Dear Governor Reynolds,
Congratulations on the passage of the Students First Act and signing it into law. We support School Choice and the educational freedom it gives Iowa citizens. We are also very grateful for your policy and commitment that kept Iowa an open state during the pandemic. We know that you love our state and have pledged to represent our best interests.
My husband and I are lifetime residents and farmers in Iowa. We were raised in central Iowa, graduated from ISU, served as Peace Corps Volunteers, then returned home to farm. We live on the home place where my husband grew up. During the 1980s Farm Crisis we lost farm acres that we owned but managed to save the remaining acres we have now farmed for 50 years. We were strong advocates for the Family Farm. My husband also worked on the Iowa Rural Concern Hotline, counseling many farm families struggling to keep their land. Iowa farmers and resident landowners are resilient. We love our land and want to preserve it for future generations of Iowa farmers.
Iowa farmers are now facing another crisis that could forever change the farmland we fought for, its value, the crops we raise, and the safety and security of our rural way of life. The CO2 privately owned pipeline companies are the biggest threat we have faced since the 1980s. Farmers are once again being forced to fight for their land. As farmers and landowners, we are being threatened with eminent domain under the pretense of creating a way to protect the climate by providing a new way to dispose of CO2. A way that is known to be hazardous due to the pressure (PSI)) of the CO2 in the underground pipelines. And more recently the new campaign is to help save our ethanol industry, which we support with our corn production.
The proposed CO2 Pipeline by the Navigator Company is cutting through the center of our farm. Surely you know that several pipelines want to cut through some 2,000 miles of Iowa’s precious black soil throughout state.
Governor Reynolds, we are dismayed and frustrated to hear that you are supporting these private pipeline companies instead of fighting with us to preserve Iowa’s farmland and farmers’ land rights. You have obviously not been given the full story, the truth regarding the damage the pipelines will cause. And more damaging, the loss of our rights as landowners.
Consider this: the land invasion and destruction the CO2 pipelines will bring to your Iowa farm families could potentially be as dangerous to Iowa as the shut down of small businesses and schools during the pandemic. The economic and personal damage from the invasive pipelines being buried on our private land is just as critical to us as closing small businesses. You fought for and protected Iowa citizens then. Why are you not protecting us now?
The threat of Eminent Domain by a Private, For-Profit Company is a violation of our constitutional rights. A three-person Iowa Utilities Board should not have the power to declare eminent domain in favor of a private business. Period. Legislation needs to be enacted now!
We can only assume that you are not being told the truth, the full story. We beg you to talk to farmers affected. Find out just how damaging the installation and existence of these dangerous pipelines will be to our farmland as well as surrounding homes and communities. Talk to firefighters and hazmat teams to learn of the extreme volatility of CO2 explosions. You need to step away from listening to Investors and lobbyists and the false scenarios these venture companies are spreading.
Come out to our rural areas and listen. We can give you facts and tell you what we know will happen to our land. You will hear how widows and retired farmers, as well as long time active family farmers are being harassed, lied to, and coerced into signing easements. Miles of underground farm tile will be destroyed across our state. Tile that has cost farmers thousands of dollars over the years as they have invested dollars to improve production. Homes and housing developments in our rural communities will be at risk. Insurance companies are already telling us they will not cover any damage due to a pipeline on our land. Future school and business sites will be devalued and/or destroyed due to the pipelines.
Please step away from the lure of deceptive benefits and the promise of money for our state. The pipeline companies have no integrity; too many of us have heard their lies and false promises. The very easement documents they want us to sign are a carte blanche for them to do whatever they want.
Governor, you are passionate about School Choice. We need you to be as passionate about our LAND CHOICE – the choice to preserve our private ownership of our property. Our Homes. Our Safety. Our Security. Please listen to our side of the story. Search for the Truth.
Respectfully,
Loren and Ruth Book
Milford Township, Story County
So well stated. We must pray that God intervenes. How can the voices of so many Iowans be consistently ignored? I have read that Reynolds is a member or has close ties to the CCP? I have not spent enough time researching to verify this, but many decisions are being made that seriously make me question where her loyalties lie.