First, eminent domain was not designed for and should never be used to accomplish the goals of a private enterprise. It should only be used for necessary public projects that serve the good of all. To quote Representative Cindy Golding of Linn County, one of my favorite legislators in the Iowa House,“The claim that sequestering liquified carbon dioxide (CO2) will ‘promote the public convenience and necessity’ is preposterous!”
Read Representative Golding’s full opinion editorial below
Secondly, the idea that CO2 is a pollutant causing harm to our environment is highly suspect, if not preposterous in its own right. Yes, we care for the environment and there are real issues that need to be addressed to ensure we have clean air, water and soil free from dangerous toxins, but CO2 is not on the list. Some of us from the Legislature attended a conference in Denver last year in 2023 and heard from some top scientists on this subject. Plants must have CO2 to live and we learned that the optimal range of CO2 in the atmosphere for plant life is between 400 and 1200 parts per million (ppm). Currently, our atmosphere is at approximately 420 ppm. On another occasion, a top scientist from a major university told me privately, “The amount of CO2 that we humans produce is so small in the overall scheme of things that there is no way we can have a significant effect on the climate.” This person’s next statement was the real shocker, “But I can’t say that publicly or I would lose my job.”
This brings up the third point. The Carbon Credit/CO2 narrative is driven by a political agenda, not a concern for the environment. From my experience at the Capitol, it is obvious that big business and big money is in control on this issue and they stand to get even bigger and richer at the expense of private property rights. In a recent interview, another of my favorite legislators in the Iowa House, Charley Thomson spoke profound truth on the issue of property rights as it relates to the IUB ruling on the CO2 pipeline. He called it a “dark day” for Iowa, the rule of law and our federal and state Constitutions. Below are a few of his comments in bullet point format:
- Powerful forces want this to go through.
- They are coming after the easiest portion of property rights, a minority of farmers who don’t want to sell an easement to their property.
- The real objective (even if it is subconscious) is to weaken eminent domain protections and ultimately destroy them.
- …governments grow and their power expands at the expense of the liberty of the people. The founding father’s of this country realized … down that road lies despotism.
The Swamp in Iowa
Maybe some in our government simply haven’t thought it through, but for me, the CO2 pipeline is a sort of bellwether issue serving as a pretty good indicator as to where a government official stands. Either they stand on the solid ground of the Constitution and individual property rights, or they stand in the sinking muck of the swamp.
As Representative Thomson made clear in the interview cited above, we have no intention of letting this bogus ruling by the IUB stand. We intend to challenge it and win that challenge. Therefore, I am asking all who read this to be informed, let your elected officials know you are informed, and stand for the foundational principles of freedom. The job of standing belongs to all who cherish freedom and we cannot afford to delegate to those who don’t.
