Landowners deserve to know more about Navigator's pipeline pause, attorney says
Donnelle Eller, Des Moines Register
Updated 4 min read
Iowa landowners in the path of Navigator CO2 Ventures' proposed carbon capture pipeline deserve to know more about the project's prospects after the Omaha-based company announced it wants to pause the $3.5 billion effort, according to a motion filed Monday.
"The landowners impacted by Navigator’s project, the public, and for that matter, the (Iowa Utilities) Board, deserve to know the facts surrounding the status of the Navigator project," Wallace Taylor, an attorney for the Iowa Sierra Club, said in a motion to turn Navigator's scheduled procedural hearing on Oct. 9 into a status hearing on the project.
Navigator filed a motion Friday requesting the Iowa Utilities Board pause its request to build an 800-mile pipeline across Iowa to capture carbon dioxide from ethanol, fertilizer and other industrial ag plants, liquefy it under pressure and pump it via the pipeline to Illinois, where it would be sequestered deep underground.
An opponent of carbon capture pipelines during a rally on Wednesday, March 22, 2023, at the Iowa State Capitol in Des Moines, Iowa.
Altogether, Navigator wants to build 1,300 miles of pipeline across Iowa, Illinois, Nebraska, Minnesota and South Dakota. Navigator didn't directly comment on Taylor's motion Monday.
Navigator has run into regulatory challenges in neighboring states. Last month, South Dakota regulators denied the company's request to build a pipeline through the state. And in January, the company said it was withdrawing its application to build the carbon capture pipeline in Illinois, where it also seeks to store the captured carbon.
Navigator, which is adding another section of pipeline to reach additional sequestration locations, has refiled its Illinois pipeline request.
Last month, Navigator acknowledged it was "pausing some of our right of way work in certain areas, like South Dakota and some parts of Iowa," while the company assesses the South Dakota decision. The company said it remained committed to the project.
What's Navigator saying in its request to pause the pipeline in Iowa?
Citing “regulatory uncertainty” in Illinois, Navigator said it needs to review its Iowa route "and technical specifications" in “light of decisions from regulatory authorities in neighboring states and individual landowner requests.” Given the work needed, Navigator told the Iowa board Friday it wants to "preserve the resources" of the utilities board, the Iowa Attorney General's consumer advocate, landowners and interested stakeholders.
On Friday, Navigator said it expects to update the Iowa board on or before March 29, "which allows for the completion of the Illinois pipeline permitting process and a comprehensive review of the Iowa route."
Landowners hold signs during a press conference by opponents of the Summit Carbon Solutions pipeline on Tuesday, August 22, 2023 in Fort Dodge.
What does the Iowa Sierra Club say about the proposed pause?
While agreeing Navigator should cancel its Oct. 9 procedural hearing, the Sierra Club's Taylor said "Navigator has been less than transparent" about the project. Taylor said "there are some indications that Navigator" could be dropping a portion of its proposed project in South Dakota and in northwest Iowa.
Last month, Navigator told the Register "it's releasing a few of the land agent contract teams working on behalf of the project." But the company added, "the remaining land teams will be reallocated to ensure coverage across the footprint and continue conversations with landowners."
In his motion, Taylor also said Navigator has failed to "clearly set forth" its permitting status in Illinois.
Before Navigator pulled its application, Mark Maple, an Illinois commission engineer, recommended regulators reject the project, in part, because Navigator did not have a sequestration facility in place. With the project's "end point being uncertain, the entire route remains in flux, and consequently, in my opinion, it is not a benefit to the citizens of Illinois nor in the public interest."
At the time, Maple said that Navigator had acquired only half of the pore space needed for sequestration.
"The board claims that actions in other states are not relevant to the process in Iowa," Taylor wrote, "but it seems clear from Navigator’s own admission in its withdrawal that the status of the project in Iowa is dependent on actions in South Dakota and Illinois."
Two other companies — Summit Carbon Solutions and Wolf Carbon Solutions — also seek regulatory approval to build hazardous liquid pipelines in Iowa. The Iowa Utilities Board is holding hearings on Summit’s $5.5 billion pipeline request in Fort Dodge.
The projects have sparked widespread opposition, with Iowa landowners, residents and politicians concerned about pipeline safety, the impact on farmland and underground drainage tiles, and the use of eminent domain, which would enable Summit and Navigator to force unwilling landowners to sell them access to their property for the projects. Wolf has said it will not seek eminent domain powers.
Donnelle Eller covers agriculture, the environment and energy for the Register. Reach her at deller@registermedia.com or 515-284-8457.
