Landowners who are facing the seizure of their property via eminent domain for Summit Carbon’s proposed CO2 pipeline project across the state of Iowa have sponsored a plane to flyover the Iowa State Fairgrounds and greet Governor Kim Reynolds, along with GOP presidential candidates visiting to campaign and meet primary voters, with messages urging them to stand with landowners against eminent domain abuse and reject the proposed CO2 pipeline project.
The flyover is expected to take place during Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds’ scheduled interviews of several GOP presidential candidates in person at the state fairgrounds in Des Moines on Friday.
A similar message in the sky greeted guests to Summit Carbon founder Bruce Rastetter’s annual party last weekend, attended by political power-houses and Presidential Candidates in town for the Lincoln Dinner, where they parked a semi trailer outside emblazoned with the message “NO Deadly CO2 Pipelines,” and waved signs along the roadside — while their sponsored plane flew over the event trailing a sign with a message that read: “Stop Rastetter’s Land Grab No CO2 Pipelines.”
Landowners have also sponsored a digital billboard on HWY 235 along the route where many Iowans north of Des Moines will travel to the fair, featuring messages hitting Gov. Reynolds for “throwing landowners under the bus” by not taking action to protect private property, and asking the prospective GOP candidates “Who will be the first?” to stand with landowners against eminent domain and the CO2 pipeline. Ads sponsored by landowners are also slated to appear in the Des Moines Register print and digital editions during the fair, with the same message that Gov. Reynolds is “throwing farmers under the bus” via her silence on eminent domain abuse.
An overwhelming 78% of Iowans oppose the use of eminent domain for the carbon pipelines proposed by Rastetter’s Summit and other companies with foreign investors and co-ownership. While Rastetter’s Summit venture has investors from Saudi Arabia and South Korea, another startup company seeking to impose eminent domain on landowners — Navigator CO2 Ventures — is partially owned by the United Arab Emirates, that company’s CFO admitted in testimony before the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission.
In Iowa, there are nearly 1000 parcels of land whose owners have refused to sign easements for Rastetter’s carbon pipeline boondoggle, and over 300 landowners facing the threat of eminent domain have officially filed to intervene and object to Summit’s permit application currently before the Iowa Utilities Board, which will begin those hearings on Aug. 22.
