Judge Pauses Summit Opponents’ Lawsuit

(Photo by Cami Koons/Iowa Capital Dispatch via the North Dakota Monitor)

(North Dakota Monitor) – The Iowa Utilities Commission will have to decide whether Summit Carbon Solutions can change the ending destination for its carbon sequestration pipeline before a case against the company’s permit can proceed, an Iowa court ruled.

The Iowa District Court for Polk County ruled in favor of Summit’s motion to pause the case that landowners, counties and the Sierra Club Iowa Chapter filed in 2024.

Opponents of the proposed carbon capture pipeline sued over the IUC decision to issue a conditional permit to Summit in June 2024. The permit allowed the company to use eminent domain to build a pipeline that would connect to biorefineries across the state and transport carbon dioxide to North Dakota for underground storage.

Per the IUC permit decision, Summit was required to obtain permission for its pipeline in North Dakota and South Dakota before it could begin construction in Iowa.

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