Free Public Meeting to Be Held Exposing Hazards of CO2 Pipeline

A FREE public informational meeting geared at protecting private property rights and exposing the hazards from a potential CO2 pipeline will be held this Friday, April 5^th from 6 to 8pm at the Wesley Community Center in Wesley, Iowa.

 

 

 

Special guest speakers at public informational meeting will be:

• Trent Loos (National Radio Host of “Loos Tales”)

  

• Jessica Mazour (Iowa Sierra Club Executive)

  

• Kevin Virgil (Iowa 4th Congressional District Candidate)

  

 

 

 

 

Summit Carbon Solutions’ proposed pipeline faces tough opposition from a broad coalition of Indigenous groups, farmers, and environmentalists, who oppose a hazardous CO2 pipeline that they claim threatens their lives, land, and water sources.  Alan Bush, a member of a group of concerned citizens protecting private property and farmland rights, tells the primary purpose of this meeting.

(Click below for Alan Bush #1 audio)

 

Summit Carbon Solutions is awaiting the decision from the Iowa Utilities Board on whether or not its permit is approved and if it will be able to take people’s lands through use of eminent domain.  Having failed to persuade 100% of landowners to cede their land, Summit has resorted to threatening eminent domain and legal action against many Iowa landowners and counties seeking to impose conditions and safeguards around the pipeline.  (local counties being sued include Kossuth, Palo Alto and Emmet)

(Click below for Alan Bush #2 audio)

 

According to the U.S. and state constitutions, eminent domain is the government’s power to take private property for public benefit. However, Summit Carbon Solutions is a private for profit business.  Led by agribusiness baron Bruce Rastetter, the 2,000-mile pipeline would capture carbon from ethanol biorefineries across Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, and South Dakota, before injecting and storing it underground in North Dakota.

A recent poll showed 78 percent of Iowans reject the use of eminent domain for carbon pipelines. Despite this widespread opposition, the Iowa Senate has refused to consider bills to prevent the use of eminent domain.  Bush also explains the #1 reason so many Iowans are against the proposed CO2 pipeline.

(Click below for Alan Bush #3 audio)

 

So, if potentially dangerous and no plume studies or risk assessments have been provided, many concerned have bid the question why propose a CO2 pipeline in the first place?

Is it really about reducing the carbon score of ethanol and expanding ethanol access to existing and emerging markets?

According to Summit Carbon Solutions, “the project will have the capacity to capture and permanently store up to 18 million tons of CO2 every year, which is the equivalent of removing 3.9 million vehicles from our roads annually.”  Sabrina Zenor, Summit’s Director of Stakeholder Engagement and Corporate Communications, says “Yes, the project is about lowering the carbon intensity of the ethanol industry and allowing the industry to remain competitive in the years to come. Accessing low carbon fuel markets is essential to the future of the industry and the Summit project will help ethanol producers reach this goal – shoring up an industry that supports tens of thousands of Iowa jobs, contributes billions to the state economy, and purchases 60% of the corn grown in the state.”

However, Bush thinks it’s more about a land grab and abuse of taxpayers.

(Click below for Alan Bush #4 audio)

 

According to Pipeline Fighters Hub, in February it was reported by many Iowa counties that Summit Carbon Solutions failed to pay them thousands of dollars in unpaid bills, leaving the taxpayers to pick up the burden for many months.  A majority of those delinquent invoices were related to preparatory work completed by required county inspectors for the project.  After Hancock County made headlines with Summit’s default, the county has since been paid.