A group of Iowa landowners is suing Summit Carbon Solutions in an effort to halt development of a proposed CO2 pipeline.
Brain Jorde, an attorney who represents multiple landowners across Iowa impacted by Summit’s planned route, filed a motion to dismiss Summit’s application through the Iowa Utilities Board.
Jorde argues the board does not have the authority to approve the form of "supercritical" carbon dioxide Summit plans to transport.
Currently, regulations in Iowa state that the Utilities Commission has authority over pipelines transporting CO2 in a liquid state. Summit has said it plans to transport CO2 in supercritical form. That's when liquid exists in a high-temperature, high-pressure condition.
Future legal rulings regarding transporting CO2 in its supercritical state instead of liquid form could be a deciding factor in the implementation of pipelines in the Midwest.
Summit objected the motion and called the action ‘unduly burdensome’ and ‘irrelevant.’
Similar litigation has not yet been used by South Dakota landowners against Summit or Navigator CO2.
