As expected, a House-passed bill to set new guidelines for development of carbon pipelines was tabled last weekin the Senate.
The bill would have required developers like Summit Carbon Solutions and Navigator CO2 Ventures, which target Floyd and Chickasaw counties among others to construct the underground pipelines, to get voluntary access to 90 percent of the properties along the pipeline routes before eminent domain authority could be used to force the other landowners to grant access to their property.Â
While that bill was not considered in the senate, Republican Majority Leader Jack Whitver says the conversation isn’t over.
Whitver notes that views on the carbon pipelines have varied widely.
Republican State Senator Sandy Salmon, who represents District 29 including Chickasaw, Bremer, Butler and most of Floyd counties, said, “It is disappointing and dismaying to see that nothing has been taken up. But the session is not over yet and leaders can still take it up and those of us supporting property rights protections will continue to urge them to do so.â€
It’s possible the Iowa Utilities Board review of the three proposed pipeline projects will not be completed before the 2024 legislature reconvenes. A recent Des Moines Register Iowa Poll found nearly eight out of 10 Iowans oppose the use of government’s eminent domain authority to compel reluctant landowners to sign over property along the pipeline routes.
