BISMARCK, N.D. – The state Public Service Commission has approved a key element in a proposed pipeline to carry carbon dioxide from 57 ethanol plants in the Dakotas Iowa Minnesota and Nebraska. The 2,500-mile network would deliver CO2 emissions for deep underground storage in North Dakota. Landowners have opposed the pipeline vigorously. The pipeline is an $8 billion project of Iowa-based Summit Carbon Solutions, which touts it for reducing planet-warming CO2 pollution. The gas, which liquifies under pressure, can be used to extract oil from deep geological formations. The process has support from the fossil-fuel industry. Opponents worry about dangers of leakage of CO2, which is fatal, and of the fracking process on geological stability, not to mention the extension of reliance on petroleum as an energy source.
Carbon capture politics
Summit Carbon Solutions is a multi-billion-dollar private investment company based with headquarters in Iowa. The principal, Bruce Rastetter, age 69, is an agricultral adviser to Donad Trump. He donated $1.5 million to state and federal political campaigns from 2003 to 2015. In GOP circles he’s called the “Iowa kingmaker.” In 2008, he gave $5 million to upgrade training facilities for Hawkeye football.