Earlier this week, Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds vetoed a bill that would have put limitations and restrictions on the use of eminent domain for hazardous liquid underground pipeline projects.
One of the original draftees of House File 639 was Greene County Attorney Thomas Laehn, who explains a group of Republican legislators asked him to draft the bill and there were concerns that staffers for the lawmakers were prohibited from writing it. He tells Raccoon Valley Radio one of the prominent parts was a company could qualify to use eminent domain if they can prove they are a “common carrier,” meaning the company is transporting other people’s goods, which he claims Summit Carbon Solutions is not.
The company that is based in Ames, is seeking to build an underground pipeline across five Midwestern states to transport liquid carbon dioxide and store it in an underground facility in North Dakota.
Governor Reynolds gave some reasons why she vetoed the bill including a project that a company is doing in southwest Iowa that has 100 percent voluntary easement agreements but the bill would have killed the project, as well as putting Iowa at risk for energy reliability, reputation and economy where businesses would have the confidence to invest, among other reasons.
District 24 Senator Jesse Green was not surprised by the governor’s decision as he had objections to the bill when he was of the minority that voted against it in the Senate. Some of his disagreements with House File 639 were that it should only apply to future projects, it was too broad to include all hazardous liquid pipelines, and that the state could be sued if the governor would have signed it. He does support going back for a special session, as he explains why he is motivated to do so.
“In my district there’s a lot of scared people. There’s a lot of people that are adamantly opposed to this project, and I don’t want them to sit in uncertainty for another six months until we meet back next session. My opinion would be a little bit different than an opinion of a legislator that doesn’t have a pipeline going through their district. And so that’s why I have a little bit more urgent request to leadership to call a special session.”
Laehn was frustrated with the governor’s decision to not approve the bill as 79 percent of Iowans oppose the pipeline project by Summit, but he also supports the lawmakers having a special session.
“What is at stake here is our Constitutional rights. The Legislature is in a position to defend our Constitutional rights against the wishes of the governor, if need be, and they have an obligation to do that. And our Constitutional rights are being violated. So I would absolutely support them going into special session, either to override the veto or to enact an alternative piece of legislation that would accomplish the same end.”
While Green does not believe there are enough votes in the House and Senate to override the veto, he and Laehn both believe one simple way to clear up language in a new bill is to prohibit companies from using eminent domain on agricultural land for underground carbon dioxide pipelines. Green further clarifies that since Summit was given a preliminary permit for its first phase, he would then look to allow companies like Summit to increase the area in which they can look to and get 100 percent voluntary easements which would no longer necessitate needing to use eminent domain.