The company aiming to build a carbon sequestration pipeline network across the Midwest notches a victory after receiving approval in Iowa
The Iowa Utilities Board on Tuesday granted Summit Carbon Solutions authority to build a hazardous liquid pipeline through the state.
Summit officials say the pipeline would ship carbon dioxide produced by ethanol plants to be stored underground in North Dakota. Some oppose the project over safety and property rights concerns.
The South Dakota Public Utilities Commission denied Summit’s application to build in the state last September. Summit said it plans to reapply.
Summit will face a different legal standard when it reapplies due to new legislation approved this session. The laws, which take effect July 1, regulate pipeline construction in many ways, including giving more authority to the PUC to overrule local setback ordinances. Some counties and municipal governments in the pipeline's path had created tight rules about how close a pipeline could be built to homes and communities, which was one of the chief obstacles Summit faced in its initial failed application.
