Charles City Rep. Thomson Leads Iowa House Bill to Aid Landowners Fighting Carbon Pipelines

The Iowa House voted this week to let landowners seek a court ruling now on whether carbon pipeline developers, like Summit Carbon Solutions, qualify for the government’s eminent domain authority to force unwilling property owners to let a pipeline on their land. 

Republican Representative Charley Thomson of Charles City led debate on the proposal.

Thomson says, right now, property owners are forced to live in limbo for years — waiting for the Iowa Utilities Board decision on Summit’s project as well as the resolution of lawsuits expected to challenge that decision.

Republican Representative Bobby Kaufmann of Wilton also spoke on the floor before the bill passed on an 86-to-7 vote. He sounded as if he was speaking directly to Bruce Rastetter, an influential G-O-P donor who owns Summit Carbon Solutions.

The Iowa House has previously passed other proposals to set up pipeline regulations, but all have stalled in the Iowa Senate.

Sections of Summit’s proposed carbon pipeline would be built in Floyd, Chickasaw, Mitchell, Butler, Bremer, Fayette and Cerro Gordo counties among others.