Des Moines, Iowa (RI) — A Senate committee has overhauled a wide-ranging bill that key House members said would — in their words — “clean up the mess” the Iowa Utilities Commission created by granting a pipeline permit to Summit Carbon Solutions.
Republican Senator Mike Bousselot of Ankeny has proposed a 34-page alternative and it got support from the other Republicans on the Senate Commerce Committee.
The bill is now eligible for debate in the full Senate, which has never considered any pipeline-related bill since Summit’s project was first proposed in 2022. This year’s original House bill would have set a 25-year limit on the operation of a carbon pipeline. Bousselot gets rid of that limitation and, instead, sets some standards for any type of pipeline, transmission line project or structures to generate power proposed since last year.
Former Congressman Steve King of Kiron was at the Iowa Capitol Wednesday, urging senators to stop Summit’s carbon capture project.
Kim Junker, a Butler County farmer, expressed her frustration during a Senate subcommittee hearing.
Bousselot’s plan says the Iowa Utilities Commission would have to decide within a year if a project qualifies for eminent domain.
KIWA Staff Photo – Former Congressman Steve King
