The Hartley City Council on Monday heard a brief update on a proposed land easement compensation package related to a proposed pipeline.

City Administrator Erica Haack and Superintendent of Public Works Jaron Benz recently met with a representative from Navigator CO2 Ventures LLC regarding a land easement for a proposed pipeline that would carry carbon dioxide gas from Midwest ethanol plants to an underground storage location in Illinois. Navigator's line would cross city-owned land that was formerly used as the municipal airport but is now rented out as farmland.

According to Haack, the pipeline would cross the southern portion of the property. Navigator is offering a lump sum payment of $34,282.11 or a payment over 20 years of $54,392.20. The easement payments would cover permanent and temporary workspace, including crop damages.

"There is no timeline for acceptance and it would need formal approval through the council," Haack said after the meeting.

Navigator is still in the process of collecting easements from property owners along the pipeline's 1,300-mile route. Locally, it would extend 63.12 miles in O'Brien County with a conversion point southwest of Hartley. In Clay County, a total of 33.51 miles of pipe would extend across two stretches of land in the northwest and southwest part of the county.

"I don't know where it's going to go from here," Benz said of the project. "I think it's going to take a long time to acquire all this land."

The council took no action on the easement proposal.

The goal of the pipeline is to reduce CO2 emissions at its partner facilities, in turn making products like ethanol more environmentally friendly by reducing atmospheric greenhouse gas emissions during production. CO2 emissions would be captured at ethanol and fertilizer plants with special equipment that dehydrates the gas and compresses it into a liquid form. Once in a liquid state, the CO2 would be placed in the pipeline and sent to the underground storage site in Illinois.

The project must receive approval from the Iowa Utilities Board and other similar entities in Minnesota, Nebraska, South Dakota and Illinois. According to information on Navigator's website, construction of the pipeline is hoped to begin in 2024 with phased-in operations starting in 2025.

The proposal has been a lightning rod of controversy in northwest Iowa and elsewhere, as property owners have expressed concerns over eminent domain, the pipeline's safety, and effects on ground compaction and long-term soil productivity.