Iowa Climate Coalition Protests National Carbon Capture Conference to Oppose CO2 Pipelines
We won't allow greedy corporations to steal public tax dollars for false climate solutions that will cause more destruction to the environment
Des Moines, Iowa — Today, over 100 people from Iowa, Illinois, Nebraska and Minnesota marched to the Iowa Convention Center to denounce CO2 pipelines as a false climate solution while the National Carbon Capture Conference & Expo was concluding. It hosted Summit Carbon Solutions, Navigator CO2 Ventures and Wolf Carbon Solutions who want to build 2,000 miles of pipelines across the Midwest to capture carbon dioxide from ethanol and fertilizer plants. “This is deeper than just a CO2 pipeline. Big Ag and their destructive farming practices are poisoning our air, water, and land. We are demanding real solutions to the climate emergency, not another greenwashing scam that makes Bruce Rastetter and his friends richer.” - Devyn Hall, Iowa CCI Farm & Environment Community Organizer Pictures the rally are available here. (credit Anthony Arroyo) Gov. Kim Reynolds worked with Iowa State Senate Republicans to kill legislation that would have made it illegal to grant private companies eminent domain for these projects despite 80% of Iowans opposing its use for carbon pipelines. The protest called out elected leaders who continue to ignore the public objection of Indigenous communities, farmers, and everyday Iowans. While all communities will be impacted by the construction and operation of the CCS pipeline projects, Black and Indigenous communities who have historically been marginalized and people that do not own land, are being excluded from a real public engagement process. “The fight for climate justice is the fight for racial justice. The plans to construct these carbon pipelines through our state are a clear sign of environmental racism. It will be Black, Brown and Indigenous Iowans who suffer the most from the construction of these pipelines and the ongoing climate crisis.” - Jaylen Cavil, Des Moines Black Liberation Movement Advocacy Director Furthermore, public entities are not ready to mitigate the deadly hazards of a potential pipeline rupture. Migrant workers in the Big-Ag industry who live and work in the rural areas where these pipelines will be located have not been consulted with on the hazards as said by Alejandro Murguia-Ortiz, Iowa Migrant Movement for Justice Community Organizer, “Migrant workers already have so much to risk by speaking out against these things, but they will be the ones closest to a deadly pipeline rupture.” As the Iowa Utilities Board prepares to handle permit requests for carbon pipelines, Iowa residents can contact their representatives and file an objection in open dockets for Summit, Navigator and Wolf to oppose the CCS pipelines on Iowa Utilities Board’s website. So far, organizers have largely focused on activating landowners in the process to stop these pipelines, however, as Sikowis Nobiss, Great Plains Action Society Executive Director stated at the rally: “This fight is about more than closing loopholes in eminent domain to “save” the private land of white landowners. Honestly, that’s just a tactic to stop the pipelines and CCS—the ultimate goal is to save the climate, get #landback, and protect the health and safety of communities living at the frontlines of this greenwashed scam thought up by the Big-Ag and Big-Oil industries so fossil fuel extraction and ethanol can live another day.” |
