Carbon pipelines are dangerous in many ways; we can oppose them together

Since announcing my first run for Congress in January 2022, I’ve spoken with many Republicans, Democrats, Libertarians, and independents alike. One of the greatest concerns among them all is the looming threat of carbon capture pipelines that Bruce Rastetter’s Summit and other companies want to lay across our state.

Their concern, and mine, is that these companies are lobbying our state government to use eminent domain to take our land without our consent, then use it to plant these pipelines. They endanger our public health from risk of fracture, exhaust the water in our state when we are already struggling with water availability due to years of drought, and waste taxpayer money on false climate change technology with a long record of failure, while shackling our producers to an uncertain ethanol market amid the electrification of our vehicle fleet.

The 2020 carbon capture pipeline fracture in Satartia, Mississippi, is a stark example of the public health risk of these pipelines. It only took eight minutes between the rupture happening and the block valves being closed, yet the resulting CO2 plume suffocated many residents as the gas — odorless, colorless, and heavier than oxygen — swept through. The neighbors’ 911 calls from that day are harrowing. Responding emergency management personnel were quoted saying that if the wind blew a different direction that day, people would have died. Everyone in Satartia and its surrounding area was evacuated, with dozens hospitalized. That eight- minute leak released 21,873 barrels of liquid CO2.

A carbon capture fracture is a different animal than an oil pipeline leak. The damage it causes to people, livestock, and crops is harder to control and can be deadly. Alarmingly, Summit refuses to release its CO2 plume projection data regarding their proposed pipelines in Iowa.

These pipelines will misuse our natural resources. Summit has submitted water use permits for these projects that ask to extract hundreds of millions of gallons of water in our state while Iowans struggle with water quality and availability amidst persistent drought.  Cities are already imposing water use restrictions. We can’t afford the additional strain these pipelines will put on Iowa’s water.

These pipelines will further entrench our producers in the agricultural status quo of ethanol, while uncertainty within the industry shows we need more flexibility to meet our future energy challenges, not less.  Our producers deserve statesmen that care more about them than the powerful ag lobbies, statesmen that care about our long term stability.

Randy Feenstra, Iowa’s current 4th District representative, openly advocated for these pipelines in 2021 on social media and in his Dec. 1 essay, “Carbon capture will enhance ethanol industry and support Iowa’s corn growers,” in the Fort Dodge Messenger.

Once I announced my candidacy in January 2022, running against these pipelines and criticizing Feenstra’s support for them, he went silent on the issue and no longer posts about it on social media. His silence is still damning, as he has yet to oppose the pipelines. But considering Bruce Rastetter and Big Oil PACs have donated thousands of dollars to Feenstra, this isn’t surprising.

With public sentiment robustly in opposition to these pipelines, Feenstra now claims they are a state issue as justification for him now not taking a public stance. That didn’t stop him from publicly supporting Rastetter and Summit in 2021, and as federal tax credits are driving the pipeline companies to cross Iowa and our neighboring states, Feenstra cannot credibly claim it’s just a state issue.

I’ve campaigned against these pipelines since the beginning, joining landowners and concerned citizens of all political affiliations at protests and hearings in front of the Iowa Utilities Board, the state entity determining whether these companies will get eminent domain approval for these harmful, wasteful projects.

I have and will always reject corporate PAC money in order to fight for the people of Iowa without fear or hesitation. These eminent-domain driven pipelines are a brazen attempt to take our land, resources, and security so already wealthy corporate elites can make more money while making us shoulder the risk. They may own my opponent, but they don’t own me.  We already forced Navigator to cancel their pipeline.  Let’s keep going.

Let’s fight the good fight together.

Ryan Melton is running for Congress in Iowa’s 4th District. Contact: melton4iowa@gmail.com.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Carbon pipelines are dangerous in many ways; let's oppose them together