Last week, Summit Carbon Solutions received yet another setback for its proposed CO2 pipeline when a North Dakota judge revoked its permit for the sequestration site, declaring it an unconstitutional use of eminent domain. Meanwhile, back in Des Moines, landowners and their supporters faced opposition at the Capitol where their bill is once again stalled in the Iowa Senate.
Last summer, Governor Reynolds vetoed a bill that would have introduced industry safeguards and protected landowner rights. Reynolds said she wanted a “clean” bill. To that end, the House passed HF2104 with a 64-28 vote the second week of this session. It is a “clean” bill – one sentence – that states eminent domain cannot be used to acquire land for a carbon oxide pipeline. It does not ban CO2 pipelines, and it does not apply to any other hazardous liquid pipeline or utility.
After quick passage in the House, HF-2104 went to the Senate where it has been stalled for nine weeks. Majority Leader Mike Klimesh added several pages of legal jargon that were off-topic and eliminated the main provision that banned the use of eminent domain for CO2 pipelines. In other words, Klimesh gutted the intent of HF2104 by restoring the option for carbon oxide companies to use eminent domain.
Senator Klimesh then proposed a new bill that he claims to be a compromise. His bill would create a ten-mile-wide corridor in which the company can seek voluntary easements for a hazardous liquid pipeline. If, after reaching out to neighbors in good faith but failing to obtain enough voluntary easements, the company could proceed to use eminent domain.
Both of Klimesh’s proposals would still allow the use of eminent domain to take land for CO2 pipelines. Unwilling landowners will be forced into eminent domain easements which are forever even if the project fails or ends.
Most people understand the 5th Amendment right to have private property protected from being taken through eminent domain. They also know that an easement is the legal right to use another person’s private property for a specified purpose without owning it. What most people do not realize is that easements are forever – until the end of time.
Easements stay with the property when it is sold or bequeathed. Easements can be leased, mortgaged, or sold to another party for another purpose without the property owner’s knowledge or permission. If landowners are unwillingly forced into eminent domain easements for a CO2 pipeline, Summit will gain control over the use and sale of their land. This is egregious considering the landowner was forced into the easement.
If Summit can take land through the use of eminent domain, the easements will stay with the property forever. If Iowa’s Senators fail to pass eminent domain reform, they will essentially give Summit the keys to our farms. The one-sentence House bill, HF2104, must be passed in its original form to protect Iowa’s landowners from eminent domain abuse.
- Bonnie Ewoldt
Milford resident and Crawford County landowner
I support the goal of stopping eminent domain for private carbon dioxide pipeline projects and passing HF2104, but I’m concerned about how this letter describes easements. It says carbon dioxide easements are “forever” and give Summit permanent control over the land. In reality, easements are private contracts — the real issue is how Summit’s standard form is written. That’s why we need to keep pushing for stronger legal protections for landowners. And even if Senator Klimesh’s bill passes, landowners who don’t sign still have a path forward.