Iowa lawmakers say eminent domain reform more likely to pass next session

CHARLES CITY, Iowa (Gray Media Iowa Capitol Bureau) – While lawsuits from Republican lawmakers work its way through the courts over eminent domain, things could also be changing in the legislature.

Iowa landowners who don’t think private companies should be allowed access to their land found hope with legislators in the Iowa house who tried to ban it. But those property owners were frustrated with the Republican senate leadership who blocked the bills.

The proposed Summit Carbon Solutions pipeline would run through one of Pat Mennenga’s fields in Clarkesville. “We have 120 acres that the pipeline has been proposed to go through from north to south,” she said.

Mennenga doesn’t want it. “We want to preserve our land the way it was given to us and we want to keep it that way. We’re not in favor of a pipeline,” she said.

This week, a group of nearly 40 republican lawmakers filed lawsuits in state and federal court aiming to stop the pipeline.

State Rep. Helena Hayes said, “Our group initially started with 19 legislators but has since doubled in size reflecting the growing concern among senators and representatives here in Iowa.”

The lawsuits are the newest way to try and stop the pipeline. Lawmakers in the Iowa House voted to reign in the use of eminent domain, but Republican leaders in the Senate never brought the bills up for a vote.

State Sen. Kevin Alons said, “The way that politics, the rules are established and the way the hierarchy works in the Senate and both chambers, leadership has quite a bit of control over what advances and what doesn’t.”

State Rep. Charley Thomson of Charles City says he sees changes on the horizon.

Thomson says many of the new Republican candidates running for the state Senate are opposed to the project. “There’s not a lot of support for this outside of people who are financially interested. There are a few rather muted supporters in the legislature but I think that’s disappearing,” he said.

Thomson says public opinion is on their side and growing. “As more public opinion shifts in to our favor, it’s going to be harder and harder for the Senate to not act on this. I think the Senate’s going to be compelled to at some point,” Thomson said.

Mennenga says she now has hope regardless of what happens with the lawsuits. “I’ve become very hopeful in the last six months. Just listening to some of our representatives and some of the other landowners and I know a lot of ‘em have ideas of how they are going to stop it,” she said.

Summit contends that by lowering carbon emissions, it makes ethanol production more sustainable and can increase demand.

“Summit Carbon Solutions in confident in the Iowa Utilities Commission’s thorough review process. Our project represents a significant opportunity for farmers and ethanol producers to access new markets, such as sustainable aviation fuel, by lowering ethanol’s carbon intensity score. With current economic challenges, including corn prices falling below production costs, this pipeline will help grow markets and support the long-term viability of our farmers and rural communities, contributing to economic growth and American energy independence.”

Summit also says they’ve signed voluntary agreements with around 75% of affected landowners.

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Conner Hendricks covers state government and politics for Gray Media-owned stations in Iowa. Email him at conner.hendricks@gray.tv; and follow him on Facebook at Conner Hendricks TV or on X/Twitter @ConnerReports.

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