Clark Kauffman is deputy editor at Iowa Capital Dispatch, where this article first appeared.
Summit Carbon Solutions announced on May 13 it is altering the route of its proposed pipeline across Iowa to help “accelerate progress” on the project.
In a new filing submitted to the Iowa Utilities Commission for approval, the company indicates it intends to move segments of the pipeline’s proposed route, which the company says will result in fewer miles of land, and fewer landowners, being affected by the project.
If approved, the changes would remove previously planned routes through Shelby, Pottawattamie, Montgomery, Adams, Page, Fremont, Mitchell, and Worth counties, while also reducing the miles of pipeline running through Crawford, Floyd, Sioux, and Dickinson counties.
Overall, Summit said, the changes would reduce by more than 400 the number of different landowners affected by the pipeline, and would reduce the overall scope of the project by approximately 200 miles.
Sherri Webb, whose family owns 40 acres of Shelby County land that the pipeline would have cut across under the previously planned route, said the May 13 announcement is good news for her family but she remains concerned about the overall project.
“This saves our land – for now, at least,” she said. “I’m glad we are where we’re at with all of this today, and so we’re celebrating today and we’re thanking God over and over,” she said. “There were so many Shelby County people showing up to express their opposition that I think Summit just didn’t want to deal with us anymore.”
Webb said Summit’s announcement leaves some questions unanswered such as what will happen with some of the signed easements that property owners have with Summit to let the pipeline cross their land.
“Summit owns a lot of signed easements they wouldn’t need now,” she said. “So I wonder what they’re going to do there. Are they going to sell them to somebody else for a public project and then we will again be faced with losing our land? I don’t know.”
In June 2024, the Iowa Utilities Commission approved a permit for Summit Carbon Solutions to build more than 600 miles of a carbon sequestration pipeline in Iowa, with the condition that the company gain permits in the Dakotas before beginning construction.
The Iowa Chapter of the Sierra Club, along with several Iowa counties and individual landowners, sued, hoping to overturn the IUC’s permit approval. Last fall, after South Dakota denied Summit a permit and passed a law barring the use of eminent domain for carbon pipelines, Summit filed a petition with the IUC to amend its approved permit by removing the condition that required approval in the Dakotas and by adding add several modifications to the company’s plans.
Jess Mazour, conservation coordinator for the Iowa Chapter of the Sierra Club, which has opposed the project due to environmental concerns, said that even with the latest announced changes, the project “is still a pipeline to nowhere,” and said the alterations are a sign the project is in trouble.
“These significant changes show that Summit is struggling to make their project happen and trying to spin it as a win,” Mazour said. “It’s time Summit withdraws their application and accepts that Iowans do not want their carbon pipeline.”
Kathy Stockdale, a Hardin County landowner whose property wouldn’t be affected by the proposed new route, said the changes appear to be a sign that the project is in trouble with some of its business partners.
“We’ve heard that some of the ethanol plants, their contracts with Summit may be expiring and that they’re not signing up to renew them,” she said. “To me, Summit should have to reapply to the Iowa Utilities Commission for project approval because they’re just making so many different changes to their original plan.”
“Summit’s project has been on shaky ground for a long time,” said Wally Taylor, the Sierra Club Iowa chapter’s legal director. “Summit has been flailing around to try to keep their project viable and now it looks like it’s falling apart.”
Summit said on May 13 that its pipeline project will remain tied to what it called “a strong core group of ethanol facilities,” including 27 that are located in Iowa. As part of the proposed route restructuring, the company will no longer pursue routes to ethanol facilities tied to Absolute Energy, POET Corning, POET Hanlontown, or Green Plains Shenandoah.
“We believe this is the right step for the project and the right step for the communities counting on new opportunities,” Summit CEO Joe Griffin said. “Agriculture is facing real economic pressure right now. Farmers and ethanol producers need access to new markets and long-term growth opportunities, and there is urgency to getting infrastructure like this moving forward.”
Griffin said the company’s focus is on building the portions of the system that are economically positioned to move ahead now, while continuing to evaluate future opportunities for expansion.
“This allows us to focus on the core infrastructure that makes the most sense today and move through the process faster and more efficiently,” Griffin said. “We are building this project for the long haul because strong infrastructure is critical to the future of agriculture, rural communities, and America’s energy future. Even with these refinements, this remains the largest single private infrastructure investment in Iowa history.”
Griffin said Summit sees “strong support from the majority of landowners and stakeholders across our project footprint,” and said the pipeline is all about “creating durable economic prosperity, strengthening rural communities, supporting America’s energy independence and national security interests, and helping ensure agriculture remains competitive for all future generations.”
Related story from South Dakota Searchlight: Summit describes new carbon pipeline route as not including South Dakota
Related story from North Dakota Monitor: Summit carbon pipeline rerouted to storage site in Wyoming; North Dakota future unclear