Groups file petitions seeking judicial review of Iowa Summit CO2 pipeline decision

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

Ten Iowa legislators and other guests gathered on the corner of the Floyd County Medical Center Wednesday afternoon, to announce that petitions had been filed in state and federal courts asking for judicial review of decisions made regarding a carbon dioxide pipeline.

A group of 37 members of the Iowa House and Senate, calling themselves the Republican Legislative Intervenors for Justice (RLIJ), along with the Charles City Area Development Corp. and some individual landowners, filed the suits Tuesday, Sept. 10, in the Iowa District Court for Floyd County and the U.S. District Court for Northern Iowa.

Rep. Charley Thomson, R-Charles City, who led the legislative group, said the location at the Medical Center had been chosen for the press conference because it points out that the hospital and clinic, as well as two nursing homes, are located less than a mile from the proposed Summit Carbon Solutions pipeline that would run across Floyd County.

He said experts his group have consulted have determined that a rupture in the pipeline could send a cloud of CO2 18 feet high all the way to the Cedar River.

“The length of exposure would determine how severe the injuries are, but it could be death,” he said.

The lawsuits challenge the legality of the decision made in June by the Iowa Utilities Commission (then called the Iowa Utilities Board) to grant Summit Carbon Solutions the right to use the power of eminent domain to force landowners to accept pipeline easements if they won’t do so voluntarily.

“We’re asking both courts to declare the proposed use of eminent domain as unlawful, in essence invalidating this order,” Thomson said, hefting a copy of the 507-page IUC ruling on Summit’s request for a pipeline permit.

“This is a group of investors using eminent domain to seize people’s property for tax credits that is not a public purpose under any stretch of the imagination, and our lawsuits, I think, will establish that,” he said.

Floyd County, along with seven or eight other Iowa counties, also recently agreed to file suit asking for judicial review of the Iowa Utilities Commission’s decision on the Summit pipeline, and other groups have also filed suits challenging the decision.

Among those at the press conference was Steve King, former U.S. congressman who once included Floyd County in his district.

King said the Summit proposal to build the pipeline through the Avenue of the Saints Development Park, owned by the Charles City Area Development Corp., was perhaps the best example in the state of eminent domain being used improperly and the best chance of having the IUC decision invalidated by one or both courts.

A 2005 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in Kelo vs. City of New London allowed the use of eminent domain by private companies if the purpose of the project meets the conditions of public purpose or benefit.

King said the U.S. Supreme Court may use this case to walk that decision back, but in any case there is no such provision in Iowa law.

Tim Fox, CEO of the Area Development Corp, said the CCADC has never come out in opposition to the pipeline project, “but we decidedly oppose the route bisecting the Avenue of the Saints Development Park.”

“We fear that this hurts the marketability because site selectors are working to exclude communities, not include communities, and a hazardous liquid pipeline bisecting your parcel does not render it very marketable,” he said.

Many of the legislators who spoke raised questions about the safety of the proposed pipeline.

Although carbon dioxide is not flammable or explosive, it is an asphyxiant and can harm or kill living things if the exposure is high enough or long enough.

“The Iowa Utilities Commission’s approval of this project is a gross overstep of authority, trampling on the rights of our landowners and putting the safety of Iowans at risk,” said Thomson. “This CO2 pipeline is not only unethical but unconstitutional, and we will not stand by while the safety of our citizens is jeopardized.”

The Republican legislators’ lawsuits argue that the decision was made without proper consideration of constitutional requirements and of the potential severe negative impact the project will have on landowners and communities throughout Iowa. The lawmakers argue that safety concerns, particularly for densely populated areas, have been largely overlooked and require immediate legislative and judicial review.

“We are determined to fight this reckless decision in the courts and in the General Assembly,” Thomson said. “This isn’t just about stopping one pipeline. It’s about safeguarding our communities, our land and our Constitutional rights from future overreach.”

Thomson also said efforts will continue in the Iowa Legislature to strengthen eminent domain requirements and opportunities for review.

The Iowa House has passed a couple of bills that would increase the requirements for the use of eminent domain or that would speed up the process for judicial review of the use of eminent domain, but in each case the bills never reached a vote in the Iowa Senate.

Thomson said with changes in the Iowa Legislature, including among Senate leadership, it may be possible to get a legislative solution to the problem before the issue can be decided in the courts.