Ruling Forthcoming on Pipeline Trespassing Charges

A District Court Judge in Spirit Lake is considering a case brought on by a landowner charging a pipeline worker with trespassing. The Summit Carbon Solutions worker was part of a survey crew that was surveying the route of the proposed carbon sequestration pipeline that the company wants to build on the landowners’ property. According to court documents, the landowner warned the survey team to stay off his property. He had been sent certified mail about the survey work.

This lawsuit joins a litany of lawsuits brought on by landowners who have specifically told the pipeline companies to stay off their land. Despite claims they are not harassing these property owners, the pipeline companies have filed lawsuits in an effort to allow the surveys to proceed along with the help of sheriffs in the area.

The three-person panel of the Iowa Utilities Board comprised of two appointees of former Governor Terry Branstad who is involved with Summit Carbon Solutions, will rule on whether the pipelines can exercise eminent domain proceedings on the landowners. That ruling is expected shortly.