(C) Iowa Capital Dispatch
This story was originally published by Iowa Capital Dispatch and is unaltered.
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Pipeline opponents sue to block Summit Carbon water permit [1]
['Jared Strong', 'More From Author', '- October']
Date: 2023-10-25
A carbon dioxide pipeline company’s request to withdraw more than 50 million gallons of water each year from the ground near an ethanol plant does not serve a “beneficial use” and should be denied, according to a lawsuit recently filed against the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.
The department in May issued a water withdrawal permit to a subsidiary of Summit Carbon Solutions, which would use the water as a coolant in its carbon capture process at the Homeland Energy Solutions plant near Lawler.
The facility is one of more than a dozen ethanol producers in Iowa to which Summit proposes to connect its sprawling pipeline system. The five-state project would span about 2,000 miles and would transport the greenhouse gas to North Dakota for underground sequestration.
Three people whose drinking water is derived from the aquifer that Summit hopes to tap filed suit last week in state district court and asked a judge to vacate the permit the DNR issued. They are Kathy Carter, Kim Junker and Candice Brandau Larson.
Their concern is that the water withdrawals would “adversely impact the sources of their drinking water” and that the purpose of those withdrawals does not comply with a “beneficial use” requirement in state law, according to the lawsuit, which was filed by Wally Taylor, an attorney for the Sierra Club of Iowa.
The lawsuit points to internal discussions at the DNR that the Sierra Club obtained through a records request for department emails. Those documents show that Summit’s permit request was unlike any others the department had previously considered, but the DNR concluded that it fit the “beneficial use” requirement.
That phrase is defined by state law as an “application of water to a useful purpose.”
Summit’s permit allows it to withdraw nearly 56 million gallons of water each year, according to DNR records. That is more than nearby Lawler, a town of 400 people that can withdraw up to 18 million gallons annually. But it is considerably less than New Hampton, another nearby town of about 3,400 that can withdraw 313 million gallons.
The DNR has not yet responded to the lawsuit in district court. Summit is seeking another water withdrawal permit in Wright County.
It’s unclear when the wells might be drilled and used. Summit recently said its pipeline system won’t be operational until 2026 after utility regulators rejected its initial proposals in North and South Dakota.
Jurisdictional questions
The Iowa Utilities Board, which has the authority to grant a pipeline permit to Summit, recently declined to publicly decide whether that permit includes the equipment the company would use to capture and process carbon dioxide before it goes into the pipeline.
Harden County asked the IUB to issue a declaratory order that the board doesn’t have jurisdiction over the capture facilities because they are not pipelines and that the facilities are subject to local ordinances and permitting requirements.
Iowa counties have been unsuccessful in restricting the locations of pipelines because that is the purview of the board, but it’s possible that local leaders could block the construction of the capture facilities.
The IUB recently declined to issue a declaratory order about its potential jurisdiction over those facilities on procedural grounds. Hardin County filed the request for an order in Summit’s pipeline permit docket, and the IUB said it should have been filed separately as its own proceeding.
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[1] Url:
https://iowacapitaldispatch.com/2023/10/25/pipeline-opponents-sue-to-block-summit-carbon-water-permit/
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