Landowners Facing Eminent Domain for Carbon Pipeline Boondoggle Call on Iowa Utilities Commission to Deny Summit’s Petition to Alter Permit Conditions

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Sept. 16, 2025

CONTACT:
Mark Hefflinger, Bold Alliance, 323-972-5192, mark@boldalliance.org

Landowners Facing Eminent Domain for Carbon Pipeline Boondoggle Call on Iowa Utilities Commission to Deny Summit’s Petition to Alter Permit Conditions

Des Moines – Landowners in Iowa who face eminent domain seizure of their property for Summit Carbon’s proposed CO2 pipeline today called on the Iowa Utilities Commission (IUC) to reject the company’s new petition to amend the conditions of its permit, arguing the request is based on speculation and provides zero specifics on where Summit now plans to deliver the CO2.

Notably, Summit’s new IUC petition removes all references from its prior public announcements that it is seeking “permanent storage in North Dakota” for the captured CO2. Instead, Summit now says it is exploring several different destination options, but all such options would use taxpayer dollars to capture CO2 that would be transported over pipeline routes taken by eminent domain and then gifted to industrial users for private benefit.

The company asked the IUC to replace language referencing the issuance of permits in South Dakota and North Dakota instead with broader language referencing permits for sequestration, and approval of a route to reach its storage site(s) – for which it provides no further details.

“Summit should withdraw their application for a “Phase 2” route at the IUC and surrender their permit approvals in North Dakota and Iowa, which were predicated on a plan and route that no longer exists,” said Brian Jorde, attorney with Domina Law Group representing landowners with Bold’s Iowa Easement Team. “If Summit truly wants a “fresh start,” they need to come clean with the public, regulators, and landowners about their plans, and start the application process over with a viable route that identifies specific sequestration sites and any “industrial use” partners.”

“Summit’s amendment request is a hypocritical, last-ditch farce from a failing pipeline company. For years, Summit fought tooth and nail to block the Iowa legislature from passing commonsense protections for landowners and communities, complaining that “you can’t change the rules in the middle of the game.” Now, Summit is trying to rewrite the entire game. They can’t claim “public use” when they don’t even know what the use is, and they can’t expect a permit for a pipeline with no end destination. It’s time to throw in the towel and admit defeat,” said Emma Schmit, Bold Alliance’s Pipeline Fighters Director.

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 Pipeline Fighters Hub:
The Bold Pipeline Fighters Hub, a project of the Bold Education Fund, provides technical, legal, story telling and organizing assistance to any community fighting pipelines and other fossil fuel infrastructure, with the goal of protecting the land and water. (https://pipelinefighters.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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