To the editor:

Every farmer and land owner should be very afraid of the Iowa Utilities Board.

On March 9, 2022, Governor Kim Reynolds gave a speech in which she said, “As long as I am Governor, Iowa is going to be a state where you can live your life freely, where you don’t have to wake up in the morning and worry about the next thing that the government is going to do to you, your business, or your children.”

Apparently that does not apply to land owners if a private company wants to build a pipeline for private profit.

Summit Carbon Solutions, Navigator, and ADM-Wolf have all started the process to obtain construction permits and the power of eminent domain from the Iowa Utilities Board. These are all private companies seeking private profits. If the Iowa Utilities Board gives these companies the power of eminent domain, there will be a flood of pipeline permit applications and no farmer or land owner will be safe from the Iowa Utilities Board. The Iowa Utilities Board will be taking private property from one private citizen and giving it to another private citizen whenever it believes the latter would put it to better use.

I am a farmer and land owner in the path of the Summit Carbon Solutions hazardous liquid CO2 pipeline. The hazardous liquid CO2 pipelines have unique safety concerns. Natural gas pipelines operate at about 900 pounds per square inch pressure. The hazardous liquid CO2 pipelines will be operated at a pressure of 2,100 pounds per square inch. The engineering requirements increase exponentially when you go from 900 psi to 2,100 psi. CO2 is an asphyxiant. CO2 is heavier than air and it can flow to low lying areas. If there is a leak or rupture, every living thing within 1,300 feet will be dead in less than four minutes.

Helping the ethanol industry and saving the planet are false flags and public relations spin. Summit Carbon Solutions claims that their hazardous liquid CO2 pipeline will help ethanol plants improve their carbon score and then they will be able to sell ethanol in California. California has made a commitment to transition from internal combustion engine vehicles to 100% electric vehicles by 2035. There will be no increased demand for ethanol in California.

In March of 2020, Archer Daniels Midland issued a report. The report stated that 70% of their carbon score is attributed to using electricity that is generated from coal. The actual production of ethanol is not the culprit.

There are many reasons to be concerned about the construction of hazardous liquid CO2 pipelines across Iowa. Every farmer and land owner should be worried about what Iowa will look like if the Iowa Utilities Board continues to grant the power of eminent domain to private companies seeking private profits.

Dan Tronchetti

Paton