Opinion: Reject the carbon pipelines, which are not supported by science or ethics
I urge the Iowa Utilities Board to deny building permits for the Summit, Navigator, and ADM/Wolf CO2 pipelines in Iowa for three reasons.
First, the evidence from scientists and engineers at the University of Iowa and Iowa State University:
1. Complete capture of CO2 during ethanol production would have very minor effects on U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.
2. The amount of CO2 captured during ethanol production would be a tiny fraction of what would be emitted out of vehicle tailpipes.
3. Eminent domain used to build CO2 pipelines in Iowa would force farmers and landowners to allow degradation of their fields and forests for very little public benefit.
4. Allowing profits to accrue to private pipeliners using eminent domain would be a corruption of the ideal of private sacrifice for public good and should be prevented.
More: Editorial: Carbon pipelines have a long way to go to earn Iowans' trust
Second, we have better methods of sequestering CO2 on the land than building expensive, disruptive pipelines. As a Polk County, Iowa, Century Farm owner, let me describe those better strategies for sequestering CO2, reducing our greenhouse gas emissions, and improving water quality as well. I have put all these practices into place on my farm. They are practical and make a difference:
1. Solar energy generation with electric vehicle on-farm charging.
2. Cover cropping with no tillage.
3. Edge-of-field practices: stream buffers, terraces, a waterway, saturated buffers and a wood-chip bio-reactor.
Third, these pipelines pose serious ethical problems:
1. Ex-governor Terry Branstad appointed two of the three members of the Iowa Utilities Board and now works for Summit.
2. Samantha Norris is legal counsel for Navigator CO2 Ventures and was legal counsel for the board in 2018 and 2019.
3. Richard Lozier is a current Iowa Utilities Board member and was appointed by Branstad and worked for a law firm that represented the Dakota Access pipeline.
4. U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack’s son Jess Vilsack works for the Summit legal team.
5. Bruce Rastetter, CEO of Summit, has donated $124,898 to Gov. Kim Reynolds’ campaigns since 2015.
6. Both Jeffrey Boeyink and Jake Ketzner work for Summit. Boeyink was Branstad’s chief of staff in the past, and Ketzner served in the same role for Reynolds.
7. Josh Byrnes, who is a member of the utilities board, was appointed by Reynolds, and his daughter is Reynolds' executive assistant.
8. Reynolds has appointed members to her Carbon Sequestration Task Force who are industry insiders: Geri Huser, Iowa Utilities Board chair; Debbie Durham, Iowa Economic Development Authority irector; Kayla Lyon, Iowa Department of Natural Resources director; and Scott Marler, Iowa Department of Transportation director.
How can Iowans be assured that the board will make a fair decision when the deck appears to be stacked against us?
For these three reasons, I urge you to deny permitting for the Summit, Navigator, and ADM/Wolf pipelines across land owned by Iowa’s taxpayers. This includes denying the use of eminent domain to take private farmland to build those CO2 pipelines.
Lee S. Tesdell lives on his farm in Polk County. He works to implement conservation practices on his land.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Opinion: Carbon pipelines not supported by science or ethics
