(Radio Iowa) – A bill that would ban the use of eminent domain for pipelines carrying carbon dioxide has cleared an Iowa House subcommittee. The bill is similar to a South Dakoka law and would not allow Summit Carbon Solutions to use the government’s eminent domain authority to seize land along the pipeline route. Kathy Carter owns land in Floyd County along the proposed pipeline route and doesn’t want it on her property. “I have had this black cloud hanging over my head for five years,” Carter said. “I’m tired of it.” Mike Henning owns Greene County farmland along the Raccoon River. “It’s important that those of us that don’t want to have a pipeline on our property have the opportunity to say, ‘No,'” Henning said.

The Iowa Corn Growers Association is on the record opposing the bill and says by capturing carbon from Iowa ethanol plants, that ethanol can be sold in markets that require zero-carbon fuels. Brittany Lumley, a lobbyist for Summit, says the carbon the company captures from Iowa ethanol plants can also be used to recover underground oil. “There are hundreds of billions of dollars of oil in Wyoming and trillions in North Dakota that will never be recovered without our carbon product,” Lumley said. “Truly this pipeline will eventually become an integral part of this nation’s security strategy, giving more access to oil which is essential for everybody’s everyday lives.” Jake Ketzner, a lobbyist for Summit, says the bill would kill the company’s project.

“Summit Carbon is focused on signing voluntary easement agreements and moving off landowners who do not want us,” Ketzner says. “We support widening the corridor to allow for route adjustments to make this possible and significantly reduce any need for eminent domain.” That’s a description of the bill Senate Republican Leader Mike Klimesh says would be a way to end the years’ long debate over the pipeline. Representative Steven Holt, a Republican from Denison, says that Senate bill will not protect all landowners. “Because under their proposal eminent domain can still be used for the CO2 pipeline project,” Holt said. Holt says that’s why a complete ban on the use of eminent domain for carbon pipeline is advancing in the House.