Citizen Portal

Woodbury County chips in $1,000 to ISAC amicus brief in pipeline zoning case

Woodbury County Board of Supervisors · November 19, 2025
Article hero
AI-Generated Content: All content on this page was generated by AI to highlight key points from the meeting. For complete details and context, we recommend watching the full video. so we can fix them.

Summary

Supervisors approved a $1,000 contribution from gaming revenue to the Iowa State Association of Counties to support an amicus brief in Kauser v Shelby County, saying the Supreme Court question could affect counties’ zoning authority nationwide.

The Woodbury County Board of Supervisors approved an allocation of $1,000 from gaming revenues to support an amicus brief filed by the Iowa State Association of Counties in Kauser v Shelby County, a dispute over whether federal pipeline-safety law preempts local zoning rules for pipelines.

Chairman Dan Bittinger read a letter from ISAC describing the legal question before the U.S. Supreme Court and said the case "has the potential to impact all counties nationwide" by addressing whether local zoning ordinances regulating hazardous-liquid (CO2) pipelines are preempted by the Federal Pipeline Safety Act. He and other supervisors said the county has a history of defending local control and property-rights concerns in related pipeline matters.

The board voted to provide $1,000 from gaming revenue to support ISAC’s amicus filing; staff noted that dozens of other Iowa counties had made similar contributions.