Summit says Republican lawmakers lobbed ‘improper attack’

The state Capitol has been a regular gathering spot to protest the use of eminent domain to build carbon dioxide pipelines. (Photo by Jim Obradovich for Iowa Capital Dispatch)

Summit Carbon Solutions castigated a group of Republican state lawmakers who oppose the use of eminent domain for its project, saying their arguments are “perplexing” and unsupported by a majority of the Legislature.

The company, which seeks to build a sprawling carbon dioxide pipeline network in five states, made the remarks this week in response to multiple requests for state regulators to reverse their decision to issue Summit a permit to build in Iowa.

The groups that have filed reconsideration requests with the three-member Iowa Utilities Commission predict that the challenges will fail and that the issue will be decided in court. There were eight reconsideration requests filed by conservation groups, landowners, counties and the Republican Legislative Intervenors for Justice, a group of about 40 state lawmakers.

Their objections to the pipeline project vary, but a main argument is that it’s improper for Summit to use eminent domain to force unwilling landowners to host its system on their properties.

The lawmakers have argued the commissioners were biased toward the company from the start and cherrypicked facts that justified a permit and eminent domain. They say the IUC’s permit process violated the due process rights of landowners and that its legal conclusions conflict with laws, court rulings and the state and federal constitutions.

Summit, in its response to the lawmakers’ request for reconsideration, said the request has no new arguments and “represents an improper attack by a minority of the Legislature on actions taken (or not taken) by that body,” according to IUC documents filed by Summit’s attorneys.

That was, in part, a reference to the failed legislative attempts to limit the use of eminent domain for Summit’s project in recent years. Republicans control the Iowa House — which passed an eminent domain bill — and they also control the Iowa Senate — which refused to consider it.

It’s debatable whether the opposition to eminent domain for the project is a minority opinion among lawmakers. The bill was overwhelmingly approved by the House with 73 “yes” votes, and there was no vote in the Senate, which has 50 members.

“RLIJ is a minority subset of the Iowa Legislature attempting to convince an executive branch agency to adopt a policy position that the legislators could not successfully get through their own branch of government,” Summit’s attorneys wrote. “Second, and even more astounding, RLIJ in nearly every instance is raising issues that are ultimately rooted in Iowa statutes passed by a majority of the Iowa Legislature.”

Summit objected to the other requests for reconsideration largely by saying they, too, contained no new arguments that had not been already considered by the commission. The IUC is expected to respond to the requests in the next two weeks.