A group of Republican lawmakers has introduced six bills aimed at strengthening landowners’ rights in response to the potential use of eminent domain for a carbon capture pipeline.
Over the past few years, the Iowa House has passed bills to try to block construction of carbon pipelines. The Senate never took those up. And the Iowa Utilities Commission has given conditional approval for Summit Carbon Solutions to move forward with a pipeline to capture carbon dioxide from ethanol plants.
Greene County Attorney Thomas Laehn called the pipeline “the biggest boondoggle” in Iowa history.
“These bills will return power to the people, will ensure that our laws are consistent with the values and beliefs of the vast majority of Iowans, and will protect our property from further invasions by private companies.”
The Iowa Renewable Fuels Association criticized the bills as “wrong policy at the wrong time.” Executive Director Monte Shaw says the bills would destroy Iowa farmers’ ability to compete in low carbon biofuels markets.