Summit Carbon Solutions hires former WOI TV anchor as community relations director
Former WOI TV anchor Sabrina Ahmed Zenor will serve as community relations director for Summit Carbon Solutions, an Ames startup seeking to build one of three carbon capture pipelines proposed in Iowa.
Ahmed Zenor, who used her maiden name only on-air, will lead Summit's efforts to support local organizations "that will improve the lives of families across the Midwest, particularly when it comes to causes related to job creation, investing in rural communities, enhancing public safety and reducing emissions," Summit said in a news release announcing her new role.
“Sabrina’s extensive experience in communications and public policy issues makes her uniquely suited to support Summit Carbon Solutions in our ongoing efforts to open new economic opportunities for ethanol producers and strengthen the agricultural marketplace for farmers throughout the Midwest,” Jake Ketzner, Summit's vice president for government and public affairs, said in a statement.
More: Iowa bill would block carbon pipeline developers from using eminent domain power for a year
Summit's pipeline would transport liquefied carbon dioxide emissions from ethanol and other industrial agriculture operations to a site in North Dakota for permanent sequestration a mile underground.
Summit Carbon Solutions is a spinoff of Summit Agricultural Group, a project of Iowa agriculture industrial entrepreneur Bruce Rastetter. It touts the pipeline as aiding Iowa's economy by reducing the carbon footprint of Iowa's nation-leading ethanol industry as the nation seeks to reduce greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change.
MORE: 'The risk is not worth it': Iowans ask regulators to reject proposed carbon capture pipelines
It also says construction of the massive project would provide another big economic boost. A study Summit commissioned from Ernst & Young says it expects to spend $987 million in Iowa building 680 miles of its proposed 2,000-mile pipeline, which will pass through four states. Construction in Iowa over three years is expected to create a total of 6,000 jobs, with workers earning about $64,300 apiece annually, according to the report.
Rastetter's plan has a diverse coalition of critics, from property owners concerned about potential damage to their land to environmentalists who say it's the wrong approach to a problem that demands wind- and solar-based solutions.
Ahmed Zenor was the morning news anchor on We Are Iowa Channel 5 in Des Moines and hosted the station's “This Week in Iowa” series. She left the station in April after a decade there, saying she wanted to spend more time "with my very young and precious family.”
More: What we know about three carbon capture pipelines proposed in Iowa
While at the station, she earned the Walter Cronkite Award for political reporting and the Edward R. Murrow Award for her story “Moving for Medicine.”
Another well-known Iowan also works for Summit Carbon Solutions: former Gov. Terry Branstad, who joined the company last year as a senior policy adviser. Branstad was the U.S. ambassador to China under then-President Donald Trump.
Ahmed Zenor lives in Des Moines with her husband and two young children.
Donnelle Eller covers agriculture, the environment and energy for the Register. Reach her at deller@registermedia.com or 515-284-8457.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Summit Carbon Solutions hires former WOI anchor Sabrina Ahmed Zenor
