Twelve Iowa senators have drawn a line in the sand – or soil – over their constituents’ property rights.
Senators Mike Pike, Mark Lofgren, Dennis Guth, Lynn Evans, Rocky DeWitt, Kevin Alons, Dave Sires, Cherielynn Westrich, Jeff Taylor, Sandy Salmon, Dave Rowley and Doug Campbell are using their voices and their voting power to show their support for Iowa property owners who might face the threat of eminent domain for the proposed Summit Carbon Solutions carbon pipeline.
Doyle Turner, an active member of the Free Soil Foundation, an organization that works to defend property owners, said that those senators have made public their refusal to vote on a budget bill unless two bills to protect landowners from the threat of eminent domain – SF 639 and SF 943 are brought to the Senate floor.
According to Turner, SF 639 is a conglomeration of bills and SF 943 would disqualify pipelines carrying carbon dioxide from being considered as a means of transporting a “utility” for the purposes of eminent domain.
Turner explained that the bills have passed the House but have been hung up in the Senate Commerce Committee, whose track record for defending private property rights is quite weak, he said.
A democrat, Tony Bisignano, helped get the ball rolling on this issue, by placing a “discharge petition” on a different bill which would have allowed a majority of senators to bypass leadership and bring a bill to the floor. This action helped expose the senators’ unwillingness to stand up to leadership when given a chance, said Turner. As a result, citizens began to pay attention, which inspired the twelve senators listed to take a stand in support of property rights.
Meanwhile, in South Dakota, where HB 1052, a bill to prohibit carbon pipeline companies from using eminent domain, passed and was signed by the Governor, the Public Utilities Commission recently denied pipeline company Summit Carbon Solutions a building permit for the second time.
The PUC voted 2-1 to not deny the company’s permit application.
Summit immediately pledged to reapply with a “reduced scope,” reported South Dakota Searchlight.