Summit adds 12 ethanol plants to pipeline proposal in Iowa

Summit Carbon Solutions has reached an agreement to nearly double the number of ethanol facilities that will connect to its proposed carbon dioxide pipeline system in Iowa, the company announced Monday.

The agreement with POET — which says it is the world’s largest biofuel producer — would add 17 ethanol plants to the proposed system in Iowa and South Dakota.

A dozen of those are in Iowa, which gives Summit a total of 25 in the state. Those sites would extend Summit’s footprint into at least seven new counties in Iowa, but the precise routes of those extensions are not yet clear.

The company could not immediately provide an estimate of how many additional miles of pipe will be required. The new locations are near Arthur, Ashton, Coon Rapids, Corning, Emmetsburg, Fairbank, Gowrie, Hanlontown, Iowa Falls, Jewell, Menlo and Shell Rock.

“Today marks a historic day for American agriculture and biofuels,” Bruce Rastetter, a co-founder of Summit, said in a prepared statement. “POET is the largest bioethanol producer in the world, and their partnership with Summit Carbon Solutions ensures that decarbonizing bioethanol will lead to exciting new market opportunities for producers, rural economies, and American energy security.”

Summit’s first hazardous liquid pipeline permit request — which has reached the final stage of the Iowa Utilities Board regulatory process — includes about 690 miles of pipe and 12 ethanol producers. Summit filed for a second permit for a 31-mile extension to another ethanol plant last year.

POET finds new partner
The latest announcement is a direct result of Navigator CO2’s abandonment of a similar pipeline proposal about three months ago. POET had an agreement with Navigator to connect to its system.

“It was an inevitability,” Sabrina Zenor, a spokesperson for Summit, said of the new agreement with POET. “We are the only carbon capture and sequestration pipeline in this project footprint, and in order for these plants to remain viable, they need to have carbon capture and sequestration.”

Summit’s system would connect to ethanol plants in five states and transport their captured carbon dioxide to North Dakota for underground storage. The ethanol plants would then produce fuel that is classified as “low carbon,” enabling the producers to sell into new markets and to be eligible for generous federal tax credits.

Jeff Broin, the chief executive of POET, said connecting to the system “ensures that ag-based biofuels will remain competitive for decades to come.”

A POET spokesperson declined to say why the company initially elected to partner with Navigator rather than Summit. The companies’ agreements with ethanol producers differed: Navigator would have charged them to transport their carbon dioxide based on how much it was transporting, whereas Summit has preferred profit-sharing agreements.

Navigator’s plans fizzled amid regulatory setbacks and potential changes to state rules. South Dakota denied its request for a permit, and Illinois regulators have been skeptical about whether the projects are appropriate if they do not connect to coal plants as state lawmakers had intended.

Illinois was an important state for Navigator’s project because it was the destination of the carbon dioxide. That state is not included in Summit’s proposal.

But Summit’s initial applications for permits in North and South Dakota were also denied. North Dakota is in the process of reconsidering Summit’s application with a revised route, and the company has said it will reapply in South Dakota.

That new application will include the five additional POET facilities in South Dakota, which are located near Big Stone, Chancellor, Groton, Hudson and Mitchell.

Zenor did not know when that application might be filed.

The Iowa Utilities Board is now considering whether to grant Summit a permit and what conditions it might have. The board has not indicated when it will issue its decision.

Legislation in Iowa
New legislation that is scheduled to be considered by an Iowa House subcommittee on Wednesday would allow lawmakers to pause governmental proceedings that include the potential for eminent domain.

Summit seeks the use of eminent domain to obtain land easements for up to a quarter of its initial route in Iowa. The new bill would also allow landowners who are the subjects of eminent domain requests to seek judicial review of the requests before the Iowa Utilities Board makes its final determinations.

Another bill in the state Senate that has not been scheduled for discussion would have broad effects for carbon dioxide pipelines. They include: a moratorium on permits for the projects until federal regulators finalize new safety rules for them; restrictions on eminent domain; counties could adopt route and safety requirements; and others.

“If Summit can change things in the middle of the game, so can we,” said Kim Junker, whose farm in Butler County was in Navigator’s path. “We need legislative action now to stop this abuse of our constitutional property rights.”

It’s unclear how many of the landowners who would have been affected by Navigator’s project will now be affected by Summit’s extensions to the additional ethanol plants.

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