https://www.commondreams.org/news/co2-pipeline-canceled
Climate action advocates and scientists joined residents of five Midwestern states in applauding Friday after a Nebraska firm canceled plans to build a carbon pipeline, following outcry from the public and opponents of “dangerous, wasteful” carbon capture schemes.
Navigator CO2 Ventures said it was abandoning plans to build the $3.5 billion, 1,300-mile Heartland Greenway pipeline project—whose backers included investment firm BlackRock and Valero Energy—after South Dakota regulators denied a permit.
The company cited “the unpredictable nature of the regulatory and government processes involved,” but advocates in the five states that would have been affected credited grassroots campaigning, including by residents who spoke out against the company’s plan to potentially use eminent domain to gain access to land.
“As soon as Iowans learned about CO2 pipelines we knew these were not pipelines we wanted in our communities,” said Susan and Jerry Stoefen, members of Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement. “Iowans organized to be heard: ‘No CO2 Pipelines, No Eminent Domain!’ Now is the time for Iowans to find reals solutions to reducing CO2 emissions that don’t degrade our land, water, and air.”
One Iowa resident summed up the victory as, “A bunch of elderly farmers without internet just took down BlackRock.”
Along with Iowa and Nebraska, the pipeline would have cut through parts of South Dakota, Minnesota, and Illinois, where Navigator CO2 planned to store liquefied carbon deep underground after capturing it and transporting it from 18 ethanol plants owned by Poet, the world’s largest ethanol producer, and Iowa Fertilizer Company.
The company is one of three firms that have planned to build carbon capture pipelines in the Midwest, promoting what climate advocates and scientists have decried as an energy-intensive, unproven false solution that diverts focus away from efforts to slash fossil fuel emissions and transition to renewable energy.
Summit Carbon Solutions and Wolf Carbon Solutions also have pipeline proposals, but Summit announced Thursday it was delaying construction of its $5.5 billion project by two years until 2026, citing permit denials similar to Navigator’s.
