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Carbon Pipeline Eminent Domain Usage Discussed

More than one dozen people addressed the Iowa Utilities Board Tuesday, asking regulators to block the use of eminent domain by companies seeking to seize land for carbon pipelines in the state. Kathy Stockdale of Iowa Falls says two of the proposed pipeline routes go through her family’s Hardin County farm.

James Norris of Red Oak says one of the proposed pipelines would pass behind his house in Montgomery County.

Sherri Webb and her siblings were notified nearly a year ago that the proposed Summit pipeline would go through the farm that’s been in their family for 122 years.

Jessica Wiskus lives near Lisbon and her farm is on the proposed path of the Wolf Carbon Solutions project. She raised concerns about the danger of pipeline ruptures.

Johnson County Supervisor, Jon Green, spoke and called the process a “sham,” and he says what is not known is how regular Iowans will react to it. Green says there will be no public benefit and the pipelines will transfer public goods to private gains.

Utilities Board officials say Tuesday’s statements in the public comment time will not be part of the agency’s official record as it considers the pipeline applications but encourage those who spoke to submit comments for the record. After speaking during the public comment period, the group of pipeline opponents formed a caravan and drove by the governor’s mansion as a form of protest.

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