CO2 pipeline company plays hardball as Iowa counties fight back

In Iowa, deep-pocketed companies are hoping to construct carbon dioxide pipelines throughout a whole lot of miles of farmland. However county governments are placing the brakes on growth by passing ordinances to guard individuals within the pipelines’ path. In response, Summit Carbon Options, the corporate farthest alongside within the state’s allowing course of, is punching again, submitting federal lawsuits to overturn the ordinances and forcing counties to spend scarce taxpayer {dollars} to defend themselves.

“It is a tactic of their playbook, and it’s a really efficient one,” stated Jane Kleeb, founding father of the nonprofit Daring Nebraska, which helps landowners set up to combat pipelines. “Through the Keystone XL pipeline combat, each time a county received able to cross a zoning regulation, the pipeline firm would are available in with a crew of fits and threaten to sue.”

The lawsuits particularly goal Iowa’s Shelby and Story counties, which have been the primary to cross ordinances requiring that these pipelines– which can carry CO2 from Iowa ethanol crops to sequestration websites out of state – be set again from residences, church buildings, nursing properties and different locations the place individuals stay and collect. Voted into regulation final month, the ordinances additionally name for the pipeline firms to offer an emergency response plan and a computer-modeled estimate of the dispersion of CO2, a recognized toxicant that may be deadly if a pipeline have been to rupture.

“We’ve got a proper to understand how harmful that is,” stated Steven Kenkel, chairman of the Shelby County Board of Supervisors, who pointed to a 2020 carbon dioxide pipeline rupture in Satartia, Mississippi, that hospitalized 45 individuals. “We need to know what the blast zone is, what the fatality zone is, what the hazard zone is, what’s the worst case state of affairs.” Summit has refused to offer such data, regardless of an order from the Iowa Utilities Board (IUB). The corporate claims that as a result of federal regulation regulates security requirements for interstate pipelines, it’s exempt from any native or state security necessities.

Every county is contemplating barely totally different setback necessities. Shelby requires 1,000 ft between pipeline and residences; Story, which additionally requires buffers round wetlands, would use a system that will depend on the diameter of a CO2 pipeline, noting {that a} six-inch pipeline would require a minimal of 1,670 ft. However it’s not clear that even these setbacks would defend individuals. Richard Kuprewicz, a pipeline security guide who has testified earlier than Congress, stated that when a CO2 pipeline unzips, the fuel strikes rapidly by way of the panorama. “It occurs in microseconds,” he stated. “The pipeline ruptures and [the plume] can journey 1000’s of ft if not miles.”

Whereas the federal lawsuits will take time to wind by way of the courts, the query of whether or not pipeline firms are required to offer security data to state or native authorities might be addressed for the primary time on Tuesday, December 13, when Summit and county attorneys current oral arguments earlier than the IUB. Timothy Whipple, an legal professional who represents Shelby County, will argue that Summit’s preemption declare is flawed. Whereas the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Supplies Security Administration (PHMSA) units security requirements for the design, inspection, emergency plans and upkeep of pipelines, he says, it doesn’t preclude state and native governments from contemplating security when siting a pipeline. “So long as you don’t impose a requirement that might make it troublesome for the pipeline firm to adjust to the federal security requirements,” Whipple says, “then we imagine you may contemplate security when wanting on the pipeline’s route.”

Wally Taylor, legal professional for the Iowa chapter of the Sierra Membership, agreed. He stated the federal Pipeline Security Act, which PHMSA administers, particularly states that it doesn’t regulate the routing and site of pipelines. “It’s fairly clear that counties have the authority to place circumstances on the place the pipelines may be situated,” he stated. As a result of Summit’s fits make the identical argument, he added, the corporate most likely filed them as an intimidation tactic. “They’re sending a message to the opposite counties: Don’t do that by way of passing an ordinance otherwise you’re going to search out your self in federal courtroom, too.” Summit representatives didn’t return messages searching for remark.

Templates of the 2 ordinances have been circulating amongst quite a few county zoning boards for months, and Summit officers have observed. In September, because the Montgomery County zoning board convened to evaluation the Shelby County ordinance, Grant Terry, a senior venture supervisor with Summit instructed the board, “We don’t plan to observe what’s in place on this ordinance with regard to Shelby County.” Terry stated that the ordinance had been “put in place” by Kleeb’s group, which he referred to as a recognized “eco-terrorist group,” and that Kenkel, the Shelby County supervisor, was “a sitting member, an lively member of Daring Nebraska.” (Daring Nebraska isn’t a membership group.)

Kenkel stated he talked to many various individuals and organizations, together with Kleeb’s group, over many months as he labored to determine how his county might craft a authorized ordinance that might deal with constituents’ security considerations. “In my ten years as a supervisor, that is probably the most consuming venture that I’ve ever labored on,” he stated, tearing up. “However I don’t need my youngsters, my grandkids or my nice grandkids to say sometime, ‘What the hell was Grandpa considering?’ I would like them to know I attempted to combat again.”