Wolf Carbon Solutions has withdrawn its application for a state permit to build a carbon pipeline in eastern Iowa.
Developers had plans for a 95-mile pipeline to capture carbon emissions from ADM plants in Cedar Rapids and Clinton and ship the liquified carbon to underground storage in Illinois. The company withdrew its permit request in Illinois last year.
“Talking with landowners, it’s been months and months since they’ve even heard from Wolf, so they’ve seen the writing on the wall,” said Emma Schmit, director of a group called “Pipeline Fighters,” part of the BOLD Alliance which works on land and water use issues in rural states. “…We tend to see these companies withdraw their applications and then never resubmit, so as far as I’m concerned, things are basically kaput.”
The company’s withdrawal notice did not say whether it would revise its plans and submit a new permit request to the Iowa Utilities Commission. A spokesperson for Wolf Carbon Solutions has not replied to Radio Iowa’s request for comment. Wolf had been seeking voluntary access to land along its proposed pipeline route. In early 2023, the company announced it would not ask Iowa utility regulators for eminent domain authority to seize land from unwilling property owners.
“That’s what they said in Illinois as well and I think that was one of their major problems both in terms of finding space for storage and the support from the community wasn’t there,” Schmit said. “…If they’re not going to basically, in my opinion, abuse eminent domain powers, they’re kind of stuck with no other option but to cancel the project.”
By early 2022, three pipeline companies — Wolf, Navigator and Summit Carbon Solutions — had announced plans to build carbon pipelines in Iowa. A year ago, Navigator cancelled its project. Summit hopes to extend its proposed pipeline route to ethanol plants that had signed up for Navigator’s pipeline. Schmit doubts the ADM plants involved in Wolf’s project will try to connect to Summit’s proposed pipeline.
“But I wouldn’t be surprised if a different corporation came along,” Schmit said, “or if they even tried exploring carbon sequestration on site.”
The University of Iowa is leading a more than $11 million project to see if carbon can be successfully stored underground in Iowa, in what’s called basalt rock.
The Iowa Utilities Commission has voted to give Summit authority to seize land along its Iowa pipeline route from owners who have refused to sign easements to their properties, but only if regulators in two neighboring states approve the pipeline project. Last month, North Dakota’s Public Service Commission granted Summit’s permit and Summit resubmitted its request form a permit in South Dakota.