About 200 people attended a rally in Charles City Monday night to oppose the construction of underground carbon capture pipelines.
Floyd County is one of a handful of Iowa counties targeted for carbon pipelines by Navigator CO2 Ventures and Summit Carbon Solutions, who’s current proposed route would build across the south side of Charles City. State Representative Charley Thomson outlined the possible “human decline†zone of a worst-case scenario if a carbon pipeline ruptured just west of South Grand Avenue.
Thomson’s group, Republican Legislator Interveners for Justice, organized the event at the Youth Enrichment Center on the Floyd County Fairgrounds, which featured Jared Bosley, who says he’s battled intimidation tactics by Summit to put a pipeline through his farmland in South Dakota.
Bosley says he just wants to farm and give his kids a chance to follow in his footsteps if they so desire.
Former U.S. Congressman Steve King was the headlining speaker and said stopping the carbon pipelines will not be easy.
King cited a poll that up to 78% of Iowans are against the pipelines, but too many are scared to speak out. He encouraged those who are fighting back to keep it up.
King added that while carbon pipelines are the safest way to transport CO2, it’s safer to not transport it at all, noting that there are alternative methods to capture C02 from ethanol plants and still keep plants profitable.
