With Iowa Bill Nixed, Eminent Domain for Carbon Pipeline Draws Heartland Heat

‘We can do better,’ Gov. Kim Reynolds says in her veto of lawmakers’ ban on companies seizing private land for a 2,500-mile five-state project.

Iowa land owners attend an Iowa Utility Board hearing in Fort Dodge, Iowa, in August 2023 on permitting of Summit Carbon Solutions pipeline project that would require easements on hundreds of private properties. Courtesy Jessica Mazour

A special legislative session looms in Iowa, where House Republican leaders are calling for lawmakers to convene in Des Moines to overturn Gov. Kim Reynolds’ veto of a bill adopted in May that would restrict the use of eminent domain in pipeline siting.

“This veto is a major setback for Iowa,” Iowa House Speaker Rep. Pat Grassley said in a statement that included a petition “to reconvene the Legislature.”