The Iowa House passed a bill Wednesday that would ban the use of eminent domain for carbon capture pipelines.
Rep. Steven Holt, R-Denison, said eminent domain powers shouldn’t be used for a project that he said doesn’t serve a public purpose.
“The precedent we will set if we allow private property to be seized for a private economic development project will reverberate for decades to come, and could render property rights safeguards in our constitution meaningless for our children and our children’s children,” he said.
The bill (HF 2104) passed 64-28. Most Republicans and 10 Democrats voted for the bill, and most Democrats and eight Republicans voted against it.
Rep. Chad Ingels, R-Randalia, said he opposed the bill because if it becomes law, the proposed Summit Carbon Solutions pipeline would be unlikely to get built. He said that would deny the opportunity for new markets for Iowa’s crops.
“Having better markets for our products, worldwide markets for our products, is not only in my family’s best interest,” Ingels said. “It’s in my neighbor’s best interest. It’s in a farmer in southwest Iowa’s best interest, northwest Iowa. It’s in the best interest of our state.”
Rep. Ross Wilburn, D-Ames, said this debate has been going on for five years, and that is a disservice to landowners. He said Gov. Kim Reynolds, who previously vetoed a bill to limit eminent domain, should work with Republican and Democratic leaders to agree on a path forward.
“We would look forward to finding a solution that ensures that landowners are heard as we grow Iowa’s stagnant economy, rather than ending right back where we are right now, with competing bills in both chambers and potentially another veto and yet another missed opportunity,” Wilburn said, before voting against the bill.
Landowners who do not want a carbon capture pipeline on their land and other opponents of the pipeline have called for this bill for years.
Jess Mazour, conservation program associate at the Sierra Club, said this is the only bill that “removes the threat of eminent domain for carbon pipelines” and protects landowners’ rights to refuse to have a carbon pipeline cross their land.
“We want the issue of property rights addressed,” she said. “We still have a majority of people in the House and in the Senate on our side, despite Summit coming in last minute, arguing that corn is stagnant because we don’t have carbon capture and jobs.”
Summit Carbon Solutions opposed the bill.
“This bill would effectively block carbon dioxide pipeline projects and cut off access to new and emerging markets for ethanol and agriculture,” said Sabrina Zenor, a spokesperson for Summit. “At a time when corn prices are already under pressure, rural communities need policies that expand opportunity and investment — not ones that shut the door on future markets.”
The bill now goes to the Senate for consideration. Senate Majority Leader Mike Klimesh, R-Spillville, introduced a very different bill that he said would avoid the use of eminent domain while still helping the carbon pipeline get built.
