Pipeline Opponents Ask Utilities Regulators to Discard Summit Permits

By Cami Koons

The Iowa Utilities Commission on Wednesday held its first monthly public commission meeting since August 2023, and heard public comment from landowners opposed to the Summit Carbon Solutions pipeline.

IUC decided to resume regular public meetings shortly after Gov. Kim Reynolds vetoed a bill that would have restricted the use of eminent domain for hazardous liquid pipelines. In her veto, Reynolds also called for greater transparency in the commission through increased attendance at hearings and informational meetings. 

The commission has held meetings and public hearings scheduled for specific docket items, many of which move into closed session. Commission Chair Sarah Martz said at the top of Wednesday’s meeting that input from the public, governor and stakeholders showed there was a need to bring the public meetings back. 

“Part of this is the desire of the commission to be more transparent and have a more open decision-making process,” Martz said. 

Martz said the commission additionally has plans to hold more of its deliberations and other meetings in a public format. She said more details will be released in the coming weeks. 

While the majority of public comment focused on the Summit Carbon Solutions pipeline, for which the IUC granted a conditional permit in 2024, the pipeline was only on the agenda for an update to a lawsuit. 

More than 100 landowners sued the commission over its decision to grant Summit a permit. According to a staff attorney for IUC, final briefs for all parties in the case are due later this week and oral arguments for the case will likely be set for sometime in the fall. 

Landowners in attendance, donned in their signature red shirts, thanked the commission for allowing them the public space to voice their concerns. Commissioners, per the meeting rules, did not respond to public comments.

Landowners brought up continued worries about devalued land, water use, safety and daily disruption from the pipeline project and asked the commissioners to dismiss the project’s phase two permit application and to review the permit issued for phase one. 

Colleen Tucker, a landowner from Mitchell County, said the repeated and loud outcry from Iowans shows an “overwhelming mandate” that they do not want the project. 

“I wonder how you can defend and justify the fact that Summit is given a permit to desecrate our land,” Tucker said. “We are ordinary citizens, and we are here because we love our land, our state and our country.” 

Jess Mazour, the conservation program coordinator with the Iowa chapter of the Sierra Club and an organizer with the landowners, reminded commissioners of the “immense power” they had to impact “other people’s lives” and “their legacies.” 

Mazour held up print outs of the Exhibit H documents that show the status of easements secured along Summit’s phase two route. This route would connect to additional ethanol plants along the pipeline and represent an increase of more than 300 miles of pipeline. 

A spokesperson for the Iowa Utilities Commission said Exhibit H files are required documents from the IUC that show where a company does not have a voluntary easement and is requesting eminent domain. 

Mazour noted in many counties, per these exhibits, voluntary easements had not been secured along the route, which she said shows “a failing project.” 

The IUC spokesperson noted it is “very common” for a company to file Exhibit H documents and later submit withdrawals of the exhibits as it obtains more voluntary easements through negotiation. 

“The filing of Exhibit H in no way confers a right to use eminent domain,” the spokesperson said in an email.

Landowners also suggested the IUC revoke or reevaluate the permit for phase one of the project because Summit has been unable to secure a permit through South Dakota. Per the IUC, in order to begin construction on the project, Summit had to secure permits in North Dakota and South Dakota. 

Permits have been approved in North Dakota, but are tied up in litigation. South Dakota regulators have denied permit applications from the company twice, and enacted a bill this spring that restricts CO2 pipelines from using eminent domain. The company has received a permit to cross through Minnesota. 

One landowner said the setbacks in the Dakotas mean the project is a “pipeline to nowhere.”

“We all have these Iowa values that we were brought up with, working hard, integrity, taking care of others,” Mazour said to commissioners. “Remember that the decision that you three have is going to shape the lives of 1000s of Iowans, and it can be for the better, or it can be for the worse.

Summit Carbon Solutions did not respond to a request for comment.

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