Summit Carbon Solutions plans to reduce the scope of its proposed carbon capture pipeline in Iowa by roughly 200 miles, according to a revised route plan submitted to the Iowa Utilities Commission (IUC). Under the updated proposal, the company will no longer connect its pipeline to ethanol plants in St. Ansgar, Corning, Hanlontown, or Shenandoah, functionally removing the southernmost leg of the original route. Pipeline mileage would also be reduced in Crawford, Dickinson, Floyd, and Sioux Counties. The POET facility in Menlo will now be the plant farthest south on the proposed route, and the branches that pass through Guthrie, Carroll, and Greene Counties are still included, albeit via a slightly altered path. The changes affect about 400 landowners along the original route. Despite the adjustments, Summit still plans to connect its carbon capture pipeline to 27 ethanol plants in Iowa. Following regulatory setbacks in the Dakotas, the company now intends to connect the project to an operating carbon pipeline in Nebraska. Supporters say the project is critical to maintaining Iowa’s ethanol industry, arguing Nebraska could gain an advantage if the pipeline is not built. Critics, including the Sierra Club’s Iowa chapter, say the changes signal ongoing uncertainty about the project’s future. Landowners who oppose the pipeline continue to lobby Iowa lawmakers to block the use of eminent domain for the project, arguing it does not meet the “public use” requirements set out in existing law.
