It’s time to give the Governor a clean bill on property rights

To the editor:

It’s the beginning of yet another session of the Iowa Legislature with the unresolved issue of eminent domain for CO2 pipelines frustrating legislators and landowners, alike. Numerous bills to address the problem were introduced during the past four sessions, but only one made its way to the Governor’s desk. Nevertheless, Governor Reynolds vetoed that bill, HF-639, with a stroke of her pen.

The Governor argued the bill was too broad and would hinder other utility projects while threatening Iowa’s economy. Reynolds said she wanted “a clean bill.” To that end, we propose the Property Rights Protection Bill which would simply prohibit the use of eminent domain for carbon oxide pipelines.

Privately-owned companies build CO2 pipelines solely for profit. They are not a public utility because they are not used by the general public. Unlike water, electricity, and telephones, the public isn’t waiting excitedly for CO2 to reach their homes. CO2 pipelines do not meet the constitutional requirement of public necessity to invoke the use of eminent domain.

The Property Rights Protection Bill does not affect any pipeline infrastructure other than carbon oxide pipelines. This bill does not ban CO2 pipelines from Iowa, nor does it prohibit Summit and other companies from building them. The proposal simply disallows the use of eminent domain to build carbon oxide pipelines in this state.

With the safety net of this bill, property rights will be protected, and landowners will not be forced into eminent domain easements when they do not want a CO2 pipeline on their land. Negotiations will be fairer when landowners can say, “No,” without the threat of eminent domain tipping the scales in favor of the pipeline company.

Some State Senators support a bill to widen the corridor (the land the pipeline company might potentially use for the project) from one-half mile to ten miles either side of the proposed route. This, they say, will solve the problem because Summit will have a broader area in which to find landowners willing to sign voluntary easements.

This may be true, but a wider corridor does not protect property rights. For example, if one landowner along the route does not want to sign, but all the neighbors in both directions have signed, how likely would it be for Summit to re-route ten miles out of the way to accommodate this landowner? A bill to prohibit the use of eminent domain for CO2 pipelines should be the legislature’s top priority.

Landowners with property targeted for eminent domain have been living in limbo with this threat looming for over five years. We have been unable to make plans for our land or the future. It’s time for the Iowa legislature to do the right thing and pass the bill requested by Governor Reynolds. A clean bill: No eminent domain for carbon oxide pipelines. Protect property rights in Iowa.