County briefed on Tallgrass CO2 pipeline: permit issued, 1.53 miles in Pottawattamie County, county inspector role clarified

County engineering staff and Snyder representatives briefed the Board of Supervisors on the Tallgrass (Trailblazer) CO2 pipeline project, reporting that the county permit has been issued and the company must pay fees and collect the permit.

Presenters said the company hopes to prepare a staging area and potentially begin work in February, though that schedule is tentative. County staff described the portion of the project inside Pottawattamie County as roughly 1.53 miles long (a speaker initially cited 5.53 miles and then corrected to 1.53 during the discussion) with an 8-inch pipeline in the county and a 24-inch crossing under the river in Mills County. The county’s permitting valuation for construction in-county was described as approximately $20 million, based on figures submitted by the company and verified against building valuation charts.

Board members asked which inspections Snyder would perform and which were outside the scope; presenters said federal or regulatory agencies handle welding, coatings and pressure testing per law and that the county’s inspector role is either the county engineer or an independently contracted inspector (Snyder). Regarding billing, presenters said the county must act as a pass-through for inspector invoices and can add an administrative reimbursement fee to cover processing time and costs; the board will work with the county auditor to set the fee.

Presenters said all landowner easements for the route on the Steyer property were voluntary and that no eminent-domain filings or docket objections had been recorded with the Iowa Utilities Commission (IUC) for this project. The board took no action on the report; county staff said they would present a designation agreement to file with the IUC that specifically lists this project alongside prior Summit-designation paperwork to keep records clear.