Carbon capture plan benefits 'rich men from Des Moines'

I read the essay in the Aug. 24 Register from Lee Blank, the CEO of Summit Carbon Solutions, where he defended his company’s intentions to build its controversial carbon capture pipeline. Blank argued that Summit and its pipeline are indispensable to Iowa’s farmers and the ethanol industry, and that economic disaster will fall upon us if his pipeline is not approved.

This argument commits the classic logical fallacy of conflation — treating two distinct subjects as if they were actually one. Blank claims that the success of Iowa’s ethanol industry is inextricably linked to a carbon capture pipeline from which he and his politically connected team stand to claim billions in newly-created federal tax credits. How convenient!

In reality this claim is doubtful. Even Blank’s own statement (“Without such projects, Iowa’s ethanol industry could lose $10 billion annually and farm income could drop by $43,000”) relies heavily upon the word “could” and is far from certain. Additionally, the cited figures are from a study that itself contains highly questionable assumptions — one of which is that if Iowa does not step up to claim this grand giveaway from Washington, D.C., then other states will claim them and render Iowa’s ethanol plants less competitive.

ANOTHER VIEW:Carbon entrepreneurs are leading agriculture's future

Here, then, is another logical fallacy: that of the “zero-sum game,” where we are led to believe that there is a fixed amount of money in the agricultural market and that the only way for Iowa to make money is to take it before another state can do so. This is not how America operates. Our nation is built upon the principles of free trade and open markets, and any economist will tell you that when two parties conduct trade — in this instance, the farmer and his local ethanol plant — the value created is in excess of the money that changes hands.

If anything, the Summit pipeline may present long-term risks to ethanol plants, and by extension local farmers, as the company will eventually be able to exercise monopolistic pricing power over their carbon emissions.

It is also worth noting that the study Blank cites was commissioned by the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association. I suspect that asking this organization whether the state needs another unprofitable green energy project is akin to asking Raytheon whether the US government needs to send another $100 billion to Ukraine.

Blank also mentions the 2020 Mississippi pipeline rupture, which hospitalized 45 people, many of whom have since sustained permanent respiratory damage. What he does not mention is that the operator of that pipeline was acquired by ExxonMobil last month for $4.9 billion. Perhaps this is Summit’s ultimate exit strategy. If this pipeline is approved, maybe local farmers can look forward to acting as involuntary landlords to a major oil company with well-known disregard for environmental safety.

Recently the country music world has been transfixed with the story of Oliver Anthony, an unknown singer whose hit song “Rich Men North of Richmond” protests the sad state of America’s working class at the expense of rapacious D.C. elites. Today we are watching a perfect example of those conditions playing out here in the heartland, as Blank and his team of “Rich Men From Des Moines” conspire to build a pipeline that benefits no one but themselves.

Kevin Virgil was raised in Sutherland, Iowa, and lives in New York City.

MORE:The rich men of Des Moines