Senator Jesse Green

A bill that continues to be worked on in the Iowa Legislature is happening as lawmakers are now in overtime. 

According to the Legislative Services Agency, the official end to the 91st Iowa General Assembly was on May 2nd, but lawmakers are once again still debating on a few issues, one being on eminent domain use on agricultural land. Several bills were proposed at the beginning of the Legislative Session, due to Summit Carbon Solutions applying for a second phase to construct additional miles of underground pipeline that would transport carbon dioxide from ethanol plants to an underground storage facility in North Dakota. 

District 24 Senator Jesse Green still believes his bill, Senate File 92, that prevents eminent domain use on agricultural land for underground carbon dioxide pipelines, is the way to go.

“My bill that the House did pass was dealing with projects that are in the future, because I was one of many other legislators that signed on to a separate lawsuit that dealt with phase one. So that’s my position is that I think we need to pass legislation that prevents eminent domain on carbon pipeline for the future, and let the lawsuit that we signed onto play itself out on phase one.”

Green believes a bill will be passed this session, but with other lawmakers taking passionate stances, it is not a guarantee that his bill will be the one that is approved by the Senate.