Despite support among a bipartisan majority of the Iowa legislature this past session, nothing was passed to protect landowners from the threat of eminent domain being used to complete carbon sequestration pipelines. The primary excuse landowners heard time and time again from both legislators and the pipeline companies was “we can’t change the rules in the middle of the process”.
Yet the new Iowa Utilities Board (IUB) Chairperson Erik Helland has chosen to change the rules for the permit proceedings at the IUB for all landowners challenging the pipeline, moving the hearing up nearly two months from when the previous Chairperson had originally told landowners they could expect it to begin. The IUB will have 1035 parcel permits to review and determine whether Summit Carbon Solutions will receive a permit, including using eminent domain, in order to complete their pipeline. There are concerns among landowners about whether adequate time will be given by the IUB for landowners as well as those who filed petitions of intervention to present their testimonies, in addition to the IUB doing its own due diligence on each parcel. Landowners were told 2 hours of consideration would be needed per parcel but Summit has expressed a desire for the permit hearings to be wrapped up before the end of the calendar year which would significantly shorten the time of consideration per parcel.
In addition to the date change, the IUB also changed the order in which testimonies would be heard, putting all landowners at the front end of the process and giving Summit the last word when, in reality, the burden of proof should be on Summit at the beginning. The question is why are these rule changes to the permit proceedings considered acceptable but bills to clarify the use of eminent domain in Iowa law in 2022/23 to protect Iowans’ property rights considered inappropriate? Why is the IUB operating in bad faith?
Petitions for IUB intervention have been filed by over 450 Iowans on the Summit carbon project alone, including a petition by 20 Republican Iowa legislators. Only those who have filed petitions or are landowners will get to submit testimony at the evidentiary hearings slated to begin next month. We applaud these legislators for continuing to fight for Iowans’ property rights and ask for Iowans to continue to make their voices heard to their county board of supervisors and legislators. Encourage your board of supervisors to pass county ordinances against the pipelines considering they aren’t for public use. Ask your legislator what they plan to do in January to support property rights and if their answer is inadequate find someone to primary them.
While the land impacted right now may not be yours, what future taxpayer subsidized Federal project will be used to grab your property?
- Iowa Liberty Network
The IUB is not a proxy for a trial by a jury of peers as required by the Constitution’s article 14 concerning Eminent Domain.