One of the more controversial bills that was debated in the last week of the Iowa Legislative session, saw a close approval vote in the Senate, and one local Senator was disappointed with the outcome.

According to the legislation, House File 639, it would not allow the use of eminent domain if a company was not a common carrier, along with several other changes that would impact both the first and second phases of an underground carbon dioxide pipeline by Summit Carbon Solutions. District 24 Senator Jesse Green tells Raccoon Valley Radio there were three groups of Senators on this bill. He states that one group were those that wanted to see the project through and did not want to change the process. 

Green points out the larger group that he was with only wanted to eliminate the use of eminent domain for future projects, including the proposed second phase by Summit. He explains the reasons for that were because he signed onto a lawsuit with other Republican Senators on the first phase and he wanted to see that lawsuit play out, as well as the concern of a lawsuit by Summit if House File 639 was passed and signed into law. The final group, Green explains, was the 12 hold-out Republicans who publicly would not approve a state budget unless House File 639 was approved. He describes how he tried to remedy that before the full vote.

“Leadership worked in good faith with me on an amendment to that, which reflected what I campaigned on and my intentions, and we put that up for a vote first, and the Senate turned it down. And that left it to a clean (House File) 639 bill (and) we put that up for a vote. All of the Democrats, except for one, and 11 of the 12 Republicans that made that pledge voted in favor of that bill. And then, about 22 of us Republicans decided to vote ‘no’ because we didn’t feel it was the right approach.”   

Following the vote, Green shares his thoughts of what the ramifications could be if the bill is signed into law by Governor Kim Reynolds.

“I think without a doubt there’s going to be a lawsuit and I don’t know if we’ll (the state) win. We changed the rules in the middle of the game, but maybe we will win. That’s the beauty of our system is that the courts will hear this out and we’ll see what happens. I’ve heard opinions on both sides of that issue whether or not we would win a countersuit.  

Green adds that he doesn’t want this issue to continue to drag out for several years, because he wants to do what’s right by the landowners, because this issue is all about them.