Nine Republican State Senators sent a “comment” to the Iowa Utilities Board regarding the proposed Carbon Capture Pipeline projects that the legislative body refused to address during the 2023 legislative session.
The Republican Senators — Kevin Alons, Jeff Taylor, Lynn Evans, Cherielynn Westrich, Jesse Green, Mark Lofgren, Dave Rowley, Dennis Guth and Sandy Salmon — submitted Senate Concurrent Resolution 6 to the IUB.
The resolution urges the IUB to deny use of eminent domain in relation to the CO2 pipeline projects.
It states the Fifth Amendment declares private property shall not be taken for public use without just compensation. It also states use of eminent domain is constitutionally limited to public use and constrained to public convenience and necessity.
“Pipelines transporting capture carbon dioxide do not meet this constitutional standard as a transport system for an industrial product used by private, for-profit companies and will exclusively benefit private companies, not the general public,” it states.
Installing the pipelines will “compromise the productivity of valuable agricultural land, disrupt and damage carefully installed patterned drainage tile systems and threaten the proper soil conditions necessary for optimal crop growth,” it continues.
The resolution also states Iowa Code restricts hazardous pipeline project permitting by IUB by stating a permit shall not be granted unless the board determines the proposed services will promote the public convenience and necessity.
“To contend that a carbon capture pipeline project promotes public convenience and necessity because it is needed to fight climate change is speculative,” the resolution reads. “As man-made climate change is highly debatable and not clearly settled science, and public policy should only be adopted based upon fully known and established science.”
The resolution concludes by urging IUB to “uphold and protect” private property rights of landowners and farmers by denying private companies constructing carbon capture pipelines the power of eminent domain.
