Summit Carbon Solutions presents new management team, landowner payments and emergency-response commitments

Haley Gibson, stakeholder relations manager for Summit Carbon Solutions, gave the Board of Supervisors an update on the project’s new management team and a revised “community and landowner partnership program.” Gibson said the company has a new chief executive, Joe Griffin, and is scheduling a series of local open houses for landowners and community members, including Nov. 10 in Red Oak.

Gibson told the board, “My goal today is just to give you guys an update on the project.” She outlined commitments Summit said it will offer to counties and landowners, including an annual county payment starting at 12.5 cents per foot per year (rising to 25 cents per foot at 100% voluntary county acquisition) and baseline landowner payments beginning at 20–25 cents per foot per year (rising to 50 cents at 100% voluntary acquisition). Gibson also described a one-time county grant of $50,000 plus $1,000 per mile in each county where the pipeline is placed, and said Summit will purchase certain emergency-response equipment for first responders and provide CO2 monitors for fire departments and police vehicles.

Board members pressed for operational details and limits on company authority. A supervisor asked whether eminent domain remains on the table; Gibson said Summit has not given up on negotiating with landowners and will continue voluntary acquisition efforts. She said Summit’s permit before the Iowa Utilities Commission (IUC) gives it a path to eminent domain but that the company prefers negotiated agreements.

On safety and technical questions, Gibson described leak-detection and control systems. She said the project will use a SCADA monitoring system that will detect pressure loss and shut valves on either side of a breach. Gibson acknowledged differences between the pipeline under discussion and a fatal incident in Mississippi, saying the product Summit would transport is high-purity CO2 from ethanol plants, whereas the Mississippi line had other components (such as hydrogen sulfide) that contributed to the severity of that event.

Gibson also discussed easement terms: she said Summit’s standard permanent easement is 50 feet with a 100-foot construction corridor, that easements will be recorded and will run with the land, and that landowners will have multiple payment options (including staggered lump-sum payments, multi-year payments and a profit-sharing-style option linked to owner distributions). She said the company will prioritize local and union labor where possible and that agricultural and environmental mitigation plans will be enforced during construction, with county-hired agricultural inspectors able to stop noncompliant work.

Several supervisors asked about water use. Gibson said water is used at CO2 capture facilities at ethanol plants to cool and condition CO2 before pipeline injection and that Summit is examining recycling and alternatives to reduce fresh-water demand. She said the company’s filings include dispersion analyses for emergency planning and that the firm is committed to continuing outreach with county emergency management.

During public comment after the formal agenda items, resident John Anderson urged the board to consider ordinances limiting industrial water use by data centers and carbon-capture projects. Anderson said studies show large industrial users can place pressure on aquifers and asked the board to consider local measures to protect public water supplies.

The board did not take a formal action on Summit’s presentation. Gibson offered to provide follow-up information requested by supervisors (including pipeline flow rates and updated easement acquisition percentages).