Iowa Utilities Commission to decide on hearing dates for Summit pipeline changes

The Iowa Utilities Commission proposed hearing dates Monday for a permit on segments of a carbon sequestration pipeline project proposed in Iowa. 

Supporters of the Summit Carbon Solutions pipeline said the early 2027 hearing dates should be moved up to before the end of 2026, while opponents said the proposed hearing schedule interferes with harvest, winter holidays and calving season. Opponents of the pipeline also argued that the hearings on the company’s second phase of the project should not be heard until the lawsuit over the permit for the pipeline’s initial route has concluded. 

IUC proposed hearing schedules for two segments of pipeline – both less than 5 miles in length – and heard comments from Summit Carbon Solutions’ SCS Carbon Transport, corn, ethanol and labor groups in favor of the project and from landowners and environmental groups opposed to the project. 

Summit Carbon Solutions is planning to build a carbon sequestration pipeline that would connect to biofuel facilities across Iowa and other surrounding states and transport carbon dioxide captured at the plants to be sequestered underground. 

Originally, the company planned to sequester the liquified gas in geological formations in North Dakota, but a law change in South Dakota and additional incentives for enhanced oil recovery have led to a change in plans. The company filed a request to amend its original permit, which was already approved by the IUC, to the new route which reduces the overall number of impacted landowners.

The dockets in discussion Monday were part of Summit’s second phase of the project to add more laterals to the pipeline across Iowa. One docket centered on a 2.98 mile stretch of pipe through Ida County and the other on a 4.08 mile stretch through Floyd County. 

Landowners who have been fighting against the pipeline for several years now questioned Monday how a hearing for the pipeline’s second phase could proceed when Summit’s permit – giving the company the right to eminent domain – is the subject of a lawsuit currently in district court. 

Deborah Main, a participant at Monday’s hearing, said the dockets in discussion were “not self-sustaining” as they are “dependent” on the first phase of the pipeline project. 

“We shouldn’t even be here today,” Main said. “We have the proverbial cart before the horse.”

IUC Chair Sarah Martz reminded participants at the hearing Monday that it was a “procedural” scheduling conference set to establish a hearing schedule and not to discuss the merits of the pipeline project. 

Because both segments were less than 5 miles in length, Martz explained the hearings did not need to take place in the counties and would instead take place in Des Moines. Opposing participants in the scheduling hearing also argued the hearings should be held in the counties so locals can easily participate. 

Under IUC’s proposed hearing schedule for both docket entries, the Ida County segment hearing would be Feb. 23, 2027, with various filings due in the months preceding. For the second docket, IUC proposed a March 23, 2027 hearing.

Brant Leonard, representing SCS Carbon Transport, said the evidence the company planned to present at the future hearings would be “very similar if not identical in many respects” to information the IUC has heard from the “original docket.” 

Leonard said there were five landowners on the Ida County segment and eight on the Floyd County segment that had yet to sign easements with the company. 

Leonard said he anticipated it was “not likely to be a lengthy hearing process” and the company felt the hearings should be held in mid-December, for both segments. 

Representation for Iowa Corn Growers Association, Iowa Renewable Fuels Association and Great Plains Laborers District Council also pushed for earlier hearing dates.

“Again, this has been five years, and we would like to see the hearing or schedule moved and expedited in any way possible,” Richie Schmidt with Great Plains said. 

In filings on the docket, Summit asked the schedules for the two dockets be combined, or to run parallel. 

Christina Gruenhagen, representing Iowa Farm Bureau Federation, asked commissioners if that motion was being denied since the commission proposed two separate schedules. She also asked if there were issues within the docket that would be considered as already decided on by the IUC and therefore not heard again. The answer to this, she said, would “influence” the anticipated length of the hearing and the evidence presented by involved parties. 

Landowners who spoke in opposition to the project said if a hearing is held, it should be later in the year, some suggested June 2027. 

“The deadline there, a lot of that takes place over the holiday season, calving season, early harvesting in the fall,” Don Johannsen, a Cherokee County landowner, said Monday. “This is obviously a schedule that’s for the convenience of the pipeline and not for the landowners and people who would try and talk up against this project.” 

Wally Taylor, legal chair with the Sierra Club Iowa Chapter, questioned why these two dockets were being separated from the other phase two filings.

Martz said the commission would take the input shared into advisement and that the body will issue orders for procedural schedules on the dockets. Martz did not say when the orders will be issued.