Recently, I received two interesting letters in the mail. I’ll share excerpts from both, the first sent by registered mail, the salutation “Dear Landowner”. Opening sentence: “Summit Carbon Solutions, LLC (“Summit Carbon Solutions”) is developing a carbon capture, storage, and sequestration project, the Midwest Carbon Express (“MCE”), that will enable ethanol plants and other industries in Iowa and four other Midwestern states reduce their carbon intensity by capturing carbon dioxide (“CO2”) from their industrial processes and transporting it through a pipeline system to North Dakota, where it will be permanently and safely stored underground in deep geologic storage locations.” Quite a mouthful, huh?
The second sentence is a bit misleading: “This letter is to notify you that Summit Carbon Solutions proposes to build a pipeline connecting the Absolute Energy facility in St. Ansgar, Iowa, to the MCE to capture and store CO2 emissions from Absolute Energy’s facility.” Let me clarify: The Absolute facility is absolutely NOT “in” St. Ansgar; it’s nine miles north of town, albeit with a St. Ansgar mailing address. According to the Absolute website: “Absolute Energy LLC. is a 130 million gallon per year ethanol plant on the border of Iowa and Minnesota near Lyle, Minnesota.” MUCH more accurate.
The letter’s third sentence is brief: “The proposed pipeline will be located in Mitchell and Floyd Counties.” The most relevant section is the third paragraph: “Your receipt of this letter indicates that right of way on or near property in which you have a legal interest could potentially be affected by the construction of the pipeline. Summit Carbon Solutions will be seeking permanent easements for its pipeline on or near your property… Summit may request that the Iowa Utilities Board grant it the right to acquire easements necessary to construct and operate the pipeline by eminent domain.” The letter is “copy signed” by Summit’s Chief Operating Officer.
Connecting Absolute Energy to the pipeline is a “head south to go northwest” strategy, perhaps because Minnesota prohibits CO2 pipelines from using eminent domain to acquire routes. Iowa doesn’t. I like Absolute Energy. According to their website, “We are committed to being a good neighbor in our communities and creating a positive environment for our employees.” So far as I know, they ARE a good neighbor. Located a mile north of our home, I fervently hope they fulfill their neighborliness commitment. Incidentally, do they know a recent Iowa Poll by Selzer & Co (the polling “gold standard”) indicates 78% of Iowans across all demographics oppose use of eminent domain for CO2 pipelines?
I wish Absolute’s website had more environmental information (meaning Mother Nature, not their employees’ environment). A June 5 Summit press release states, “Summit's partnership with Absolute Energy will result in the removal and permanent storage of 370,000 metric tons of CO2 per year.” I checked with Summit… is this JUST the Absolute site or all ethanol plants combined? Their response: “The project as a whole has the capacity to capture and permanently store 18 million tons of CO2 every year, the equivalent of removing more than four million vehicles from the road annually. The figure you cite relates to the CO2 captured at Absolute Energy only.”
The second letter, postmarked July 31, no return address, is signed “In love, Your Neighbor”. It’s not the first anonymous note I’ve ever received. Several sentences from this epistle, mailed to many neighbors:
“I have many concerns, chief among them is our loss of liberty and the replacing our natural God given rights with that of the government. … The use of eminent domain for private benefit is coveting your neighbor’s property for your benefit and is in direct conflict with God’s Word. … What if they exclaim that they need to take your property for reparations because your forefathers were oppressing people of color? What if they exclaim, they need it for the benefit of the new migrant population? After all most are Farmers and need 40 acres to live on.”
“You may say that this could not happen here in the USA! If you do you must have your head buried in the sand. As these anti-Christ communist march through and capture our institutions one of their goals is to abolish private property rights… with most city, county and state leaders becoming nothing more than tyrants in a tyrannical administrative state. Look at how many leaders capitulated to the Nazis in WWII. … This is how Hitler, and the Nazis were able to accomplish their evil!”
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The proposed pipeline is an evolving story, a sprawling, important topic, spilling over into more than one column. Next week, I’ll discuss recent meetings AND North Dakota Public Service Commission’s recent denial of Summit Carbon Solution’s pipeline permit application. Stay tuned.
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I’m pleased to be part of the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative, a group that includes these remarkable columnists:
I wasn’t aware that any nations “capitulated” to the Nazis. They were crushed by the Nazis. (Italy was already fascist.)
Kurtis, The whackadoodle 2nd letter is a whole lot over the top, the reality is more a safety issue than some anti-Christ /Commie /Nazi Plot! I recently saw a bit of film showing what happens if a pipeline with CO2 should leak, knowing the high pressure the gas is under to make it liquify and be carried in the pipelne this was quite eye opening. When the pipe burst, a white cloud formed that went quite a long way into the air and spread across the landscape. Unfortunately that was not the CO2! It was dry ice formed from the intial release! The CO2 had gone out ahead of that and can't be seen. The CO2 is heavier than Oxygen so it will displace oxygen as it moves, especially in low places. With no oxygen it is just a matter of time before things start to die and that includes your vehicles since most require oxygen to mix with the fuel in order for the engine to start and run. So you have no way to escape and the cloud moved across the site and beyond in less than 3 to 5 seconds, the CO2 preceeded that cloud! What is important is the pipeline people are assuring others that the easment will allow buildings as close as 750 feet to the pipeline easement. Would you build that close to something so deadly? Not only that, do you think a tiling company will go anywhere near such a thing? The reality is North Dakota has banned CO2 pipelines, which puts a kink in their tail already, so has California as they see them as absolutely deadly. Pumping this gas into old stripper wells will bring more oil to the surface by pressurizing the space below the oil, forcing it closer to the surface. In fact, this will make more oil available for gasoline and simply add to the problem and not fix it.