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Naig: eminent domain should favor landowners as carbon-capture pipeline debate continues
Summary
Secretary Mike Naig said the law should tilt toward protecting landowners in eminent domain decisions for pipelines, saying eminent domain should be a rare, least-desirable option and that voluntary agreements should be overwhelming before any project proceeds.
Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig said during Iowa Press that eminent domain for projects such as carbon-capture pipelines should be difficult to use and should favor landowners.
Asked whether he might take a firmer stance given ongoing legislative debates and landowner pressure, Naig said the issue is emotional and needs two separate considerations: the effect of CO2 pipelines on ethanol and land values, and the role of eminent domain itself.
"You want the thumb of law on the right on the scale of the landowner. You want it to be hard," Naig said. He added that eminent domain should be "the least desirable option" and that projects should have overwhelming voluntary agreements before any government-backed eminent domain is used. He said due process and clear rules should govern any adjudication in the courts.
Naig said the legislature can adjust the balance if it wishes, but that the default should protect landowners and make eminent domain uncommon.
