Oct. 15 (UPI) — The Iowa Supreme Court is weighing a decision that could uphold a pipeline company’s eminent domain right to survey property without landowner permission.
The state’s high court held a hearing last week over the appeal of a district court decision. A landowner brought the appeal to the supreme court after the lower court ruled in favor of Summit Carbon Solutions in a lawsuit against him.
Kent Kasischke, a landowner in Hardin County, Iowa, was sued by Summit for refusing to allow surveyors onto his property to survey for its pipeline project. The Iowa Utilities Commission approved Summit’s petition to build nearly 700 miles of CO2 pipeline across the state.
There are conditions Summit must meet before it can begin construction. Conditions include obtaining approval from other states that the pipeline will be built in, maintaining at least $100 million in liability insurance and offering to purchase voluntary easements from affected landowners under the same terms offered to landowners prior to the board’s decision.