The carbon pipeline in Iowa is Summit Carbon Solutions’ Midwest Carbon Express, a proposed network that would capture carbon dioxide from ethanol plants across the state and pipe it out for permanent underground storage. Summit holds an Iowa construction permit issued in August 2024, but as of mid-2026 no ground has been broken: the project is tangled in a landowner lawsuit, pending permit amendments, failed approvals in the Dakotas, and a legislature repeatedly trying to end its power to take land by eminent domain.1Iowa Utilities Commission. Hazardous Liquid Pipeline Requests
What the Pipeline Is
Summit Carbon Solutions, based in Ames, proposed a roughly 2,500-mile pipeline system across Iowa, Minnesota, South Dakota, Nebraska, and North Dakota to collect CO2 produced during ethanol fermentation and move it to a site for permanent sequestration. Reported cost estimates have ranged from $4.5 billion to $9 billion as the scope has shifted.2KTIV. Summit Carbon Solutions Reducing Iowa Footprint, Changes Destination The Iowa portion as originally approved covered about 688 miles across 29 counties, with pipe diameters from 6 to 24 inches.1Iowa Utilities Commission. Hazardous Liquid Pipeline Requests
The business case runs through ethanol’s carbon intensity score. Low-carbon fuel programs and the federal 45Q tax credit, which pays $85 per metric ton of CO2 permanently sequestered, reward producers who strip CO2 out of fermentation and bury it rather than venting it. The Iowa Corn Growers Association has endorsed the project, pointing to the roughly 46,000 jobs tied to the state’s renewable fuel industry and the fact that about half of Iowa’s corn harvest goes to ethanol.3Des Moines Register. Iowa Corn Growers Association Endorses Carbon Capture Pipelines
The Iowa Permit and Its Conditions
Summit filed its hazardous liquid pipeline petition with the Iowa Utilities Board (now the Iowa Utilities Commission, or IUC) on January 28, 2022, under docket HLP-2021-0001. Over 34 months the commission held 33 public informational meetings, accepted more than 150 intervenors, took testimony from over 200 witnesses in a 25-day hearing, and reviewed roughly 50,000 pages of prefiled material.1Iowa Utilities Commission. Hazardous Liquid Pipeline Requests
On June 25, 2024, the commission issued a 507-page order granting the permit with modifications. It found the project promoted “public convenience and necessity” under Iowa Code § 479B.5, designated Summit a common carrier based on the company’s pledge to reserve 10 percent of pipeline capacity for outside shippers, and granted eminent domain authority over more than 100 parcels where owners had refused to sign easements. The formal construction permit followed on August 28, 2024, but with a critical catch: Summit could not begin building in Iowa until it secured route and sequestration approvals in North Dakota and South Dakota.4Iowa State University CALT. Iowa Utilities Commission Grants Summit’s Petition for Carbon Pipeline Permit
Other conditions require Summit to carry at least $100 million in general liability insurance, train local first responders annually, supply CO2 air monitors for emergency vehicles, and X-ray-inspect 100 percent of pipeline welds.4Iowa State University CALT. Iowa Utilities Commission Grants Summit’s Petition for Carbon Pipeline Permit
Eminent Domain and the Landowner Lawsuit
Eminent domain is the fight at the center of everything. Iowa law allows a company holding a hazardous liquid pipeline permit to condemn easements up to 75 feet wide when a landowner refuses to sell. For many rural Iowans, the idea that a private pipeline company could force them to accept construction on land they own has driven years of organized resistance.
