Iowa Landowners Outraged at Gov. Kim Reynolds’ Veto of Property Rights Pipeline Bill

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 11, 2025

Iowa Landowners Outraged at Gov. Kim Reynolds’ Veto of Property Rights Pipeline Bill

Landowners vow return to Legislature in 2026 to end  pipeline projects’ abuse of eminent domain for private gain

Des Moines — Iowa landowners and advocates were outraged at Gov. Kim Reynolds’ decision on Wednesday to veto their hard-fought bill HF639 that sought to protect private property rights. A video telepresser was held on Thursday featuring landowners’ reactions (view recording above or on YouTube).

Over the past four years, landowners have fought tirelessly to make their concerns heard, pushing hard for the Legislature to enact a ban on the use of eminent domain to seize property against landowners’ wishes for private projects like CO2 pipelines. Dozens of “Lobby Day” rallies have been held at the State Capitol from 2022-2025, along with countless events urging Gov. Reynolds to stand with landowners and protect property rights. 

The Governor’s decision to veto the bill is also a slap in the face to the 78% of Iowans who told the Des Moines Register in 2023 that they oppose the use of eminent domain to seize landowners’ property for CO2 pipelines.

Gov. Reynolds’ heralded the supposed outpouring of “voices” urging her veto but made no mention of the years of efforts by landowners over the past three legislative sessions and many attempts to speak directly with her in person that went unanswered for four years — until last week when her office met with a few of the hundreds of Iowa landowners who have spoken out. 

Meanwhile, media reports indicate that Gov. Reynolds took many meetings with the proposed bill’s opponents over the past weeks, who urged her to veto, including ethanol plants that maintain direct financial partnerships with Summit Carbon Solutions. Summit founder and CEO Bruce Rastetter has gifted Reynolds $175,000 in campaign donations and in-kind contributions since 2015. Reynolds has also used her authority to stack the deck in favor of Rastetter’s Summit pipeline at the Iowa Utilities Commission, the state agency imbued with the power to grant pipeline routing permits and eminent domain authority to private corporations. 

For his part, Rastetter has also donated to lawmakers in the Iowa Senate who have blocked legislation from coming to the floor for a vote in years past. These gifts include $5,000 to Mike Bousselot, who formerly worked for Summit Agriculture Group, which owns Summit Carbon Solutions.

“Governor Reynold’s veto of HF 639 let Iowans know that to her the Iowa motto was just empty words. Governor Reynolds chose to support the billions of dollars in tax breaks for the millionaires and billionaires at the expense of Iowans and their property rights,” said Mary Powell, landowner in Shelby County and Iowa Easement Team member. 

“Big money, greed & self interest won the day. Who is the Governor listening to? It’s not 90% of the House, or the majority of the Senate who passed legislation, or 78% of Iowans polled. Our property rights are for sale to the highest bidder. People are sick of this type of politics: whether Republican, Democrat or Independent, WE MUST DO BETTER,” said Jan Norris, Montgomery County landowner and Iowa Easement Team member.

“The state of Iowa has granted the right of eminent domain to a private company to build a hazardous pipeline across the state. Summit has never designed, constructed or operated a pipeline in their entire existence, they are complete novices. The state of Iowa is aware that we affected landowners cannot get liability insurance to cover the risk of a hazardous pipeline that was forced upon us. For the Governor of Iowa to veto a bill that would have at least given landowners some liability coverage is beyond words. This is a sad day for Iowa that will be long remembered,” said Don Johanssen, Cherokee County landowner and Iowa Easement Team member.

“Today Governor Reynolds put private business interests above the rights of everyday Iowans.  We deserve better.  We deserve to have elected officials who practice what they preach and work for the people of Iowa.  We will be back and the capitol in 2026 and we will take this issue to the voting booth, like South Dakota did,” said Jess Mazour, Conservation Coordinator, Iowa Chapter of the Sierra Club.

“It’s no surprise that Gov. Reynolds chose to stand with big monied interests instead of her constituents. Landowners have proven over the past four years that they don’t give up and Gov. Reynolds just ensured the fight to protect Iowans’ property rights will continue for the foreseeable future,” said Emma Schmit, Pipeline Fighters Director at Bold Alliance.

About Iowa Easement Team
The Iowa Easement Team works to educate, organize and support landowners who are opposed to eminent domain for private gain, and pool resources for landowners seeking legal representation in eminent domain battles and pipeline fights. Landowners with the IET also sponsor a range of advertising and social media outreach, and are networking with other state-based Easement Teams and landowners opposing carbon pipelines across the Midwest. The Easement Action Teams are a project of the Bold Education Fund. Read more about the IET: https://IAeasement.org 

About Bold Alliance
The Bold Alliance is coordinating state-based groups with our Pipeline Fighters Hub and landowner legal groups called the Easement Action Teams to stop carbon pipelines from using eminent domain for private gain. We believe that carbon capture and storage (CCS) is an unproven, overly expensive, and wastefully incentivized approach to climate change, and that the carbon pipelines needed for CCS are poorly planned, under-regulated, and risky infrastructure. These huge and complex projects should not move forward until counties, states, and the federal government prove that they are a better climate solution than renewable energy, and that safety, planning, and routing standards are in place to avoid inefficient, chaotic development driven by wasteful federal spending. (https://boldalliance.org) 

About Sierra Club Iowa Chapter
The Iowa Chapter of the Sierra Club is the largest environmental non-profit in Iowa that endorses candidates, lobbies at the Capitol, and empowers volunteers to engage with elected officials. The Iowa Chapter, formed in 1972, has members in every Iowa county.  (https://www.sierraclub.org/iowa)

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