LINCOLN, Neb. (DTN) -- Though Summit Carbon Solutions proposes to cut 400 landowners and 200 miles out of its proposed carbon dioxide pipeline route, Iowa landowners still affected by the project once construction begins told the Iowa Utilities Commission on Wednesday the company should have to apply for a new permit.

The company announced on May 13, 2026, it was removing eight Iowa counties from the proposed route and building the project west through Nebraska and sequestering carbon in Wyoming.

Iowa landowners commenting at a regular monthly meeting of the Iowa Utilities Commission, however, expressed concern that the Summit announcement left open future expansion possibilities beyond connecting to 27 Iowa ethanol plants.

Mitchell County, Iowa, landowner Colleen Tucker told the commission the company's newly announced plan was "welcome news" but she said hundreds more landowners remain in limbo.

"The citizens of Iowa are asking you to uphold the U.S. and Iowa constitutions by denying a private company the extraordinary power of eminent domain for this project," Tucker told the commission.

"You have the authority to stop this and you should use that authority. When landowners are asked to make a permanent decision about their land, fairness demands that the project itself comes with permanent certainty as well."

It has been six months since Summit applied for a permit to build the pipeline, prompting Iowa agriculture and biofuels groups to call on the commission to begin moving.

The Iowa Renewable Fuels Association on Wednesday filed a formal request with the Iowa Utilities Commission to set a hearing schedule for the pipeline project.

"For 25 years Iowa has benefited greatly from being the most profitable place in the world to convert corn into ethanol," the IRFA said in its filing.

"That is no longer the case because a carbon capture project in Nebraska began operations last fall. There is not a question on the economic benefits: carbon capture and sequestration is happening and it is happening right here in the Midwest. The only question is whether Iowa will be left behind for months or forever."

SUMMIT PIPELINE CHANGES

Summit announced proposed changes to the project on May 13, 2026, including removing pipeline routes previously planned in Shelby, Pottawattamie, Montgomery, Adams, Page, Fremont, Mitchell and Worth counties.

The entire face of the pipeline project changed after state lawmakers in South Dakota passed a ban on the use of eminent domain for carbon capture projects in March 2025. Then in April 2025, the South Dakota Public Utility Commission denied Summit's route permit application.

South Dakota was considered a key part of the 2,500-mile pipeline because carbon was to be transported across the state and then stored in North Dakota.

During years' long debate on the pipeline, opposition to the project repeatedly made the case the project does not qualify as a public utility and should be unable to use eminent domain. Under the leadership of a new CEO Joe Griffin, the company announced in September 2025 that it would use eminent domain only as a "last resort."

ANNOUNCED CHANGES

In addition, in last week's announcement Summit said it would explore other uses for the pipeline including enhanced oil recovery.

Griffin said in the company's announcement that the focus is on building the portions of the system that are "economically positioned to move ahead now," while continuing to evaluate "future expansion opportunities" to include connecting the pipeline to additional ethanol plants.

"We continue to see strong support from the majority of landowners and stakeholders across our project footprint," Griffin said in a statement.

"These people understand that standing still is not an option in this economy. This project is about creating durable economic prosperity, strengthening rural communities, supporting America's energy independence and national security interests and helping ensure agriculture remains competitive for all future generations."

ONGOING LAND FIGHT

Jann Reinig, a corn grower and ethanol plant stockholder in Shelby County, Iowa, said during the Iowa Utilities Commission meeting this week that although she is a corn grower who wants higher commodity prices, she's unwilling to accept a trade-off of losing property to eminent domain.

Reinig said although Shelby County was removed from the pipeline route that the fight wasn't over for other landowners.

"My county, Shelby County, is one of the eight counties now exempt from the CO2 pipeline route," she said.

"Wow, that sounds like a celebration. I had two men congratulate me at the grocery store yesterday that we had done such a great job and that we were out of the project. Well, I wish it was that way, and I had to tell him that it's not over yet. We landowners have little right to celebrate."

Reinig said she believes because Summit is proposing many changes to the project that the company should have to reapply for a permit.

"We should have a hearing to restart the entire CO2 Iowa project," she said.

"It's completely different. What is presented now is a totally different project than what we had. We need a hearing to discuss a new project with all of its changes from the 2021 original project."

CORN GROWERS PRESS FOR HEARING

Steve Kuiper, first vice president of the Iowa Corn Growers Association, told the commission to move forward in considering the Summit permit and allowing construction to begin in 2026 because Iowa farmers are struggling.

Building a carbon pipeline and connecting to Iowa ethanol plants, he said, will help bolster the price of Iowa corn by 20 cents to 30 cents.

"Currently the state of the Iowa farming economy has got some serious financial difficulties ahead," Kuiper said.

"Myself, I've got two sons that farm with me and I've got grandkids that are going to join our farming operation probably at some point in time. And you hear this same thing throughout Iowa's farm economy -- that we're on the precipice of possibly a current farm recession."

Read more on DTN:

"Summit Announces Carbon Pipeline Plan," https://www.dtnpf.com/….

Todd Neeley can be reached at todd.neeley@dtn.com

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