During a meeting held by the Iowa Utilities Commission at Fort Frenzy, multiple people went to the microphone to denounce the project as unnecessary, detrimental to farm ground or dangerous.

Former U.S. Rep. Steve King, of Kiron, said he believed the only real purpose of the project is to give Iowa businessman Bruce Rastetter “a monopoly of control of 57 ethanol plants.”

Just one person spoke in favor of the proposal. Ryan Filloon, a regional vice president for Poet, which has an ethanol plant near Gowrie, described the plan as a“once in a generation project” that would sustain the economic growth of farmers, biorefiners and rural communities.

“Without the ability to transport carbon dioxide, biorefiners will be at a severe competitive disadvantage,” he said.

- Messenger photo by Bill Shea
This map shows the proposed routes of the Summit Carbon Solutions pipeline in Webster County. The blue line on the right side of the map is the main pipeline; the purple lines across the middle of the map show the proposed links to the Valero Renewables and Poet ethanol plants.

The project

Earlier this summer, the Iowa Utilities Commission approved a proposal to build a pipeline that would collect carbon dioxide from ethanol plants and transport it to North Dakota, where it would be pumped underground into rock formations. By capturing carbon dioxide that would otherwise be released into the atmosphere, the project will reduce the carbon intensity of ethanol, making it more marketable, according to Jake Ketzner, vice president of government relations for Summit Carbon Solutions.

“This project is about opening access to new markets for biorefineries and farmers,” he said.

“With a lower carbon intensity, ethanol can be sold at a premium,” he added.

Ketzner added that with a lower carbon intensity, ethanol can become the basis for sustainable aviation fuel. He said a plant in Georgia is using imported sugar cane to make sustainable aviation fuel because it can’t get low carbon intensity ethanol.

The main portion of the pipeline that has been approved by the Iowa Utilities Commission would cross Webster County from north to south on the east side of the county, passing Duncombe, Lehigh and Harcourt.

The project discussed Wednesday would consist of 29 miles of pipeline that would connect the Valero Renewables and Poet ethanol plants to that main pipeline.

It would consist of six to eight inch diameter pipe, according to Kylie Lange, senior project manager for Summit Carbon Solutions.

She said the company plans to file for its permit for that line in October and have it operational in 2026.

The company will now begin negotiating with landowners to purchase property for the line.

The critics

A total of 11 people addressed the Summit Carbon Solutions representatives and two representatives of the Iowa Utilities Commission. The majority were critical of the proposal. Filloon was the only person who was firmly in favor of it.

Webster County resident Ron Tigner cited studies from Yale University and other places which he said prove that sequestering carbon dioxide underground is unnecessary.

Ketzner did not directly challenge the studies Tigner talked about.

“It has to do with keeping ethanol competitive,” Ketzner said.

He said his company did not write the carbon intensity rules and regulations ethanol producers are now dealing with.

“We’re helping our plant partners meet them,” he said.

Tigner and at least one other resident raised the prospect of people suffocating in clouds of carbon dioxide released if there is a leak in the pipeline.

There have been carbon dioxide pipelines in place since the 1970s and no one has died as a result of a leak from them, according to Dave Daum, senior director of health, safety, security and environment for Summit Carbon Solutions. He said pipelines are the safer than trucks, trains and ships for transporting materials.

One resident mentioned lasting damage to farm fields following the completion of the Dakota Access oil pipeline. Ketzner replied that stronger rules on restoring agricultural land have been enacted since that pipeline was completed.