Mother Jones has profiled the fight against the controversial Midwest Carbon Express pipeline in a new full-feature article published in its May-June 2022 issue.
The article is a detailed investigation that chronicles the origins of the proposed pipeline and how a private equity firm has been working to obtain eminent domain from the Iowa Utilities Board to seize land not granted through voluntary easement. It also discusses how Domina Law Managing Lawyer Brian Jorde and our team are helping Iowa landowners.
As proposed by Summit Carbon Solutions, the company behind the project, the Midwest Carbon Express would transport liquefied carbon dioxide from corn ethanol plants through over 2,000 miles of pipeline in five states, including 30 counties in Iowa alone. The pipeline would terminate in North Dakota, where the CO2 would be sequestered underground.
But many landowners, ranchers, and farmers with property in the proposed path of the pipeline have been vocal about their opposition to the project, expressing concerns over its environmental impact, their potential liability for pipeline damage, and Summit’s attempts to use eminent domain, a right typically reserved for public entities and public-use projects, to gain access to land and reap private profits.
As reported by Mother Jones, many of these landowners are now working with Domina Law Group and Attorney Brian Jorde, who helped landowners successfully defeat the controversial Keystone XL pipeline. These property owners want to ensure that Summit’s founder and CEO, Bruce Rastetter, doesn’t use his political connections to unfairly capitalize off other people’s land. According to Mother Jones, Rastetter is a political heavyweight in Iowa with ties to past and current governors who have appointed members of the Iowa Utilities Board. Rastetter and his investors, who also plan to claim federal tax credits for mitigating climate change, would reap massive profits from the Midwest Carbon Express project.
Read the full Mother Jones article about the Midwest Carbon Express and Domina Law’s involvement representing landowners here.
Domina Law Group and Attorney Brian Jorde currently represent landowners in all states impacted by the proposed Midwest Carbon Express pipeline. As part of our work educating landowners about their rights, legal options, and ways to negotiate fair agreements, Jorde and our team have established the Iowa Easement Team specifically to help Iowa landowners. You can learn more at www.IowaEasement.org or by contacting us.