Landowners Ask Court to Reconsider Decision to Pause Pipeline Permit Lawsuit

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(North Dakota Monitor) – Landowners opposed to a carbon sequestration project in Iowa have asked a state court to reconsider its decision to pause a lawsuit over the permit for the pipeline until state officials rule on a filed amendment.

Landowners argue the Polk County District Court’s decision to send the permit back to Iowa Utilities Commission “relied heavily” on the existence of a South Dakota law prohibiting the use of eminent domain for carbon sequestration pipelines.

Landowners, counties and the Sierra Club Iowa Chapter filed a suit in 2024 against the Iowa Utilities Commission decision to grant a permit to Summit Carbon Solutions for the first phase of its proposed carbon sequestration pipeline. The permit stated the Iowa-based company could not begin construction on the pipeline to connect to biorefineries and transport carbon dioxide to underground storage in North Dakota, until it had secured permits from the Dakotas.

In the spring of 2025, however, South Dakota enacted a law that prohibited the use of eminent domain for carbon sequestration pipelines. Eminent domain is used to force unwilling landowners to allow the use of their property for projects considered in the public interest, at a price set by a county commission. South Dakota’s law meant Summit would have to obtain 100% of necessary land easements through voluntary contracts.