A group opposed to the Summit carbon pipeline says the company is finding it difficult to acquire voluntary easement agreements with landowners along the route for Phase 2 of its project.
The Iowa Utilities Commission (IUC) has approved Summit’s permit for construction of its “main line,” with a branch including Homeland Energy Solutions ethanol plant near Lawler, then building west through Chickasaw, Floyd and Cerro Gordo counties, hooking up with Golden Grain Energy near Mason City along the way. Phase 2 would add ethanol plants previously partnered with the Heartland Navigator pipeline including Valero Renewables near Charles City and Poet Bioprocessing near Shell Rock and Fairbank. Summit also wants to add Absolute Energy near St. Ansgar.
Opponents say Summit needs to obtain 1,742 easements along its Phase 2 route and at this time, at least 78%, or 1,360 parcels, are refusing to sign.
Floyd County Landowner Kathy Carter says, “On Phase 1, when Summit first started approaching owners in late 2021, people weren’t nearly as knowledgeable about the implications of this project. If we had known then what we know now, there wouldn’t be nearly the number of so-called “voluntary” easements that Summit likes to proclaim. It’s obvious (now) that the vast majority of landowners do NOT want Summit’s project.”
To date, at least 46 counties, including Floyd County, and 33 cities, including Rockford, plus dozens of local entities have submitted objections to the IUC about the use of eminent domain for private profit projects like Summit.
However, pipeline opponents were dealt a major setback Wednesday (06.11) when Governor Kim Reynolds vetoed House File 639, a bill that would’ve given landowners more protection of property rights by limiting Summit’s ability to use eminent domain.
