The Iowa Senate will take up a bill Friday that would eliminate the use of eminent domain for the construction of hazardous liquid pipelines.
Those who attended a meeting Thursday, May 8, in Jefferson in opposition to the carbon dioxide pipeline proposed by Summit Carbon Solutions learned the Iowa Senate will debate and vote on Friday on a pair of pipeline-related bills.
House Bill 943 eliminates the use of eminent domain for hazardous liquid pipelines. It received bipartisan support and passed 82-12, with 57 Republicans and 25 Democrats voting in favor of it. Rep. Carter Nordman, who represents Greene County, was among the Republicans who voted in favor of the bill.
The Senate on Friday will take up an identical bill and also one identical to House Bill 639, an omnibus bill, which eliminates the use of eminent domain and creates more procedures for the Iowa Utilities Commission. HB 639 was approved 85-10, with Nordman again voting in favor.
Jess Mazour of Sierra Club Iowa (pictured left), encouraged those in opposition to the proposed Summit Carbon pipeline to contact their state senators Friday and demand that they vote to approve Senate bills with language identical to the House bills. She added that Senators should refuse to approve a state budget until the eminent domain bills are passed.
Greene County attorney Thomas Laehn (pictured, right) has been an ally of the Sierra Club in fighting against the proposed pipeline, assisting the county supervisors in their opposition as well.
Laehn spoke at the Thursday evening meeting, adding to the Sierra Club’s objections to the pipeline.
“What’s really at stake tomorrow,” Laehn said, referring to the Friday vote in the Senate, “is whether we’re a democracy or an oligarchy,” and explained an oligarchy is “the rule of the wealthy.”
“I don’t think that’s an overstatement… We know that 78 percent of Iowans are against this (the pipeline). We know the majority of our legislators are against this. We also know that Bruce Rastetter has given campaign donations to key legislators in key positions to prevent us from passing this legislation,” Laehn said.
He went on to claim Rastetter has given donations to members of the Iowa Congressional delegation in return for their efforts in passing the 45Q and 45Z federal tax credits that make carbon dioxide pipelines profitable for investors.
“And we also know how often Bruce Rastetter and Gov Reynolds meet for lunch, and the money he gives to candidates at the state level. And we know that Kim Reynolds hand picked the three members of the Iowa Utilities Commission.
“We know this project doesn’t actually do any good. That’s why environmental groups are opposed to this. They’ll do more harm to the environment in the long run than good. The only benefit this project brings is that it will make Bruce Rastetter and his investors millionaires if not billionaires, overnight. It will make them rich so they can give more money to the politicians who are enacting this whole boondoggle,” Laehn said.
Owners of property in the proposed corridor of the pipeline were encouraged to file as intervenors in the IUC docket, giving them an opportunity to explain their opposition to the IUC before a pipeline permit is granted. About 20 persons attended the meeting.
