IOWA FALLS, Iowa (Gray Television Iowa Capitol Bureau) – Landowners in roughly one third of Iowa are waiting to see if Summit Carbon Solutions will be given permission to build a carbon sequestration pipeline through their land. 75% of landowners have signed voluntary agreements with Summit to allow access, but the company may use eminent domain to allow it to force access for the rest.

House lawmakers passed a bill to make private use of eminent domain more difficult, but senate Republicans refused to take up the bill.

Kathy Stockdale’s family has farmed their land in Iowa Falls for more than a hundred years. “Corn and soybeans. And our son in the last eight years has come back to help farm,” Stockdale said.

The proposed Summit Carbon Solutions pipeline will run through her farm. “It will be going all the way down to the road down there and then it will be cutting the whole farm in half all the way down to where our wetlands down at the next road,” Stockdale said.

She’s opposed to the pipeline. “I’m fighting for my property rights. I believe God gave us this land to take care of and with that comes those property rights, and if we lose property rights, we lose all control over anything and everything we want to do on our farms,” Stockdale said.

For the past three years, lawmakers in the Iowa House have passed legislation to reign in the use of eminent domain.

Most recently, a bill by State Rep. Charley Thomson of Charles City would allow landowners and pipeline companies to go to court to ask whether the use of eminent domain was constitutional and benefited the public. “Land is the original asset in Iowa. It’s in our souls. An unjust taking of land without remedy is not only irritating, it’s outrageous,” Thomson said.

State Rep. Bobby Kaufmann of Wilton said, “Government does not exist to make the confiscation of private property easier for you. Government does not exist to make the confiscation of private property more financially advantageous for you.”

But like years prior, the Iowa Senate didn’t take those bills up for debate. Stockdale has been at the capitol nearly every week during the legislative session for the better part of three years, and says she’s talked to enough senators to know it would’ve passed if they brought it up. “As a Republican, and as an Iowan, it bothers me tremendously that only three or four senators can stop any legislation from going through,” Stockdale said.

Despite the setbacks, Stockdale doesn’t plan to stop fighting. “It just makes us fight harder. Especially with the new extensions. We’re already starting to reach out landowners and fill them in on what’s really going on,” Stockdale said.

Stockdale says she has a little more faith in legislation being passed next year, and she and other landowners are also looking at their legal options through the courts.

Summit Carbon Solutions CEO Lee Blank says their goal is to get 100% of landowners to sign voluntary easements. Blank says if and when the Iowa Utilities Board grants them a permit for the project, they expect many of the remaining landowners to sign agreements with the company.

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Conner Hendricks covers state government and politics for Gray Television-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.

Copyright 2024 KCRG. All rights reserved.

The American Lung Association’s annual “State of the Air” report finds positive trends in air quality in two Iowa metros.

“Des Moines is actually listed on the ‘cleanest cities’ list,” said Kristina Hamilton, director of advocacy for American Lung Association of Iowa. “It’s ranked 154th in the nation.”

The Quad Cities saw “slight improvements” in the three types of pollution evaluated in the American Lung Association’s report. Overall results for Iowa were “largely positive,” according to Hamilton.

“I would like to note that we don’t have air quality monitors in every counties in Iowa,” Hamilton said. “Only a select few counties have air quality monitors.”

Sixteen counties of Iowa’s 99 counties have air quality monitors and the Lung Association was able to evaluate data from Bremer, Clinton, Hamilton, Linn, Montgomery, Palo Alto, Polk, Scott and Van Buren Counties.

The Lung Association’s report considers particle pollution, sometimes called soot, as well as ozone or smog and Hamilton said metro Des Moines is considered one of the country’s cleanest cities because it had fewer days with smog last year.

“For short term particle pollution we slightly more high particle pollution days in the Des Moines metro area, but it still ranked 79th, which was a better ranking than last year,” Hamilton said. “For annual particle pollution, we saw the same levels from the previous report, but a better ranking.”

Exposure to air pollution over a long period of time can cause or inflame lung conditions like asthma and C-O-P-D — chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. This is the 25th year the American Lung Association has issued its “State of the Air” report.

(Due to the doubleheader falling in the same time as the weekly softball podcast, the recap will be abbreviated.)

Bella Bacon may have gotten the high fives – very well-deserved, I might add – after a clutch 2-out double in the bottom of the eighth inning brought home Sammie Bland with the only run of the first game and a 1-0 Huskers win.

However, on a night where Husker bats were mostly silenced by Iowa’s Jalen Adams, it was Kaylin Kinney who matched Adams inning after inning to thwart the Hawkeye’s upset bid by scattering 6 hits and two walks over an 8-inning shutout of Iowa. Iowa threatened a few times, but Kinney always left them stranded, most notably in the 3rd and 6th innings where she fired strikeouts both times with runners on the corners to end things.

Finally in the 8th, the Huskers bats found their flame. Bland reached on an infield single and Sydney Gray laced one into left to put Sammie in scoring position. Two fly outs followed, but then up came Bacon, the Omaha native and Millard West grad who transferred back to her home state from Purdue with possibly her biggest hit of the year.

The Huskers had their first win of the day, but the stress levels weren’t coming down.

In Game 2, the Huskers appeared to have things well in hand after a 4-run 3rd inning highlighted by a Billie Andrews 2-run double. This was followed by Billie and Bland scoring on wild pitches.

Then, trailing 4-0, Iowa center fielder, Grace Banes – a .231 hitter with only 4 extra base hits on the season (all doubles) – decided to have the game of her life and try to steal one for Iowa all by her lonesome.

First, she drove one over the fence in left center, a solo shot which put Iowa on the board for the first time all day. Iowa scored 2 more in the 5th to cut the deficit to 1, but the Huskers answered with a run of their own when Peyton Cody knocked in Bland who was 1-2 and also walked twice. The lead was back up to 5-3.

The in the top of the 7th, up came Banes again after the first two Iowa batters reached by single and walk. After running the count to 1-2 and fouling off a couple of pitches, Banes turned on the next one and sent her second home run of the game – and season – out to left and suddenly Iowa was up 6-5 and disaster loomed for Nebraska.

With a victory now in play, Iowa went back to their ace Adams to try and nail down a critical upset against their rival. But this time, it wasn’t going to take 8 innings to get to her.

With one out, Peyton Cody walked, but Game 1’s hero Bacon popped up to short. Up came Ava Bredwell who was 0-6 on the day thus far. Apparently, it just meant she was due. After fouling a few pitches off and taking a ball, Bredwell calmly swatted the 1-2 pitch over the left field fence for the second walk-off of the day, a 7-6 win and the sweep.

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Dillon Galloway

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The Huskers return to action against 1st place Northwestern at Bowlin Stadium in Lincoln at 5:30 on Friday evening.

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