On Wednesday, the Iowa Utilities Commission issued a construction permit for the "base scope," sometimes referred to as "phase one," of the Summit carbon capture pipeline. The stretch of pipeline would run through the Montogomery County farm of Tom and Susie McDonald.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Behind me, that cornfield in the distance, is where Summit Carbon Solutions wants to put a carbon capture pipeline. I’m your southwest Iowa neighborhood reporter, Katrina Markel, in Montgomery County. And I’m speaking with the McDonald Family, who own that field, and they say, they don’t want the pipeline.
Tom McDonald: “I don’t want this. It should not be forced on me.”
The Summit pipeline will carry liquified CO2 from Iowa ethanol plants to a site in North Dakota. Opponents mention several concerns including safety, water usage, crop productivity.
For farmers Tom and Susie McDonald, and their 18-year-old son, Levi, it’s about being able to do what they want with their land.
“We can’t do any of it now, it’s just — our plans I’ve had for 35 years, I can’t do,” Tom said.
The McDonalds planned to build a new home on land that is part of the “base scope,” or “phase one,” of the Summit pipeline. There will be a permanent easement on their property when Levi or anyone else takes over the farm.
“He can’t give this to me free and clear anymore. This will always be here,” Levi said.
Tom and Susie say they asked Summit to move the pipeline to less productive ground nearby, but the company wouldn’t do that.
Summit spokeswoman Sabrina Zenor says the company tries to work with landowners when possible.
“We have to stay within the corridor, but if there are ways to work within that corridor and find a mutually agreeable path with the landowners who are in that corridor, we do that,” said Zenor.
“It’s just a complete invasion to me of our property rights, our lives, our freedom,” said Susie.
Use of Eminent Domain by the pipeline company worries landowners. Summit says that’s not its preference.
“We’re not using that today. They have to talk about it because it’s a regulatory requirement but our goal has always been 100% voluntary easement agreement,” said Zenor.
For Tom, it’s about the past, his grandfather who immigrated from Ireland to Iowa, and the future: “When I bought it, I thought it would be a nice place to build some day and retire. And I met Susie. I don’t know why I get choked up over this.”
The McDonalds also have a second parcel of land that would be part of the pipeline expansion. The Iowa Utilities Commission has not yet granted a construction permit for that section of pipeline.
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