Nov. 25—OTTUMWA — In the wake of a pair of lawsuits brought by Summit Carbon Solutions against two county boards of supervisors, Wapello County supervisor Jerry Parker said his county's working relationship with another pipeline company, Navigator CO2, has been sound so far.

Parker addressed the topic during Tuesday's board of supervisors meeting. Both Summit Carbon Solutions and Navigator are aiming to build carbon-capture pipelines throughout the state to eliminate carbon dioxide.

However, there have been concerns lately regarding the methods for building the pipelines. The Iowa Utilities Board recently denied a request by the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska last summer for an environmental impact study related to Navigator's pipeline. Also, there are fears of eminent domain, where land could be confiscated to build the pipeline, as well as potential hazards involved.

"I've had no property owners come to me about it. When we had the other pipeline, very, very few really came to talk to us," Parker said. "When I was at the Iowa State Association of Counties meeting, we were given a copy of ordinances that we can pass, but we've not looked at doing that yet.

"There's still time."

Parker discussed the ordinances in general.

"What the ordinances basically say is that they want us to move it farther away from the city limits in case the city wanted to annex, that they wouldn't have the pipeline there," he said. "That might sound good, but you don't know what annexation is going to take place in what direction."

Parker said recent annexation has not been toward where the pipeline would run, but it's been "north, toward the airport."

"So the opportunity and the reasons to annex to the east hasn't created a problem for us," he said. "An ordinance is still a consideration, and there are a few counties that have done that. Generally, those that have want to stop the pipeline and create whatever roadblocks they can. That wouldn't be our intention. We want to preserve land and make it easier."

The Navigator pipeline will cross through the northeast corner of the county, and would stand to provided increased revenue from property taxes.

The Summit lawsuits allege that the Shelby and Story county boards of supervisors are "attempting to impose on the project sitting requirements that are the exclusive province of federal regulations." Both counties passed ordinances in the interest of "public safety." The Shelby County ordinances would force pipeline companies to obtain county permits for construction and put in place restrictions on proximity to homes, schools and farms.

However the process plays out over the next couple years, Parker said, there has been transparency during the process to this point.

"I spoke to Navigator last week. They stop in when they're going through the area to update us on where they're at," Parker said. "There's going to be delays because of things that have happened at the Iowa Utilities Board, but none of us have anything to say about that. They'll just update us."

— Chad Drury can be reached at cdrury@ottumwacourier.com, and on Twitter @ChadDrury