Congressman Randy Feenstra — a Republican who’s planning to launch a campaign for governor soon — supports the federal tax credits that could go to the developer of a proposed carbon pipeline, but Feenstra opposes the Iowa Utilities Commission’s decision to give Summit Carbon Solutions authority to seize land from unwilling property owners along the pipeline route.
“I don’t believe eminent domain should be used,” Feenstra said during an interview with KILR. “I mean I absolutely said this all along, that the conversations must be between the landowner and the private company. They must come to an agreement, but you cannot use eminent domain. I’ve always said this and I’ve never wavered on this. This has always been my stance for the last two years.”
Republicans have been divided on the issue since Summit announced in early 2021 that it planned to build a pipeline to capture carbon from ethanol plants in Iowa and other Midwestern states. This spring, a dozen Republicans joined Democrats in the state senate and passed a pipeline-related bill. Governor Reynolds wound up vetoing that bill, which would have limited the use of eminent domain for construction of carbon pipelines. Feenstra hasn’t indicated whether he would have done the same. “I tell you what, that’s Governor Reynolds’ policy right now or what she did,” Feenstra said. “I have not read that bill. All’s I know is where I stand and I’m against the use of eminent domain to be used for this type of situation.”
That’s the same eminent domain position taken by the three Republicans who’ve already launched campaigns for governor this year. Feenstra has long argued that homegrown Iowa ethanol will help make the U.S. energy independent and that carbon capture would enhance Iowa’s ethanol industry and support Iowa’s corn growers. The proposed pipeline was an issue in Feenstra’s 2024 re-election campaign when a G-O-P challenger got the votes of nearly a third of the Republicans who voted in the fourth congressional district primary.
(By Ed Funston, KILR, Estherville/Radio Iowa’s O. Kay Henderson also contributed to this story.)