Several opponents of the proposed Summit Carbon Solutions carbon pipeline have received letters on behalf of the company threatening lawsuits over perceived defamation.
Jess Mazour with the Sierra Club Iowa Chapter said, in a press release Thursday (12.12), that she received a letter from Summit, “threatening to sue for compensatory or punitive damages if statements were not retracted.”
According to a story from the Iowa Capital Dispatch, the letter, dated Nov. 12, 2024, directed Mazour to cease and desist from “interfering” with and making any “further false and defamatory statements” about the pipeline project. The letter was sent from law firms in Washington, D.C. and Des Moines.
The letter points to a quote from Mazour in a nwestiowa.com article from August 2023, where she said Summit Carbon Solutions was in “in collusion” with the Iowa Utilities Board (now Iowa Utilities Commission) to “take away democracy and people’s rights.” The letter called the statement “false and defamatory” and said it, combined with Mazour’s “explicitly stated goal” to stop the pipelines, exposes her to “significant legal liability.”
The letter then stated Summit Carbon Solutions and investors have $1 billion invested into the project to date and Mazour should “issue an immediate” public retraction of her statement to avoid legal action.
Mazour told the Iowa Capital Dispatch that she and Sierra Club counsel believe Summit has no “grounds to stand on” with their legal threat.
According to the press release from Mazour and the Sierra Club Iowa Chapter, at least six people have received similar letters.
