Landowners Facing Eminent Domain for Carbon Pipeline Boondoggle Attend Court Hearing to Discuss Appeal of Iowa Utilities Commission Approval of Summit Permit

Landowners attend a Lobby Day at the Iowa State Capitol

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Oct. 10, 2025

Landowners Facing Eminent Domain for Carbon Pipeline Boondoggle Attend Court Hearing to Discuss Appeal of Iowa Utilities Commission Approval of Summit Permit

Des Moines – Landowners in Iowa who face eminent domain seizure of their property for Summit Carbon’s proposed CO2 pipeline today attended a hearing scheduled by the Polk County District Court to discuss their appeal of the Iowa Utilities Commission’s (IUC) June 25, 2024 approval of the company’s pipeline permit in Iowa. The hearing was originally scheduled for oral arguments on the merits of the appeal. However, following a request from Summit to amend its permit with the IUC, the Court chose to postpone oral arguments and instead hold a hearing to consider remanding the case back to the IUC.

“Summit is trying to change the rules of the game because they aren’t winning. We should be here today talking about our points of appeal- such as neighbors being denied the right to be part of the process and the gross abuse of eminent domain. Instead we are being forced to talk about Summit wanting to go back to the IUC and get the rules changed in their favor,” said Meghan Sloma, landowner in Sioux County, Iowa and member of the Iowa Easement Team.

“Today was yet another effort by Summit to manipulate a more favorable outcome for its unnecessary project. Summit can’t tell us where the pipeline is proposed to go, can’t meet the conditions of the issued permit, and can’t convince landowners to sign over their property for its hazardous carbon pipeline. It simply underscores that this project seemingly can’t be built on its own merit,” said Emma Schmit, Bold Alliance’s Pipeline Fighters Director.

“Summit needs to accept defeat instead of trying to rig the game and force this pipeline on unwilling landowners. This project is nothing but a boondoggle pushed by powerful, wealthy people who seem like they don’t care one bit about Iowa or Iowans,” said Jess Mazour, Conservation Coordinator, Iowa Chapter of the Sierra Club.

About Bold’s Iowa Easement Team:
The Iowa Easement Team is a grassroots organization established for the benefit of landowners affected by proposed carbon pipelines in Iowa. Landowner constitutional and property rights and interests must be protected no matter what actions are taken by Pipeline Companies or State Agencies. IET is a landowner-organized and run group designed to help educate and empower other Iowa landowners to understand the options available to you to protect your land and future. IET is working closely with a legal team and landowner organizers to build a statewide network of concerned and affected persons to join together as one powerful group. (https://iaeasement.org)

About Bold’s Easement Action Teams:
The Easement Action Teams are a project of the Bold Education Fund. The EATs work with local communities to provide immediate legal representation to landowners facing pipelines and other fossil fuel infrastructure. Our first priority is to protect landowners’ property rights and water. We believe landowners should have the ultimate right of what does and does not happen on their land. We stand against the use of eminent domain for private gain. (https://easementLLC.org)

About Bold:
The Bold Alliance and Bold Education Fund are 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 unproven and 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 first that they are a better climate solution than renewable energy, and second that safety, planning, and routing standards are in place to avoid inefficient chaotic development driven by wasteful federal spending. (https://boldalliance.org)

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