Last week the House took significant and historic action on eminent domain abuse reform. From Day One, I have been one of the leaders in the state in ensuring that wealthy individuals cannot bulldoze their way through your Fourth amendment private property rights. It started with a lake in Clarke County where wealthy developers wanted to condemn hundreds of acres of prime farm ground for a recreational lake. I knew that if it could happen in Clarke County it would not be long before someone tried that in Scott, Cedar, or Muscatine Counties. We were successful in those endeavors and a law is on the books.
Next up was the proposed Rock Island Clean Line – a greedy wind transmission company that repeatedly attempted the largest condemnation in State history (over 10,000 acres). Landowners fought the “Clean Line” for years before I was able to floor manage a bill to ban them from our state.
We are now battling a carbon capture pipeline. As a reminder for folks – there were originally three proposed pipelines – one that would have affected us in Eastern Iowa, one in North/Central Iowa called Navigator, and one that stretched all the way into NW Iowa called Summit. Through intense pressure from landowners and legislators we have been successful at repelling Wolfe Pipeline right here are home. Wolfe has withdrawn their application with the IUC. Navigator also folded up shop due to poor management and a lack of willingness from landowners to work with them. That leaves Summit. Summit is a real threat so I am continuing to the fight because if they are successful, it provides a roadmap for future endeavors. This week the Iowa House took the same bold step South Dakota did and we passed an outright ban on the taking of agriculture land for a pipeline transporting CO2. It is as simple as that. This pipeline is NOT a public good and should not have access to eminent domain. The “ball” is now in the Senate’s “court” to pass this legislation. …