Doug Burgum’s support for carbon pipelines could spell presidential campaign trouble in Iowa

FARGO — North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum has spent a good portion of his time on the presidential campaign trail in Iowa, where he’s been able to leverage his small-town Midwestern roots and familiarity with agriculture.

Of all the Republican presidential candidates, Burgum may be uniquely qualified to campaign in Iowa, which is home to the first contest in the presidential primaries. But his position on one issue of particular importance to rural voters could pose a challenge for his campaign.

Disputes surrounding the construction of carbon dioxide-carrying pipelines are a hot-button issue in Iowa, and Burgum is a big supporter of one of the projects, which could be key for offsetting North Dakota’s climate change-linked greenhouse gas emissions.

In 2021, Burgum made an unusual move for a Republican governor of a top oil-producing state:

He called for North Dakota to become carbon neutral by 2030.

How does a state that produces more than a million barrels of oil a day aim to offset its emissions? By piping in CO2 from other states.

Projects to do just that are happening in Iowa, where three companies are seeking to build pipelines from Iowa ethanol plants to carry liquefied CO2 out of state for storage in an effort to combat climate change.

Iowa-based Summit Carbon Solutions is in the process of developing a 2,000-mile pipeline that would carry emissions from ethanol plants in Iowa across five states to be stored in underground rock formations in North Dakota. Permit discussions with regulators in states along the route are ongoing.

Burgum is one of the project’s biggest cheerleaders. In the past, he defended using eminent domain to make landowners sell access for pipelines to developers. He

defended the practice

at an Iowa campaign event in July, the Des Moines Register reported.

“We wouldn’t have an interstate highway system. We wouldn’t have the transcontinental railroads. We wouldn’t have just about anything in this country (without eminent domain),” the newspaper quoted Burgum as saying. “It’s very difficult to get 100% of people to agree. The important thing is that they have an opportunity in that process to be heard and be fairly compensated.”

Pipeline projects are highly controversial in rural Iowa, and polling suggests the vast majority of Iowans are opposed to the use of eminent domain to build them. A 2023

Des Moines Register poll

found more than 3 in 4 Iowans oppose eminent domain use in carbon-capture pipeline projects.

There’s also been a push in that state’s Legislature to ban the use of eminent domain for those projects. A bill passed in the state’s House earlier this year but never got a hearing in the Senate.

At a campaign event earlier in September,

Burgum clashed with a group of voters

on the pipeline issue, according to an NBC report. One voter accused Burgum of being a supporter of eminent domain, a characterization the governor disputed.

Pipeline opposition has led to unlikely alliances between landowners and environmental activists. Less than 10 years ago, both Iowa farmers and the Sierra Club found themselves opposing the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline through the state. Now, they’re working together again to oppose the construction of pipelines carrying carbon dioxide out of the state.

Environmentalists oppose the disruptions caused by pipeline construction and see carbon-capture projects as wishful thinking or a ploy by polluters attempting to continue greenhouse gas-emitting activities.

But it’s Iowa farmers and landowners, who tend to lean conservative, whom Burgum needs to worry about in the nation’s first presidential primary next year. According to the Des Moines Register, 72% of Iowa Republicans oppose eminent domain for carbon projects.

Some farmers don’t want their land dug up for pipeline construction, and there’s a chance government approval for projects would give the developers eminent domain rights, allowing them to build without permission.

That hasn’t happened for the carbon pipeline projects in Iowa, but it has in the past for other pipelines, including Dakota Access, and developers could do that again. Summit has told Iowa lawmakers it will need eminent domain to complete the project.

While carbon pipelines don’t run the risk of spilling thousands of gallons of a hazardous substance like oil pipelines do, they aren’t 100% safe. A carbon pipeline explosion in Mississippi sent more than 40 people to the hospital in 2020. 

Although there are not many safety incidents with CO2 pipelines, opponents say what happened in Mississippi shows the public should exercise caution. With

billions in federal dollars available for CO2 capture

and storage projects and Biden administration support for thousands of miles of pipeline, networks could grow.

Burgum has downplayed safety concerns about the pipelines in the past, telling the editorial board of The Bismarck Tribune that North Dakota has had pipelines operate safely for decades.

He

told the board

that critics of pipelines are “Trying to turn carbon and CO2 into the devil element on the periodic table,” and that carbon sequestration could actually help solve major environmental problems.