Landowners in Iowa have been slow to cede their property rights to a 2,000-mile (3,219 km) proposed carbon dioxide pipeline that would cut through the U.S. Midwest, an analysis by Reuters has found.
Summit Carbon Solutions said last month it had negotiated easements with hundreds of landowners along the pipeline route, marking a major advance for what it hopes will become the world’s largest carbon capture and storage project.
If Summit fails to secure a route through voluntary agreements with landowners, it would have to resort to using eminent domain, a controversial legal tool that allows the government or its agents to take over land for the public interest.On Feb. 1, Summit issued a news release in which its CEO, Bruce Rastetter, said, "we’ve had early success signing hundreds of pipeline easements with farmers who have a vested interest in our success.
Asked to explain the discrepancy between its public statements and the land records, Summit told Reuters that the Iowa database does not reflect the most recent easement total due to administrative and other delays. While Summit is not legally required to file the easement records, the filings protect the company from a future buyer or renter of the land claiming they were not aware of the easement and challenging it, said Wally Taylor, an environmental attorney who represents the Iowa chapter of the Sierra Club, which is opposed to the pipeline.Approval in Iowa is particularly significant to the project because the state produces a quarter of the nation's corn ethanol, a fuel blended into gasoline.