The top Republican in the Iowa Senate will be sponsoring a bill next year that would give developers like Summit Carbon Solutions more leeway in altering the route of pipelines. It would also apply to other utility infrastructure, like transmission lines.
Senate Majority Leader Mike Klimesh, a Republican from Spillville, said for the past three months he’s been talking with Senate Republicans about ideas to resolve the debate over the carbon pipeline soon after the 2026 legislature convenes in January. “We want to be respectful of private property rights. We want to minimize and all but eliminate the need to utilize eminent domain to build infrastructure,” Klimesh said “and that lies in widening the corridor, giving those companies the ability to find willing landowners that want to enter into an easement with them.”
Under his proposal, once a company submits a proposed route to Iowa utility regulators, developers could adjust the route within a 10 mile corridor and avoid property owned by people who don’t want the project running through their land. “The goal ultimately is to all but eliminate the need for eminent domain for any infrastructure project to be constructed in this state in the future,” Klimesh said. “I think that shows that Senate Republicans want to be respectful of private property rights for folks that don’t want projects, but also allow private property rights to be exercised by folks that want to benefit from those easements.”
During an interview with Radio Iowa, Klimesh said the legislature spent a lot of time last spring “navigating” through a debate over a bill that was complex and he’s hoping a simpler solution prevails. “Iowa is kind of unique compared to other states where we have a noticed corridor,” Klimesh said. “We don’t allow construction companies building infrastructure to deviate from that corridor. Some states have no noticed corridor requirement.”
A dozen Republican Senators refused to vote on state budget plans last spring and joined Democrats in passing a wide-ranging pipeline bill that Governor Reynolds vetoed in June. In late September Klimesh told Radio Iowa the pipeline issue wasn’t going away and he was searching for a solution that could unify Senate Republicans.
