Summit Carbon Solutions’ request to withdraw more than 50 million gallons of water each year from the ground near a northeast Iowa ethanol plant does not serve a “beneficial use†and should be denied, according to a lawsuit filed against the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.
The Iowa Capital Dispatch reports the DNR issued a water withdrawal permit to a subsidiary of Summit in May, which would use the water as a coolant in its carbon capture process at the Homeland Energy Solutions near Lawler.
Three people whose drinking water is derived from the aquifer that Summit hopes to tap filed suit last week in state district court and asked a judge to vacate the permit the DNR issued.Â
Sierra Club of Iowa attorney Wally Taylor filed the lawsuit on behalf of Kathy Carter, Kim Junker and Candice Brandau Larson. Their concern is that the water withdrawals would “adversely impact the sources of their drinking water†and that the purpose of those withdrawals does not comply with a “beneficial use†requirement in state law.
The lawsuit points to internal discussions at the DNR the Sierra Club obtained through a records request for department emails, which show that Summit’s permit request was unlike any others the department had previously considered, but the DNR concluded fit the “beneficial use†requirement.
According to DNR records, Summit’s permit allows it to withdraw nearly 56 million gallons of water each year. That’s triple what Lawler, a town of 400, can withdraw at up to 18 million gallons annually, but considerably less than New Hampton, about 3,400 people, which can withdraw 313 million gallons.
The DNR has not yet responded to the lawsuit in district court. Summit is seeking another water withdrawal permit in Wright County.
