Image of workers constructing a pipeline included with an Iowa Utility Board news release announcing upcoming public meetings about the proposed Navigator CO2 Ventures pipelines. | iub.iowa.gov/
Image of workers constructing a pipeline included with an Iowa Utility Board news release announcing upcoming public meetings about the proposed Navigator CO2 Ventures pipelines. | iub.iowa.gov/
A Cedar Rapids area farmer wants eastern Iowa residents to know about public meetings on proposed carbon sequestration pipelines for which they may be asked for easements.
Ann Gardner Dorr's Sunday, Nov. 28, Facebook post links to a guest column by rural Linn County resident Jessica Wiskus that originally was published by Bloomberg news and was reprinted in the Cedar Rapids Gazette. Wiskus' op-ed ran under the headline "'Green' pipeline actually is the color of money."
"Good article about one of two carbon capture pipelines proposed to wind across Iowa, with one running right through Linn County," Door said in her Facebook post. "Please read this if you care about what is being proposed. There will be meetings to discuss this proposal in several counties in eastern Iowa in Dec. and Jan. The one in Linn County will be Dec. 6th at 6 p.m. at the Vet's Memorial building."
Dorr operates the 5Brothers LLC farm in Cedar Rapids, according to information on her LinkedIn page.
In her guest column, Wiskus said she doubts the sincerity of the pipelines proposal being promoted by Navigator CO2 Ventures because the proposal appears to be a ploy by oil and gas corporations to use carbon dioxide to extract more oil in a process called "Enhanced Oil Recovery."
"Sure, they’re going to store our CO2 in the ground," Wiskus said in the guest column. "But for every ton of CO2 they pump into the ground, they pull out two to three barrels of oil, which generates about 1.2 tons of new CO2. Navigator may claim that they are interested only in CO2 storage and not enhanced oil recovery (or, potentially, EGR — enhanced gas recovery). Yet, Navigator writes that it is 'in discussions with multiple parties that consume CO2 who would desire delivery,' and they have touted to investors their recent agreement with Tenaska, a gas and energy giant, to develop their sequestration site. How can we know that this is truly a 'green' project?"
The proposed pipelines would move carbon dioxide into deep underground sequestration, according to a Des Moines Register news story published the same day as Dorr's Facebook post. The pipes might cut greenhouse gas emissions from ethanol, fertilizer and other industrial ag plants, according to the news story.
Public meetings are scheduled for input about the project and critics fear the pipelines would leak — even explode — causing potential damage to farmland and other localities, The Gazette in Cedar Rapids reported in its news story published Friday, Nov. 26.
In addition to the Dec. 6 meeting at the Veterans Memorial Building at 50 Second Avenue Bridge in Cedar Rapids, other scheduled public meetings in eastern Iowa are at noon Dec. 6 at the Gathering Place, 1711 N. Second St. in Manchester; 6 p.m. Dec. 7 at the Cedar County Fairgrounds, 220th Street in Tipton; noon Jan. 3 at the Norway Community Center, 210 South St. in Norway and 6 p.m. Jan. 3 at the Price Creek Event Center, 4709 220th Trail in Amana. A virtual meeting also is scheduled for 6 p.m. Jan. 19.
A full schedule of the public informational meetings in Iowa and information about relevant documents for the proposal are available at the Iowa Utilities Board website.
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