Pipeline Opponents Sound Off at the IUB Fort Dodge Hearing

Landowners who object to letting the Summit Carbon Solutions pipeline run through their properties are making their case to state utility regulators. The Iowa Utilities Board’s hearing on the company’s application for a pipeline permit began Tuesday morning. Marcia Langner of Ayrshire spent an hour and a half testifying about her concerns about the proposed pipeline route through her Clay County farm.

Langner says developers are using scare tactics when they say corn prices will tank if the pipeline isn’t built.

Nelva Huitink of Hospers says her family put a plan to build an automated milking facility on hold after learning Summit’s pipeline might run through their farm.

Huitink says the Dakota Access crude oil pipeline already occupies seven percent of her farm, drainage tile has been damaged and a sinkhole opened up a month ago.

Jessica Marson was the other landowner who testified on the hearing’s opening day. Her family farm is near Rockford, in Floyd County. She says Summit’s easement contract isn’t just for where the pipeline is buried, it would give the company access to the entire farm.

Marson says the Iowa Utilities Board should put Summit’s application on hold because North Dakota regulators haven’t approved the company’s plan to take liquid carbon to that state for underground storage.

Ten more pipeline opponents are scheduled to testify. The hearing is expected to last for several weeks, perhaps to the end of September.