Judicial authorities have censured an attorney who has led the charge against construction of a major carbon dioxide pipeline in Iowa, saying he falsified an affidavit submitted in opposition to the controversial Summit Carbon Solutions project.
The Iowa Supreme Court publicly reprimanded Omaha attorney Brian Jorde in June based on the findings of an investigation by the state’s Attorney Disciplinary Board. The reprimand relates to the lengthy proceedings in which the Iowa Utilities Commission in 2023 and 2024 approved Ames-based Summit’s proposal to build a portion of the pipeline in Iowa, part of a five-state network that would transport liquefied carbon dioxide emissions from ethanol plants to an underground storage site in North Dakota.
In Iowa and other states, the plan has drawn particular opposition from landowners in the pipeline’s path who object to state utilities boards, including Iowa’s, empowering Summit to use eminent domain to obtain land for the project’s use from property owners who aren’t willing to sell it access. Hundreds testified or filed objections in the Iowa proceedings, with Jorde representing more than 150.
He’s also represented property owners against Summit in Nebraska and South and North Dakota.
Jorde wrote, signed woman’s affidavit without consent, board finds
The disciplinary board found Jorde corresponded with an Iowa woman who agreed to let him use in South Dakota permit proceedings research she had compiled to argue against the project. Jorde filed the woman’s research with South Dakota authorities, attaching what purported to be an affidavit by the woman, with her electronic signature, claiming her opinions were backed by “a reasonable degree of professional certainty.”
“I hope you find this all as shocking, or perhaps as predictable, as I did,” the affidavit said.
But the board found the woman had said no such thing. The woman, whom Jorde was not formally representing, never saw or signed the affidavit, and upon seeing it filed, swiftly emailed Jorde, asking him to withdraw it.
“The statements ascribed to me were not statements I would choose to submit, and in my opinion, they have an arrogant, derogatory tone,” she wrote. “You should not confuse what you think is the best approach to speaking on someone’s behalf without giving them the chance for review and modification. Words matter.”
In what he later characterized as an error by his staff, Jorde also filed the same affidavit, unsigned, before the Iowa board. Despite the woman protesting to Jorde within days, and in numerous subsequent emails, the disciplinary board found he took no action to withdraw or correct the filings for nine months.
The issue did not come to light until the woman eventually copied an email to Nebraska disciplinary authorities and an attorney for the Iowa Utilities Commission, who forwarded it to Iowa authorities
Attorney denies wrongdoing, says he’s now ‘moved on’
The disciplinary board noted there is no evidence the falsified affidavit affected the outcome of the proceedings in Iowa or South Dakota. Nonetheless, the board found Jorde violated ethical rules in both states through his initial filings and failure to promptly correct them.
“The duty of candor is one of the most basic and fundamental obligations we require of lawyers,” the board wrote. “The board found it quite concerning that you persistently denied all wrongdoing in this matter.”
Jorde, an attorney with Domina Law Group, touts on the firm’s website his work opposing not just the Summit project but, in earlier action, the Keystone XL crude oil pipeline from Canada to Illinois and Texas. In an email, he told the Des Moines Register his focus remains on “fighting for affected landowners and against those who support using eminent domain to force a CO2 pipeline onto landowners’ property against their will.”
“I decided not to contest this matter,” he said of the Disciplinary Board investigation. “I’ve moved on.”
Jorde’s frequent foes in the pipeline industry are claiming some measure of vindication from Jorde’s discipline. The American Carbon Alliance, in a statement, emphasized that the board had found Jorde’s conduct “misleading or deceptive.”
“Iowans deserve to know that the loudest voice opposing this effort has now been formally disciplined by the state’s highest court,” CEO Tom Buis said.
William Morris covers courts for the Des Moines Register. He can be contacted at wrmorris2@registermedia.com or 715-573-8166.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Attorney for Summit pipeline opponents reprimanded for falsified affidavit
Reporting by William Morris, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
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