By O. Kay Henderson (Radio Iowa)

A bill that would have set a few new ground rules for carbon pipelines has stalled in the Senate. Representative Steven Holt, a Republican from Denison, led debate of the bill in the House, where it passed on a 73-20 vote.

“The legislation’s one of the most important things we could have done this session,” Holt told Radio Iowa.

The bill would have required that 90 percent of a carbon pipeline’s route be secured through voluntary agreements before eminent domain authority from the state could be used to compel other landowners to sign easements.

“A lot of concerned citizens across the state of Iowa do not want their property taken for this project — an economic development project and I’m disappointed,” Holt said.

Today is the last day of the legislature’s work week and also the deadline for policy bills from the House to have cleared a Senate committee. Senate Democratic Leader Zach Wahls of Coralville told reporters Republicans who control the senate’s debate agenda could have at least scheduled a subcommittee hearing on the bill.

“I think that if the bill would have come to the floor, it would have had strong majority support,” Wahls said, “so I was surprised.”

It’s possible some of the elements of the bill could be tacked onto a budget bill next month. There’s also a chance state regulators’ review of the pipeline projects might extend into early 2024. Holt said that means it might be possible for next year’s legislature to revisit the issue.

“Dynamics can change around here very quickly around here when it’s an election year and people begin to hear a lot from their constituents, so we’ll see where it goes,” Holt said. “My concern about waiting a year, obviously, is that eminent domain could already be in process for some of our landowerns, but maybe the process will not be that far along, so we’ll see.”

The proposed Wolf pipeline to capture carbon from ADM plants is about 300 miles long and the developer says it’s getting voluntary access to the route and will not need to seek eminent domain authority. The other pipeline developers are expected to ask the Iowa Utilities Board for eminent domain authority to secure easements from landowners who haven’t voluntarily granted access to their properties. Navigator’s pipeline would stretch about 800 miles through 33 Iowa counties. The Summit Carbon Solutions pipeline would be about 680 miles long and pass through 29 counties. Advocates say the pipelines will make ethanol a low-carbon fuel by capturing and shipping carbon from Iowa ethanol plants to underground storage sites in Illinois and North Dakota.

By Matt Kelley (Radio Iowa)

An Iowa State University study shows inflation is hitting rural residents harder that those in urban areas. Professor David Peters, a rural sociologist for ISU Extension and Outreach, says inflation took a bigger bite of rural household budgets throughout much of last year, but its effects were similar in rural and urban areas by year’s end.

“Over the past 10 years, inflation costs that we’re all familiar with, gas and food and everything else, has cut rural discretionary incomes by over a third,” Peters says. “What’s the discretionary income? Well, the discretionary income is essentially the money you have leftover at the end of the year after you pay your taxes and pay all your expenses.” That discretionary income is critical, he says, for handling unexpected or emergency expenses. In the past two years, Peters says inflation has cost the average rural household a total of more than eight thousand dollars.

“And that just means rural households have less money for unexpected health care costs,” Peters says. “A lot of rural people have their own health insurance, less money for unexpected home repairs, the furnace goes out, you need a new roof, unexpected car repairs, or even just for rural people to save for their own retirement or their kids’ future education.” Peters says he doesn’t foresee inflation letting up anytime soon.

“I would say likely not in the next two to three years,” Peters says. “I would say that the price increases we’ve seen are going to stay. They might not be increasing as much as they have been in the last two years, but all indications would be those inflation rates are here to stay.” The Federal Reserve recently raised interest rates in an effort to stave off further inflation, which Peters says raises the risk of the economy falling into a recession.

“People grumble about inflation and people grumble about paying more for the groceries and their gas,” Peters says, “but that’s a far less major problem than a recession where people would lose their jobs and lose their businesses.” Peters says rural households paid an extra $300 per month because of inflation in 2021, but the urban-rural gap in additional expenses was modest, around $15 a month. When transportation costs shot up in early 2022, largely due to higher gas prices, he says rural households felt it more. For the first two-thirds of the year, inflation cost rural households at least an extra $450 per month, which is $60-90 more than urban households.

See the full report online: https://smalltowns.soc.iastate.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/163/2023/02/SOC-3106.pdf