The Iowa Landowner Guide to Carbon Pipeline Opposition (1st edition: August 2024) is a collection of resources, research and action steps designed to empower landowners and communities in the fight against invasive, unsafe carbon pipeline projects. Inside the Guide, you’ll find practical advice on everything from filing objections with the Iowa Utilities Commission to understanding your rights regarding easements and eminent domain. 

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ACTION: Tell Congress: “PIPES Act” MUST Make CO2 Pipeline Spill Dangers Public

An Iowa District Court on Wednesday determined an Iowa state law that allowed pipeline companies to enter private land for survey without guardrails or compensation is unconstitutional. The Clay County judge recognized that landowners have a right to exclude unwanted intrusions onto their properties and that just compensation must be paid when takings occur. The ruling held that this right to exclude cannot be taken by the government or its delegees, such as hazardous pipelines, without due process and just compensation, which the Iowa statute does not require.

Brian Jorde, the attorney with Domina Law Group and Easement Action Teams LLC for the landowner who brought the lawsuit, who is a member of the Iowa Easement Team, said:

“This is and will always be about defending property rights and holding hazardous pipelines to constitutional standards. My client and I applaud Judge Sandy’s thoughtful analysis and courage in this decision. The right to prevent unwanted entry onto your private land is a fundamental right that the government may not take without due process and just compensation. Today’s decision confirms this right and is a victory for landowners everywhere.”

During the 2023 Okoboji Winter Games, Iowa Easement Team sponsored a digital billboard: “Google Satartia CO2 Pipeline” — to call attention to the serious safety risks posed by CO2 pipelines, as evidenced by the 2020 Denbury CO2 pipeline rupture in Satartia, MS.

“Brian Jorde is the main attorney for a group of landowners united against the pipeline. “There’s power in numbers with other like-minded, concerned Iowa landowners,” Jorde told NWIowa.com.

“We have to mass up and group together to try to fight against the power of the political machine and the millions and millions of dollars they can throw around to buy people off.”

“The developer of a proposed $4.5 billion carbon capture pipeline in Iowa must release the names of landowners who could be impacted along its roughly 680-mile route, a district judge ruled,” the Des Moines Register reports.

via Dakota News Now
by Beth Warden
7/21/22

“…In Iowa, a resident submitted her research findings to the Iowa public utility board, claiming ownership connections to SKE&S, which she says is also SK holdings, a company fined over 70 million dollars for defrauding US military contracts.

Attorney Brian Jorde with Domina Law Group represents South Dakota Landowners and has reviewed the documents. The Department of Justice Documents show SK Holdings pleaded guilty in 2018 and again in 2020 to Government Fraud. Another case was listed as a settlement, while another is still pending. “The South Korean entity has taken a 10% ownership in Summit carbon solutions. Is this who you want, owning operating a pipeline through your state?” said Jorde…

via Iowa Public Radio
By Kendall Crawford
February 24, 2022

“Iowa landowners are uniting to defend themselves against the use of eminent domain. The newly formed Iowa Easement Team wants to stop Summit Carbon Solutions and Navigator CO2 Ventures from using eminent domain to build pipelines throughout Iowa. Hundreds of farmers in the path of the recently proposed carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) pipelines have jointly hired the Omaha-based Domina Law to lead their legal effort.”