Federal Court to Hear Appeal from Iowa Counties Sued by Summit Over CO2 Pipeline Ordinances

Landowners impacted by proposed carbon dioxide (CO2) pipelines will attend oral arguments before the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals in Omaha on Wednesday, Nov. 20, where Shelby and Story Counties in Iowa are set to defend the ordinances passed by their elected board members to address concerns and challenges posed to existing and future infrastructure and development should hazardous liquid pipelines be proposed for their communities.

• WHO: Iowa Counties vs. Summit Carbon Solutions at 8th Circuit Court of Appeals in Omaha
  • Iowa impacted landowners from Iowa Easement Team
  • Attorney Brian Jorde, Domina Law Group
• WHEN: Wednesday, Nov. 20, 9:00 a.m.
• WHERE: Roman Hruska Courthouse, 111 S 18th St, Omaha, NE 68102
• DIAL-IN TO COURT LIVESTREAM at 9:00 a.m. (CT):
  • 1-571-353-2301 (Access code: 002597160)

After hearing from impacted landowners who had been contacted by Summit, as well as concerned community members, local elected officials in Shelby and Story counties in Iowa passed commonsense ordinances in 2022 to ensure carbon dioxide pipelines do not threaten the wellbeing of their communities. The variety of issues addressed by the ordinances include the implementation of minimum setback distances for hazardous liquids pipelines from houses, schools, medical facilities and other places where people and livestock congregate.

Summit then sued Story and Shelby counties in federal court, arguing that federal law preempts any state or local regulations on pipelines. Summit also sued Emmet, Kossuth and Palo Alto counties in Iowa over their ordinances, but these lawsuits were paused until the appeals in the federal case with Shelby & Story counties are decided. Most recently, Summit sued Bremer County, which passed its own ordinances in February 2023 & September 2024 — and then notified Summit in October that the company was in noncompliance with its ordinances, along with a threat of fines. Meanwhile, Summit has not taken legal action against other Iowa counties that have passed ordinances, including Butler, Dickinson and Adair.

Shelby and Story counties argued at the District Court that their ordinances are lawful and not preempted by federal law.

As the U.S. Dept. of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) has stated previously, and reiterated in a Sept. 15, 2023 letter addressed directly to Summit CEO Lee Blank – “the responsibility for siting new carbon dioxide pipelines rests largely with the individual states and counties through which the pipelines will operate and is governed by state and local law.”

However, in December 2023, a federal judge in Iowa ruled in favor of Summit, and issued a permanent injunction blocking the Shelby and Story county ordinances.

The counties then appealed to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, which will hear oral arguments in the case on Wednesday, Nov. 20 at the federal courthouse in Omaha, NE.

Impacted Iowa landowners and the Iowa Farmers Union filed an amicus “friend of the court brief” in support of Shelby and Story counties, and are expected to attend Wednesday’s oral arguments. Joining landowners in filing an amicus brief was the Pipeline Safety Trust, which argued that the ordinances are necessary to coalesce federal and state laws and regulations, and that CO2 pipelines pose unique issues that it is appropriate for county ordinances to address.

Read Iowa landowners’ amicus brief submitted to Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals (by attorney Brian Jorde of Iowa Easement Team):

LO Brief

Pipeline Safety Trust amicus brief submitted to Eighth Circuit:

Filed_PST_ShelbyStoryCountiesAmicusBrief

Shelby County, Iowa Ordinance on Hazardous Liquids Pipelines:

ordinance-2022-4-first-draft

Story County, Iowa Ordinance on Hazardous Liquids Pipelines:

story-county-ordinance

Summit lawsuit vs. Iowa Counties (Nov. 15, 2022):

20221115_docket-122-cv-00020_complaint

Counterclaim filed by Iowa Counties (March 2023):

20230326_docket-122-cv-00020_na-1 (1)

Iowa Federal Court Decision (December 2023):

20231204_docket-122-cv-00020_order-1

Counties Appeal to Eighth Circuit: 

TransportRoom

Counties Reply Brief to Eighth Circuit:

02391468-1