Iowa has approved Summit Carbon Solutions’ main liquid carbon dioxide pipeline through the state, a significant step forward for the carbon capture and sequestration project.
In its order issued Tuesday, the three-member IUB found that “the proposed service provided by Summit Carbon is in the public convenience and necessity” and vested the company with the right of eminent domain “across all requested parcels as necessary to the extent requested, including greater construction areas.”
The board attached several conditions to its approval of what Summit calls its “base” project in Iowa of about 688 miles for the five-state, 2,500-mile-long project.
The IUB said Summit cannot start construction until it gets approval for a sequestration site in North Dakota and approval of pipeline routes in that state and South Dakota. It also cannot begin building “trunk or lateral lines to ethanol plants in Minnesota and Nebraska until approvals are granted in those states,” IUB said in a news release.
In addition, Summit will have to “obtain and maintain at least a $100 million insurance policy, comply with certain construction methods, and ensure landowners and tenants are compensated for damages that may result” from construction, the IUB order said.
Iowa is the first state to give a green light to Summit’s project, which also is proposed to run through Nebraska, South and North Dakota and a small portion of Minnesota.
Summit also wants to construct an additional 371 miles of pipeline in Iowa as part of the Midwest Carbon Express project.
SCS is partnering with 57 ethanol plants in the five states. In Iowa, it says it has signed up 75% of Iowa landowners for voluntary easements. The company said in a press release Tuesday it’s confident about its chances of gaining approval in South Dakota and North Dakota.
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“The momentum will continue as we prepare to file our South Dakota permit application in early July,” SCS CEO Lee Blank said. “We look forward to engaging with the state throughout this process and are confident in a successful outcome.”
The American Carbon Alliance’s CEO, Tom Buis, said the decision would be “transformative for the ag industry and Iowa’s economy. Capturing carbon to lower the carbon index to open new markets such as sustainable aviation fuels and higher blends for American consumers is the greatest opportunity for farmers since the buildout of the ethanol industry.”
Buis said the decision will increase demand for corn, “benefiting farmers and increasing farm income, and stimulating economic activity for ethanol plants and ag-related business.”
Food and Water Watch Policy Director Jim Walsh, however, called the IUB decision “a gift to Big Ag and the polluting ethanol industry. The pipeline poses substantial risks to public safety and will do little to nothing to reduce climate pollution.”
Summit plans to take advantage of a federal tax credit worth $85 per ton of sequestered carbon.
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