DES MOINES, Iowa — The Iowa chapter of the Sierra Club and some landowners called Tuesday for the Iowa Utilities Commission to reject Summit Carbon Solutions’ petition to amend its pipeline permit. (Read the petition: For Immediate Release_ Summit Amendment Request ).

The Iowa Capital Dispatch says the petition, filed Monday, requests changes to the initially proposed route and pipe size for the carbon sequestration pipeline project, which had been approved by the IUC in 2024. That approval came with requirements that Summit could not begin construction until it received route permission from North Dakota and South Dakota, and storage permission in North Dakota. 

Since the IUC’s initial approval, South Dakota has enacted a law preventing the use of eminent domain in CO2 pipeline projects, and has denied two of Summit’s permit requests. In North Dakota, Summit’s permits were approved, but are facing legal challenges.

In light of these actions in other states, Summit has requested to amend the permit in Iowa, changing language to reflect that “additional options for storage and pathways to storage are developing and may provide a better solution.” The request would remove language referencing North Dakota and South Dakota, changing the petition to state construction cannot begin until it has “secured access to one or more sequestration sites and permits or agreements to allow it to reach such storage.”

Landowners and advocates who oppose the pipeline project or the use of eminent domain in gaining land easements necessary to complete the route, released statements Tuesday calling for the IUC to reject the proposed language change.

Though Summit said in its petition that the move away from state-specific language would not diminish “protections against a ‘pipeline to nowhere’” in the permit, people opposed to the project said the shift is too substantial of a change to be approved as an amendment, while criticizing the business for not providing further details on a new route or storage options.

“This isn’t an amendment, this is a last-ditch effort and half-baked proposal for an entirely new project because South Dakota said no,” Wally Taylor, attorney for the Sierra Club Iowa Chapter, said in a statement. “Summit needs to realize that Iowa is saying no, too.”