On September 13, 2024, more than 100 families filed suit in Polk County District Court (case 11M8363) challenging the IUC’s permit and eminent domain grant. The suit, coordinated by the Iowa Easement Team and attorney Brian Jorde of the Domina Law Group, argues the commission made substantive and procedural errors, that the pipeline is not publicly convenient or necessary, and that Summit does not qualify as a common carrier.5Pipeline Fighters. Landowners File Lawsuit Challenging Iowa Utilities Commission Approval of Summit Carbon Pipeline Permit
In December 2025, Judge Scott Beattie of the Fifth Judicial District paused the case and sent the permit back to the IUC, reasoning that South Dakota’s 2025 ban on eminent domain for carbon pipelines had rendered portions of the original permit order void and that ruling on a permit being actively amended “serves no useful purpose.” Landowners filed a motion for reconsideration asking the court to reverse the remand, set a briefing schedule, or order the IUC to rescind route and eminent domain approvals for segments running to the South Dakota border. The judicial proceedings remain paused and the motion is pending.6Iowa Capital Dispatch. Landowners Ask Court to Reconsider Decision, Pause Pipeline Permit Lawsuit
What the Legislature and Governor’s Race Could Change
The Iowa legislature has repeatedly tried to end eminent domain for carbon pipelines, and has not yet succeeded. The House passed restriction bills 73–20 in 2023 and 86–7 in 2024, both blocked by Senate leadership.7Sierra Club. Carbon Capture Pipelines Are Bad Deal In June 2025, Governor Kim Reynolds vetoed House File 639, which would have required carbon pipelines to qualify as common carriers selling to unaffiliated buyers before obtaining eminent domain powers and would have raised insurance, broadened intervention rights, and imposed term limits on pipeline operations. House Speaker Pat Grassley called for a special session to override; Senate Majority Leader Jack Whitver said most of his caucus would not support one.8Des Moines Register. Kim Reynolds Vetoes Iowa Eminent Domain Carbon Capture Pipeline Bill
In January 2026 the House passed another ban, House File 2104, 64–28. The Senate Commerce Committee recommended it for passage with an amendment in late January, and the bill sat on the Senate calendar under unfinished business as of March 2026 without a floor vote by mid-year.9Iowa Legislature. HF 2104 Bill Book Senate Majority Leader Mike Klimesh introduced two alternatives: SF 2067, requiring companies to show they could not find voluntary routes before seeking eminent domain, and SF 2069, imposing a severance tax on CO2 flowing through pipelines.10Iowa Public Radio. Iowa Senate Pipeline Bill Eminent Domain
The 2026 governor’s race may matter more than any pending bill. All five Republican primary candidates and Democratic nominee Rob Sand have said they would sign a ban on eminent domain for carbon pipelines.11Des Moines Register. Iowa Governor Candidates 2026 Election Summit has warned that such a ban would effectively kill the project.12Iowa Capital Dispatch. Iowa House Sends CO2 Eminent Domain Ban to Senate
Why Summit Still Cannot Build: The Dakota Problem
The permit’s requirement that Summit secure Dakota approvals has become the project’s biggest obstacle. South Dakota’s Public Utilities Commission denied Summit’s application in September 2023 and denied it again, 2–1, in April 2025.13South Dakota Searchlight. South Dakota Regulators Deny Carbon Pipeline Permit Again In March 2025, South Dakota’s governor signed a law banning eminent domain for carbon pipelines in the state.
