The Dickinson County Board of Supervisors has unanimously adopted an ordinance that would require a proposed carbon pipeline to be at least1600 feet outside of cities in the northwest Iowa county. Buffer zones also would be required around homes, schools, medical facilities and public parks.
Bonnie Ewalt of Milford said the ordinance is needed to protect the health and safety of Dickinson County residents. “Summit drew up the route for this hazardous CO2 pipeline without any regard for topography or proximity to high risk areas,” Ewalt said during a public hearing Tuesday.
Summit Carbon Solutions has proposed a pipeline through Iowa and four other states, to ship liquified carbon to underground storage in North Dakota. Scott O’Konek, a Minnesota-based project manager for Summit, said ordinances like the one in Dickinson County could stymie development of the pipeline and harm the ethanol plants that plan to connect to it.
“The whole project is up to 57 plants and this ordinance has the ability to take that competitiveness away from Green Plains Superior,” O’Konek said.
Green Plains Superior is an ethanol plant located in Dickinson County. Summit has sued five other counties with ordinances similar to the one in Dickinson County.
(By Corey Harguth, KICD, Spencer)