No more public dollars for false carbon storage solutions
Iowa Utilities Board
The background:
Summit Carbon Solutions (aka Bruce Rastetter – Iowa factory farm & ethanol baron) has now started the process for approval of a CO2 pipeline from Iowa to North Dakota, where the CO2 will be buried (or possibly used for fracking). This pipeline will impact at least 30 Iowa counties. Summit is likely to rely on eminent domain to secure the land easements needed to bury much of the pipeline.
Summit intends to obtain the CO2 from Iowa ethanol plants and other industrial polluters in Iowa, and then sell the ethanol to California and other states that have a low carbon fuel standard. The claim is that by sequestering the CO2 from the ethanol plants, the ethanol becomes low carbon fuel and in the process overall emissions are lowered (all while Rastetter and these industries siphon off a bunch of public money and investment that should go towards proven climate solutions).
In reality – Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS) is just the latest money making scheme to greenwash fossil fuel pollution and allow dirty industries to continue business as usual. This Top 5 list from our friends at Food & Water Watch is a great resource:
- Carbon Capture is an Expensive Failure
- Carbon Capture is Energy Intensive
- Carbon Capture Actually Increases Emissions
- Storage Presents Significant Risks
- Carbon Capture Trades Off with Other Critical Solutions (and delays a true clean energy future)
Not enough info you say? Even more reading on why CCS is a bad idea from F&WW here and from Greenpeace here.
Beyond the economics, corporate control, climate/environmental and land use issues is there a human cost or risk from this pipeline?
Glad you asked! A recent CO2 pipeline break in Mississippi led to mass poisoning of one community and is still under investigation:
- Gassing Satartia: Carbon Dioxide Pipeline Linked To Mass Poisoning | HuffPost Impact
- And more from the researchers behind the story: CO2 Pipelines and Carbon Capture: The Satartia Mississippi Accident Investigation - Climate Investigations Center
Why now?
Rastetter and Summit Carbon Solutions filed paperwork for their pipeline permit with the Iowa Utilities Board a week ago. That means that over the coming month, they will be holding initial public meetings in all 30 counties impacted by the pipeline. This is the first step in the permitting process, and will be a barometer for the resistance or support this project will face. Check out the proposed pipeline path for yourself here.
Take Action:
CCS schemes only serve to prop up polluting industries and pad the profits of fossil fuel profiteers by siphoning off public money on expensive “technology” that doesn’t reduce carbon emissions. We call on Bruce Rastetter and Summit Carbon to drop their polluting pipeline plans. We call on the Iowa Utilities Board to deny Summit Carbon’s hazardous liquid pipeline permit application. And we call on Iowa’s elected officials and decision makers to take a stand against this pipeline and to invest in a 100% renewable future that benefits 100% of the people.
Sponsored by
To:
Iowa Utilities Board
From:
[Your Name]
Iowans have a right to clean air, water, and a habitable environment. To get there we need a just transition to a 100% carbon-free energy system. We want our public tax dollars invested into proven and cost-effective technologies needed to get there such as wind and solar. We demand that you reject unproven, costly, and dangerous projects like the Summit Carbon Solutions CO2 pipeline. Which would ultimately prop up fossil fuel extraction and destructive industrial agriculture practices.
We have little time left for the mass mobilization of resources needed to transition to carbon-free energy and the conservation practices that are proven to reduce emissions and sequester carbon. We are calling on you to rule with the majority of Iowans rather than wealthy campaign contributors like Bruce Rastetter and reject the proposed Summit Carbon Solutions pipeline.