Iowans have powerful traction in their fight to ban eminent domain for carbon pipelines. Many landowners on Summit Carbon Solutions’ proposed expansion route are refusing to sign away their land. Instead of accepting that its project is not wanted, Summit is doubling down on false solutions like expanding the notification corridor for pipelines. Let’s make it clear: The solution to Iowa’s property rights crisis is a ban on eminent domain for carbon pipelines.
Four years ago, thousands of Iowans in Summit’s chosen “notification corridor” received a life-changing letter stating that Summit had targeted their land for a risky carbon pipeline. Those unwilling to go along with Summit’s plan would face having their land forcibly taken via eminent domain. This initial letter is required by law to inform landowners of their rights, describe the Iowa Utilities Commission permitting process and extend an invitation to an informational meeting to learn more about the proposed project.
Notification corridors are a critical aspect of the pipeline permitting process. The letters sent to those in the notification corridor are typically how people find out about a project, and the rights they have as targeted landowners. Without this initial notice, many Iowans would be deprived of their due process rights to defend their land from being taken by the government.
Summit, like all hazardous pipeline companies, picks its own notification corridor. It determines the “preferred route” and sets a buffer distance of the company’s choosing. The pipeline company can then reroute the pipeline, as necessary, anywhere within that corridor. Currently, a pipeline company cannot route its pipeline outside of the notification corridor without approval from the Iowa Utilities Commission and going back to square one to ensure Iowans have due process.
This process works. It allows targeted landowners time to research the project, obtain legal counsel, and participate in the permitting process. No Iowan asked for this system to be changed.
it is the brainchild of an industry desperate to protect its unconstrained power.
After landowners successfully put a property rights bill on a path toward Gov. Kim Reynolds’ desk in 2025, state Sen. Mike Bousselot and allies proposed a new idea: removing the notification corridor. Some senators even dropped the first part of the phrase and just called it a corridor — forget the notification part!
This is nothing more than a distraction. Removing the notification corridor would not be a gift to Iowans concerned about property rights. It would be a gift to Summit in its struggle to find landowners willing to sign a voluntary easement agreement.
Carbon pipelines do not provide a public good. They provide private profit to a handful of wealthy investors at the expense of everyday people — our land, our safety, and on our dime. They should not qualify for eminent domain. Iowa must ban eminent domain for carbon pipelines.
Legislators who believe removing the notification corridor is the solution are probably listening to Summit more than the people who elected them. Iowans aren’t asking for a change in notification corridors. We’re demanding a ban on eminent domain for carbon pipelines. Nothing less.
Jess Mazour is a lifelong Iowan and is the Conservation Program Associate for the Sierra Club Iowa Chapter. She has organized Iowans opposed to carbon pipelines since 2021.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Summit wants to distract us from property rights and eminent domain | Opinion
Reporting by Jess Mazour / Des Moines Register
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