Statewide Iowa (RI) — A bill on the fast track in the Iowa House would ban the use of eminent domain to seize property along the proposed Summit Carbon pipeline route. The bill cleared a House committee on a 19-to-two vote and is eligible of debate in the full House next week.
Republican Representative Steven Holt of Denison says House members have been trying for five years to find a way to protect property owners who don’t want the pipeline on their land.
Representative Ross Wilburg, a Democrat from Ames, backed the bill in committee, but he says there’s been no signal this approach will break through the statehouse impass or that the governor would sign it into law.
Holt says he, along with what appears to be a majority of House members, are ready to take a stand and pass the bill.
The top Republican in the Senate is proposing an alternative that would let Summit rechart the path of its pipeline to go around landowners who haven’t signed voluntary easements. Holt says that’s a non-starter because Summit could still use eminent domain in some circumstances.
KIWA Staff Photo
