March 29, 2024

Supervisors talk pipelines in recent meeting

Adair County Engineer Nick Kauffman told the board of supervisors during their Wednesday, Aug. 10 meeting that he recently received a call and an email from a concerned citizen regarding carbon dioxide pipelines and what it would mean if one were to come through Adair County.

Kauffman told the supervisors that the first phase of a pipeline being built by Navigator travels from southeast to northwest across Iowa. He has heard that the second phase of the project would tie together POET Bioprocessing plants in Menlo and Corning. Adair County is located between both of those locations.

The supervisors pointed out that the pipelines have been in the news lately. The first phase of many of these pipelines are in a position where eminent domain is being discussed.

Supervisor Steve Shelley pointed out during the meeting that he had seen reports that Shelby and Montgomery County’s boards have each passed resolutions recently publicly opposing eminent domain.

Kauffman said he has no other reason to believe for certain that a pipeline will come through the county. He did say he saw a report listing counties that could be pegged for a pipeline that listed nearly every county in Iowa. An online map in a report from Progressive Farmer shows a pipeline proposed between the two regional POET plants.

Particularly in areas where the first phase of such pipelines will travel, they have faced both stiff opposition and strong support.

Opponents who own land have raised concern about how the pipelines would affect their property values, how productive their land would be with a pipeline and whether they would be held liable if there are any problems with the pipe.

Supporters say these pipelines will aid the ethanol industry in meeting climate goals. A byproduct of that might be that corn growers would benefit from an ethanol industry trying to keep up with the times.

POET LLC announced a decision earlier this summer to partner with Navigator. POET vowed in 2021 that it would make its biofuels 70% better for the environment than gasoline by 2030, but company leaders say partnering with the pipeline will speed up meeting that goal.

POET President Jeff Lautt told Reuters in June that participating plants will achieve a 75% drop in emissions.

Navigator’s pipeline would take about 5 million metric tons of carbon dioxide from 18 POET plants in three midwest states to underground storage in Illinois and will be operational by 2025, Navigator said.

Two other companies planning pipelines in Iowa are Summit and a coop between Wolf Carbon Solutions and Archer Daniel Midlands.

Caleb Nelson

Caleb Nelson

Caleb Nelson has served as News Editor of the Adair County Free Press and Fontanelle Observer since Oct. 2017. He and his wife Kilee live in Greenfield. In Greenfield and the greater Adair County area, he values the opportunity to tell peoples' stories, enjoys playing guitar, following all levels of sports, and being a part of his local church.