The Summit carbon pipeline hearing rolls along in Iowa

Aug. 31, 2023 5:00 am

During 30 years in journalism, I’ve covered countless public meetings, hearings and input sessions where Iowans have pleaded with the powers that be to change course and avoid making a decision they insist would harm them.

I’ve seen rural Iowans rolled over when they’re opposed to the construction of a large livestock confinement in their backyard.

I’ve seen Iowans repeatedly petition the Environmental Protection Commission to do more to protect the state’s environment, to no avail.

I’ve seen citizens troop into the Statehouse, where their impassioned arguments fell on deaf ears.

In many cases the meetings were window dressing with a side of lip service about the importance of public input.

Now comes the public hearing before the Iowa Utilities Board regarding Summit Carbon Solution’s plan to dig 700 miles of pipeline across the Iowa landscape. The pipeline, backed by some Iowa political heavyweights, would carry liquefied carbon from ethanol plants to North Dakota where it would be stored deep underground.

Summit not only wants to build a pipeline but also wants to use eminent domain authority to gain easements across land owned by Iowans who oppose the project.

The hearings, which are being held in Fort Dodge, were supposed to begin in October. But not long after Gov. Kim Reynolds appointed former Republican lawmaker Erik Helland to chair the board, the start date was moved to August. Helland said the board didn’t want hearings to conflict with harvest time.

North Dakota regulators recently rejected Summit’s initial proposal, leaving the pipeline without a destination. One of the first actions the Iowa Utilities Board took at the start of last week’s hearing was to reject a motion from pipeline opponents to delay consideration of the Iowa portion of the project until the North Dakota permit is granted.

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The utilities board has also made it clear it does not plan to delay pipeline projects in Iowa until new federal safety rules are put into place. At the same time, Summit is in court fighting to keep information confidential about potentially deadly carbon plumes resulting from a rupture. Summit claims the info might be used by saboteurs.

Utilities board staff said the hearings could last two months. But the Iowa Capital Dispatch reported Summit attorney Bret Dublinske says they could be concluded in six weeks.

So things are moving right along.

Another bad sign for opponents is the fact that the utilities board hired OverWatch Enterprises to provide security during the hearings. That’s the same Texas-based firm providing security for Summit’s survey crews.

The Sioux Falls Argus Leader found two OverWatch guards accompanying a Summit survey team in South Dakota. They “wore green hi-vis jackets and black shirts, with the word "SECURITY" emblazoned in bold, white text on the front. They refused to provide their names.”

“This shows that OverWatch is Summit's security and somehow IUB hired OverWatch,” said Jessica Mazour of the Sierra Club Iowa chapter, which opposes the pipelines.

On Wednesday, landowners affected by the project delivered a petition with 1,000 signatures uring the IUB to conduct a fair hearing.

According to the Des Moines Register, Monte Shaw, executive director of the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association, said Summit has easement agreements with 71 percent of landowners. He called it a “supermajority,” As if this is a popularity contest not a fight for individual property rights.

So the hearings continue. But I’m getting that old window dressing feeling again.

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