Summit receives pipeline permit in Iowa

(The Center Square) - The Iowa Utilities Commission issued Summit Carbon Solutions a permit to construct a carbon dioxide pipeline after the company met conditions required by the commission.

The pipeline through 29 Iowa counties is part of a large project that also crosses through South Dakota, Nebraska and Minnesota. The pipeline ends in a North Dakota carbon capture facility.

The IUC required Summit to make "numerous compliance filings" as part of its approval in June, according to a news release.

"On August 5, 2024, Summit Carbon filed the compliance filings required by the IUC. The filings included revised petition exhibits," the news release said. "As it relates to the revised Exhibit H's, Summit Carbon states it made the required globally applicable changes to all outstanding Exhibit H's and made the modifications ordered by the IUC."

Iowa is the only state that has approved the project. North Dakota regulators rejected the project, but the company is resubmitting it. Summit is also planning to apply again in South Dakota, where the Public Service Commission there turned down the project. The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission just wrapped up two public hearings on the pipeline.

The pipeline has faced numerous roadblocks. Last week, the South Dakota Supreme Court asked a lower court to revisit questions about the status of Summit Carbon Solutions and its authorization to conduct surveys on private land.

Landowners said in two separate court cases that Summit was not a common carrier and carbon dioxide is not a commodity, so eminent domain laws do not apply.

However, the district courts did not agree and sided with Summit. The Supreme Court said it was "premature to conclude that SCS is a common carrier, especially where the record before us suggests that CO2 is being shipped and sequestered underground with no apparent productive use."

Summit said in a statement provided to The Center Square it is evaluating the court's decision and looks forward "to providing the information requested to the District Court that reaffirms our role as a common carrier, and that CO2 is a commodity."