The Hartley Sentinel-The Everly/Royal News - Serving O'Brien & Clay Counties

To the editor:

Chicago-style politics are playing out in the Iowa Legislature where the CO2 pipeline mafia has blocked all legislation designed to rein in the use of eminent domain for one of the biggest land-grabs in American history. Without eminent domain, the hazardous liquid CO2 pipelines cannot gain access to thousands of acres of private land on the 1,800-mile route crisscrossing Iowa.

The CO2 pipeline mafia needs private property for a $5.5 billion-dollar, taxpayer-funded carbon capture and sequestration scheme. Many landowners signed the easements voluntarily, with several of them doing so only because of the threat of getting less money with eminent domain. Others have not signed, refusing to allow land damage and hazardous liquid waste on their property.

Taking private property with eminent domain was expected to be easy pickings when the CO2 pipeline mafia moved into Iowa. They weren’t expecting pushback from private property owners. Opposing landowners have organized and been joined in the fight by a large and diverse group of Democrats, Republicans, Independents, environmentalists, Indigenous Peoples, and concerned Iowans from all walks of life who believe eminent domain should not be used for profit without public need.

We have turned to lawmakers for help strengthening Iowa’s eminent domain laws to clearly state takings be only by the government for purposes of public necessity. Sadly, we’ve learned that the CO2 pipeline mafia has deep tentacles into Iowa politics, and this has enabled them to slow walk eminent domain reform.

Last year, during the 2021 session, Sen. Jeff Taylor introduced SF2160, an eminent reform bill, in the House. It passed out of the Commerce Subcommittee on a 3-0 vote. On the day of a hearing before the full Commerce Committee there were enough bipartisan votes for passage. Opposition landowners waited at the Capitol prepared to testify when the bill was abruptly pulled before debate. SF2160 was dead, and there was no further action on eminent domain reform last year.

Early this session, Sen. Taylor introduced five bills dealing with eminent domain reform; none were even assigned to a committee. Another, introduced by Sen. Dennis Guth, would have required a mere 66 percent threshold for the use of eminent domain. It died in committee where landowners said the threshold was too low and CO2 pipeline lobbyists said there should be no threshold for voluntary easements. One eminent reform bill introduced this session passed out of one chamber of the Legislature.

The bill, HF565, was introduced by Rep. Steve Holt and co-sponsored by several Representatives, including Speaker Grassley, and supported by the Iowa Farm Bureau. It would require a 90 percent threshold of voluntary signatures before granting eminent domain. In his closing remarks, Rep. Bobby Kaufmann stated, “I have no problem with the pipelines but it needs to be built through voluntary easements and not by using the blunt force of government to take other people’s property to do it.”

In the Senate, HF565 was assigned to the Commerce Committee where Committee Chairman Waylon Brown slow walked it for weeks and refused to act. When Brown took a leave of absence, Vice Chairman Mike Bousselot continued to stonewall the bill and failed to even schedule a committee meeting during funnel week. His lack of action effectively killed a Senate bill that passed out of the House on a 77-20 vote.

Sen. Bousselot actions were not surprising. Before being elected to the Senate, he worked for Summit Agriculture Group as managing director and head of external relations. Prior to that, he was chief of staff for former Gov. Terry Branstad, who is now the Senior Policy Advisor for Summit Carbon Solutions. Because of this blatant conflict of interest, Senators are considering ethics charges against Bousselot.

Even though HF565 failed to survive the funnel, it has a chance to be considered in the Senate with intervention from Senate leadership. However, they will only act if they feel pressured to do so by the public. Senate President Amy Sinclair (amy.sinclair@legis.iowa.gov; 515-725-4122) and Senate Majority Leader Jack Whitver (jack.whitver@legis.iowa.gov; 515-281-3560) must be contacted immediately and urged to take action on HF565 in the few remaining weeks of this session.

“One of our most fundamental liberties as American’s is the right of private property. To protect this fundamental right, eminent domain should only be used for public use (essential government services), and the CO2 pipeline does not meet that definition. This pipeline is not an essential government service for public use, but rather it is a private economic development project.” (Rep. Steve Holt, in his formal objection to IUB)

Bonnie Ewoldt,

Milford resident and

Crawford County landowner