Former supervisor gives dire pipeline warning

LEE COUNTY – A dire warning came from a familiar face at Monday’s Lee County Board of Supervisors' meeting.

Former Supervisor Don Hunold spoke to supervisors regarding his concerns about the proposed carbon sequestration pipeline through Lee County.

Hunold gave a stark warning to the board, and to the public in general, about not only the political fallout of eminent domain being considered for the pipeline, but also the dangers of the structure.

“Judas Priest, West Point you’d be dead. If it goes where they say it’s going to go, if there’s any wind at all, they're all going to be dead,” Hunold said regarding a rupture in the pipeline.

“It’s really kinda sad.”

Hunold said only 13.9% of landowners have signed onto the pipeline’s easement request and the rest have not agreed to allow the pipeline to go through private land.

Navigator, Summit and Wolf, all companies that have submitted plans to the Iowa Utility Board for approval are hoping to capture carbon dioxide from fertilizer plants in the Midwest and bury deep under ground.

But opponents are making headway in the fight to prevent the pipeline, including the company’s use of eminent domain. That tactic has been granted in the past for companies that are serving the public good. Opponents are saying the carbon levels in the atmosphere are some of the lowest on record and capturing the carbon dioxide isn’t necessary, therefore no public good is being undertaken.

Supervisor Ron Fedler said he’s confirmed that Illinois has declined Navigator’s permit application in that state, leaving the company with no place to sequester the liquidized carbon dioxide.

“They said they were going to run the pipeline under the river and into Illinois and I’ve heard Illinois declined them the permit,” Fedler said.

Hunold confirmed that statement saying the state of Illinois had declined the permit application.

Plans initially included running the pipeline into southwestern Illinois and pumping deep into the bedrock where it will dissipate over centuries.

But Fedler said he doesn’t believe the company ever intended on burying the carbon but converting it to methane and selling it as an alternative fuel.

Hunold said the carbon being pulled from fertilizer facilities across the state and into South Dakota is some of the purest forms of carbon. Iowa Fertilizer Co. is one of the plants that has indicated it would be hooking up to the CO2 pipeline to minimize its carbon footprint and take advantage of federal tax credits.

“Right at this point, they have no place to sequester that CO2. South Dakota is the same way. There’s a huge land dispute up there and I think it went to the Supreme Court and they won it,” Hunold said.

“So the question is, if they can’t put it anywhere, is it dead in its tracks? I don’t know.”

Supervisor Chairman Garry Seyb said there are some tight time limits on these permits and he thinks there may be some end runs in the works to get it done.

“There’s a push right now to get people to sign up,” Seyb said.

Hunold said he heard at a meeting he attended in Fort Dodge over the weekend, that people are saying the counties have the most power.

An opponent of the pipeline told Supervisors in June that he’s working with an attorney who’s looking to get a county in Iowa to sign on as the plaintiff in a suit against the Iowa Utility Board regarding its actions permitting the pipeline work to continue.

“According to the folks up there, the most power lies within the counties,” Hunold said. He said there were more than 200 people at the Fort Dodge meeting.

Governor Reynolds recently replaced two members of the IUB and those two are already functioning on the board.

Hunold said legislation proposed at the Iowa Capitol has moved through the House, but always gets hung up in the Senate.

“They get slow-walked pretty bad. I don’t know you tell me, but my opinion is that something is not right here,” Hunold said.

“If they got my rights (regarding his land), they got yours."