Gov Kim Reynolds has vetoed House File 639, a bill relating to hazardous liquid pipelines, but is asking the Iowa Utilities Commission to implement two changes that were included in the bill.
HF 639 has drawn much public attention in Greene and Guthrie Counties as it pertains to a liquid carbon dioxide pipeline proposed by Summit Carbon Solutions to connect the Louis Dreyfus ethanol plant in Grand Junction to the Poet plant in Coon Rapids.
Greene County attorney Thomas Laehn has been a vocal opponent to the Summit pipeline and wrote a portion of HF 639 that would define a common carrier as something other than what Summit plans to build. That definition would keep Summit from using eminent domain when landowners do not grant voluntary easements.
In her veto letter, Reynolds wrote, “Reasonable people can – and do – disagree about when government, or a private company acting with government approval, should be allowed to take private land. That debate is as old as the Republic. At its core, it asks how we protect individual property rights while still building the infrastructure – roads, utilities, pipelines – that modern life depends on.”
Reynolds writes that the bill would block a pipeline project using only voluntary easements, that being a plan of Southwest Iowa Renewable Energy (SIRE) to connect to a CO2 pipeline. SIRE has voluntary easements for the project, but HF 639, with new insurance mandates and a 25-year limit the bill places on CO2 pipelines “would effectively kill the project – despite the millions that have already been spent on its development,” Reynolds wrote.
“I understand that was not the intent…but that is exactly what the bill does. For that reason alone, I cannot sign it,” she wrote.
Reynolds wrote that she’s committed to working with the legislature to strengthen landowner protections, modernize permitting, and respect private property. “In the meantime, though,” she wrote, “I will ask the Iowa Utilities Commission to implement two important improvements immediately: requiring all commissioners to be present for live testimony, and ensuring that at least one commissioner attends every informational meeting. These changes – drawn from HF 639 – will improve oversight and transparency now, without the need for new legislation.
To read Reynolds’ veto letter in its entirety, click here.
