Proposed CO2 Pipeline Would Pass Through Mills County

Mills County officials said they were unaware until last week that plans are well underway for the construction of a CO2 (carbon dioxide) pipeline in St. Mary’s Township in the northwest corner of the county.

Members of the Mills County Board of Supervisors said they were provided details of the proposed pipeline Thursday by a representative of Tallgrass, a Nebraska-based energy infrastructure company. Tallgrass’ proposed pipeline would carry CO2 from the Southwest Iowa

Renewable Energy (SIRE) ethanol production plant south of Council Bluffs to the Trailblazer Pipeline in Nebraska. Once in Nebraska, the CO2 will flow through the pipeline to a sequestration hub in Wyoming for permanent underground storage.

Mills County Supervisor Richard Crouch said it’s his understanding the 4.6 mile pipeline will begin on the back side of SIRE and run south and southwest through an agricultural and industrial area of Mills County before connecting to an underwater stretch of pipeline at the Missouri River.

“There are some individuals that have farm ground there but there’s quite a bit of industrial-owned property,” Crouch said. “To my knowledge, all the people along there have already signed off. They don’t have a problem with it.”
In Mills County, supervisors have been told that 13 property owners – nine agricultural and four industrial - have signed contracts with Tallgrass to permit construction of the pipeline on their land. According to information Tallgrass provided to the supervisors, the pipeline will be constructed of an externally-coated 8-inch pipe that will be buried at a minimum depth of 48 inches. The pipeline would maintain a minimum setback of 300 feet from any residences along the route.

The supervisors were also told by Tallgrass that because the pipeline will be less than 5 miles long, Iowa Code allows the company to build it without having to state the company’s intentions or sharing information about the project at a public information meeting.

Although contracts with property owners were issued last fall, Tallgrass didn’t provide information about the project with the supervisors until last week. Instead of coming before the board during a public meeting, each supervisor was contacted individually.

“An interesting thing about this that I’m a little frustrated with is, believe it or not, we were told there’s a state regulation that says if a pipeline is underneath 5 miles, you don’t have to hold the big community meetings like Summit has had to do,” Mills County Supervisor Jack Sayers said.

Sayers was referencing Summit Carbon Solutions, the company that has been working for several years trying to get a a system of CO2 pipelines built in western and northern Iowa.

Sayers said he asked a Tallgrass representative why the company didn’t bring information about the pipeline to the county supervisors sooner.

“Their response was they wanted to make sure everyone was signed on and they had a plan in place before they talked to local government,” Sayers said.

At Tuesday morning’s regular meeting of the board of supervisors, Mills County resident Karen Seipold addressed the proposed pipeline with the board. Seipold said she is familiar with the permitting process for CO2 pipelines in Iowa and is unaware of exceptions for pipelines less than 5 miles in length.

She indicated Tallgrass should have received permission to pursue the project from the Iowa Utilities Commission before seeking contracts with property owners.

“It sounds like they have gone about it backwards. I definitely caution you to question everything and put the burden on Tallgrass to provide that documentation,” Seipold told the supervisors. “They can make a lot of promises – there’s a lot of money on the line for these companies.”

Sayers said the county supervisors will definitely verify the permitting process to determine if Tallgrass has followed proper protocol.

Although the supervisors weren’t informed of Tallgrass’ pipeline plan until last week, State Rep. David Sieck of Glenwood said Saturday he’s been aware of the proposed project for several months.

“I’m not sure why nobody told the supervisors,” Sieck said. “That was probably a misstep by the ethanol plant.”

Sieck said SIRE currently has an air gas plant at the ethanol facility.

“They take the carbon dioxide and make dry ice out of it and all the physics stuff that you put into your drinks,” Sieck said. “It cannot meet the standards in the new world for CO2 emissions going forward. That is why they need to do this.”

The Carbon Summit Solutions pipeline project has been a source of controversy and discussion across the state of Iowa over the past three years. For public safety purposes, some counties have passed CO2 pipeline ordinances with setback requirements, minimum standards for the distance between shut-off valves and other restrictions. Sayers would like to see a similar ordinance in Mills County.

“There’s been a lot of concern around the state with the safety of these projects, moving C02 around the entire state,” Sayers said. “Currently, the board of supervisors passed a resolution stating they are not in favor of a CO2 pipeline, but never wrote any ordinances. We should have taken a proactive approach, just like the board of supervisors did when it came to wind turbines and solar panels.”
In an interview on Friday, Sayers said any ordinance passed by the supervisors would likely not apply to the Tallgrass pipeline because the project has already commenced. He added that putting an ordinance in place may not prevent the Tallgrass project in Mills County, but it could force the company to meet some minimum standards and probably be more forthcoming about their intentions.

“It’s frustrating as a supervisor because without an ordinance in place, they can be as close to a school, as close to a city, as close to a home as they want to be,” he said. “We need to get something on the books and it needs to happen fast.”

Sayers cited the impact a C02 pipeline rupture had on a community in Mississippi. Forty-five people were hospitalized because of asphyxiation and first responders were hindered in reaching victims because of the impact CO2 floating in the air had on emergency vehicles.

“We should mandate how far, how many per yards, you have a safety valve so that in case of an emergency, you can shut off the valves and a whole bunch of CO2 won’t get into the air,” he said.

Sayers said he would like to have all stakeholders, including CO2 pipeline companies, farmers, EMS and fire departments, included in the discussion of an ordinance. He added that he doesn’t want Mills County to come off as being anti-businesses or anti-agriculture, but public safety has to be a top priority.

“The last thing I want to do is harm farmers,” he said. “I want to make sure the price per bushel of corn doesn’t drop,” he said. “This is a way it can actually go up, expanding it to a new market, such as aviation fuel, but at the same time you want to make sure the residents are safe that the pipeline travels by.”

Sieck said he’s been part of numerous legislative discussions concerning CO2 pipelines and appreciates the public’s concerns, but believes the pipelines are the safest way to transport CO2.

“There’s a lot of issues about it, but if you really look, it’s pretty safe, compared to a lof other things, like transport down the roads,” he said.

The supervisors voted 2-1 at Tuesday’s meeting on a motion to have the Mills County Attorney’s Office move forward in developing a pipeline ordinance for the county. Crouch and Lonnie Mayberry voted “Yes” with Sayers casting the lone ‘No” vote. Sayers said he would prefer the county utilize outside legal counsel that may have more experience and expertise on developing pipeline ordinances.

 

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