North Dakota, originally Summit’s intended storage destination, has unraveled as well. In December 2025, Northeast Judicial District Judge Anthony Swain Benson ruled the 2009 state law allowing forced “amalgamation” of underground pore space for CO2 storage unconstitutional, finding it lacked a jury-determined just-compensation mechanism and amounted to an unauthorized physical invasion of private property.14Des Moines Register. Summit Carbon Solutions Pipeline Project North Dakota Court Ruling In March 2026, South Central Judicial District Judge Jackson Lofgren issued a similar ruling and revoked Summit’s storage permits. Attorney Derrick Braaten, representing opposing landowners, said Summit “no longer has any permits to do carbon sequestration in North Dakota.” Appeals to the state Supreme Court are expected.15North Dakota Monitor. Summit Permit for CO2 Storage Voided as Second Judge Finds North Dakota Law Unconstitutional
In response, Summit petitioned the IUC in September 2025 to amend its Iowa permit, asking the commission to remove the Dakota-approval requirement and replace it with language allowing construction once the company has “secured access to one or more sequestration sites and permits or agreements to allow it to reach such storage.”16Des Moines Register. Summit Wants to Amend Its Pipeline Permit as It Explores Options By May 2026 the company announced it was rerouting westward through Nebraska to a storage site in Wyoming, where the captured CO2 could be used for enhanced oil recovery or permanent sequestration.17North Dakota Monitor. Summit Carbon Pipeline Rerouted to Storage Site in Wyoming, North Dakota Future Unclear
The May 2026 Route Reduction
On May 13, 2026, Summit filed modifications that significantly shrank the Iowa footprint. The company proposed removing planned segments in eight counties (Shelby, Pottawattamie, Montgomery, Adams, Page, Fremont, Mitchell, and Worth) and cutting mileage in four others (Crawford, Floyd, Sioux, and Dickinson). The changes trimmed roughly 200 miles and removed more than 400 landowners from the affected footprint.18Iowa Capital Dispatch. Proposed New Route for Summit Pipeline Would Impact 12 Iowa Counties
Summit also said it would no longer pursue routes to four ethanol facilities: Absolute Energy, POET Corning, POET Hanlontown, and Green Plains Shenandoah. The company said it would continue working with 27 Iowa ethanol plants and described the changes as focusing on “core infrastructure” that is “economically positioned to move ahead now.”19Summit Carbon Solutions. May 13 Update
Landowner Sherri Webb, in Shelby County, said the company “didn’t want to deal with us anymore.” The Iowa Chapter of the Sierra Club called the reductions evidence the project is “falling apart.” Landowners in dropped counties raised a separate concern: whether easements they had already signed could be sold to third parties for unrelated projects. Along the remaining route, opponents noted that canceled segments could be resubmitted at any time.20KTIV. Iowa Pipeline Route Overhauled, Landowners Say Eminent Domain Fight Continues
Safety Concerns Along the Route
Safety fears have shadowed the project since it was proposed, driven by a CO2 pipeline rupture near Satartia, Mississippi, on February 22, 2020. A landslide broke a weld on Denbury Gulf Coast Pipeline’s 24-inch line, releasing roughly 31,405 barrels of liquid CO2 that formed a heavy vapor cloud across low-lying terrain. The entire town was evacuated, 45 people sought medical attention, and CO2 concentrations reached 28,000 parts per million, more than five times the OSHA permissible exposure limit. PHMSA found Denbury had failed to assess geohazard risks, underestimated the potential impact area, and failed to notify local emergency responders.21PHMSA. Failure Investigation Report, Denbury Gulf Coast Pipeline
Summit says its dispersion modeling is “more robust” than what was used in Mississippi and that it is taking safety precautions the Denbury operator did not. The company has declined to publicly release its modeling results, citing sabotage concerns. Summit acknowledges a “handful” of high-consequence areas along the Iowa route and identifies 1.13 miles of its proposed 686-mile route as directly impacting such areas in a worst-case scenario.22Iowa Capital Dispatch. Summit Identified Handful of Populated Areas at Risk From Major Pipeline Breach
Where Things Stand
As of mid-2026, Summit holds an Iowa construction permit but cannot build until the IUC acts on its pending amendments to remove the Dakota conditions, adjust the route, and change pipe sizes. The company has permits in Minnesota and faces no state permitting requirement in Nebraska. Its North Dakota storage permits have been voided, and South Dakota has denied its applications twice and banned eminent domain for carbon pipelines.15North Dakota Monitor. Summit Permit for CO2 Storage Voided as Second Judge Finds North Dakota Law Unconstitutional The pivot to Wyoming storage remains in early stages, with limited public detail about the site or the regulatory path to reach it. In Iowa, the landowner lawsuit is frozen, the legislature has not passed an eminent domain ban despite repeated House votes in favor, and every major candidate for governor has pledged to sign one. Construction has not started.