North Dakota for underground storage.
The three-member Iowa Utilities Commission approved Summit’s permit in Iowa last year. Summit had sought eminent domain to gain forced land easements from unwilling property owners for about a quarter of the route. Those easements allow the company to build and operate its pipeline system on land it doesn’t own.
Wolf Carbon Solutions had a proposed pipeline route that included Linn County, and said it did not plan to use eminent domain. However, in December, the company withdrew its petition with Iowa regulators.
The six bills — House Files 237 through 242, all of which were introduced Thursday — would:
- Allow landowners subject to eminent domain for a project being considered by the IUC to seek declaratory review from the Polk County District Court;
- Require hazardous liquid pipeline applicants to submit to IUC proof that the pipeline company has an insurance policy that would cover all damages that may result from the construction or operation of the pipeline, and require a pipeline company to cover a landowner’s insurance premium increases due to the construction or presence of a pipeline;
- Prohibit the IUC from renewing permits for carbon dioxide pipelines and prohibit such pipelines from operating for more than 25 years;
- Prohibit the IUC from sanctioning a party to a lawsuit;
- Require all IUC members to be present for hearings related to pipelines, transmission lines, or public utility regulation;
- Remove the state consumer advocate’s office from underneath the Iowa Attorney General and makes it an independent office with a leader appointed by the governor.
The Iowa Renewable Fuels Association, which is in favor of the pipeline projects, issued a statement Thursday claiming the newly introduced bills would “destroy Iowa farmers’ ability to compete in growing, low carbon biofuels markets in the U.S. and around the world.”
“This muddle of bills is a slap in the face to the supermajority of Iowa landowners who support carbon capture pipelines,” Iowa Renewable Fuels Association Executive Director Monte Shaw said in the statement. “At a time when farm income has declined by $90 billion, we should be helping Iowa farmers access new and growing markets, not choking off their ability to participate. These actions represent wrong policy at the wrong time.”
Iowa House Republicans have passed legislation regarding eminent domain and hazardous liquid pipelines in each of the previous three legislative sessions, but the proposals were not taken up by majority Republicans in the Iowa Senate.
Iowa Rep. Charley Thomson, a Republican from Charles City, said House Republicans will continue to press the issue and he hopes Senate Republicans will consider this latest batch of legislation.
“There are a lot of unknown issues here. They have to come to the table and address this. The Senate and the other branches of the government can do what they do, but the people of Iowa demand an answer on this,” Thomson said.
“This is not going to go away. We’re not going to go anywhere. We’re going to get this thing done. We’re going to protect the constitutional rights of Iowans,” Thomson said. “And there are a lot of well -moneyed interests in the state that want this thing to go through, but they are not more powerful than the people.”
Jared Strong of The Gazette contributed to this report.
Comments: (515) 355-1300, erin.murphy@thegazette.com
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