(Radio Iowa) – Governor Kim Reynolds has vetoed a bill that would have made it harder for Summit Carbon Solutions to seize land along the pipeline route from unwilling property owners. Reynolds says she respects both sides in the debate over the use of that eminent domain authority, but Reynolds says the bill is too broad and affects other types of energy infrastructure. The ethanol industry and the Iowa Corn Growers Association have been urging Reynolds to reject the legislation. Monte Shaw is with the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association.

“The governor did a really good job explaining there’s a lot of problems with this bill,” Shaw said. Shaw says the bill would have diminished Iowa’s ethanol industry as well as prospects for Iowa corn farmers.”Carbon capture and sequestration is the key to unlocking almost all of the new markets for biofuels demand and for corn demand,” Shaw said. House Speaker Pat Grassley, the top Republican in the House, has called for a special session of the legislature, to override the governor’s veto. Representative Bobby Kaufmann, a Republican from Wilton, helped craft the bill.

“Kim Reynolds has failed the state of Iowa. Kim Reynolds has soiled her legacy,” Kaufmann said, “and her legacy is now spitting in the face of landowners and being Bruce Rastetter’s errand girl.”Bruce Rastetter is the founder of Summit Carbon Solutions. Kaufmann says Reynolds has been steadfast in her defense of constitutional rights over her tenure as governor, and he’d expected her to sign the bill into law. “Clearly she has chosen special interests and Bruce Rastetter over private property rights,” Kaufmann said. “I vow today to work against and kill every single bill she comes up with because I no longer trust her judgement.”

Pipeline construction (2023 file photo from Iowa Utilities Commission photo)

Representative Steven Holt, a Republican from Denison, led House debate on each piece of pipeline-related legislation over the past few years.  “The governor had three years to weigh in on this,” Holt said. “The governor could have given us her suggestions. She continues to say she wants to protect landowner rights, but she’s done nothing in three years to do that. The landowners have pleaded to meet with her. She didn’t meet with them until recently. She’s had ample opportunity, like the Senate had, to weigh in and protect landowners and they didn’t, so I’m profoundly disappointed.”

Senate Republican Leader Jack Whitver says he supports the governor’s decision to veto the bill and he expects a majority of Senate Republicans would not be interested in any attempt to override her veto. Whitver says a significant majority of Senate Republicans support a better policy to protect landowner rights. Shaw, the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association’s executive director, says the industry is open to negotiations. “We stand ready to work with people who want to improve the system, but not kill the carbon capture project,” Shaw said, “and if people are wanting to do that, we stand ready.”

Reynolds says the debate has highlighted areas were real progress is possible. The governor says she wants to work with lawmakers to strengthen landowner protections, modernize permitting and respect private property.