The manager of an ethanol plant near Council Bluffs says a bill that would set new restrictions on the proposed Summit Carbon Solutions pipeline in Iowa would also impact his company’s plan connect to a Nebraska pipeline.

Mike Jerke, CEO of Southwest Iowa Renewable Energy (SIRE), spoke this afternoon during an online news conference hosted by the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association.

“SIRE has engaged two different engineering companies to look at expansion of our facility,” he said. “All of that is predicated on the ability to sequester CO2 and the demand pull that would bring.”

A nearly 400 mile long natural gas pipeline in Nebraska is being retooled and will start capturing carbon from ethanol plants this fall. Jerke said his ethanol facility plans to start sequestering carbon in mid-2026 and connect to the Tallgrass Trailblazer pipeline in Nebraska. “We have 100% voluntary easements for our project,” Jerke said. “We have those secured.”

Jerde said the bill requires a type of insurance that would violate the permit his company is seeking and the legislation’s 25 year limit on operating a pipeline transporting liquid carbon dioxide would be “a death blow.” His company already negotiated $45 million worth of contracts to buy the equipment needed to sequester CO2.

“We’ve probably spent a little over half that because equipment purchases take time and construction will come here in the fall,” Jerde said. “Apparently this is going to be, if this is to stand or be signed into law, something that we would only be able to operate for 25 years…Just extremely problematic would probably be putting it lightly.”

Governor Reynolds has until mid-June to sign or veto the bill. Landowners who oppose the Summit Carbon Solutions project say the bill is the culmination of a four year long battle to preserve their private property rights and they continue to urge lawmakers to pass an outright ban on the use of eminent domain to seize property for carbon pipelines.